While hosting the 7th Thailand Ultimate Chef Challenge, I have an opportunity to do a live interview on the stage with one of the top Thai Chefs/Teachers who is specialized in Thai Cuisine and Thai Arts. Therefore, let's get to know him more during this interview while he will also show us how to simply carve fruit and vegetable on stage.
Profile: Chef Surasak Kongsawat (Chef Noi)
Education: Chachengsao Vocational School
Works:
Lecturer at MSC Thai Culinary School
Head of Chef at Benjarong Restaurant in Dusit Thani Hotel
Committee Member at Thailand Chef Association
Chef Surasak Kongsawat or who we respectfully called “Chef Noi” is very well-recognized by his exceptional Thai cuisine expertness as well as his distinctive character with his hairpins. After his graduation back in 1988, he’s been worked for various luxury hotels like Dusit Thani Group in many different facilities such as Dusit Resort Pattaya, Dusit Thani Bangkok, Royal Princess Lanlaung and many to be named of. Every dish comes out beautifully and meticulously as he pays attention to every little detail, especially the taste to make sure that they meet the needs of customers.
Apart from his culinary skills, he’s also recognized by an excellent carving skills on fruits and vegetables. He received over 15 honorable awards as he continues to share his knowledge and skill to the nationwide and overseas countries.
Awards:
Classic Thai Food Distinction Thai Fusion Food, Thai Chef Contest at OTOP City, Impact Arena,
Fruit &Vegetable Carving Contest BU.T.A.T, Pattaya Carving Competition,
Pattaya Fruit & Vegetable Carving Competition, Bangkok
Free Style Fruit & Vegetable Contest (Professional), Bangkok
Live Fruit & Vegetable Carving Competition, Bangkok
The Interview Summary:
Chef Noi: The most important component in carving is not an expensive tool or an overseas training but something simpler like the basic training skill. A person who can executes the basic skills perfectly will have no limit to improve. As each of the skill can be combined to create much more creative masterpieces as seen in these competitions.
Today I will show you how to begin and what are the tool that you need. Firstly, the beginner can start with just one carving knife then once you’re getting use to it, you can add other tools. However, you must keep in mind that every knife you put on the fruit has to be precise and light. Next, how to hold the knife. We only use three finger- thumb, index and middle while the ring finger will use to hold and place on the fruit to keep balance.
I will be showing you basic skills like seed, root, branch, leave including flower skills such as “Ruk Lae Petal”, “Carnation Petal”, “Rose Petal”, and “Baan Chuen”.
The history of fruit and vegetable carving is still considering as an unclear subject as there were many claims from different countries about its origins. Some said it was originated in 1300s Thailand, whereas others believe that it began in ancient Japan, and even still people believe that it started in the Tang (AD 618-906) or even Sung Dynasty (AD 960-1279). Since there is no clear evidence behind the blade that transformed the first fruit into a piece of art, I would like to emphasize on the Thai myth of fruit and vegetable carving.
The belief that Thailand started the fruit and vegetable carving trend stemmed from a story about the Loi Kratong festival. The legend holds that sometime before the Sukhothai era (Thai era from 1808-1824), during this festival, it is tradition to decorate rafts using banana leaves, banana tree piece, fresh flowers, and other decorations. At one of these festivals, King Phra Ruang's concubine, Nang Noppamart, carved a vegetable into a flower using a real flower as a template. On top of that, she carved a bird and set it by the flowers. Her raft was phenomenal. In fact, King Phra Ruang liked the raft so much, he later decreed that every woman learn this new form of art. From that moment onwards, carving fruits and vegetables was one of the fine art skills taught to women in the Thai royal palace.
Adding to Nang Noppamart legend, there is a book entitled “Tum Rub Tao Sri Ju La Luk” written by Tao Srijulaluk (Thai peerage) himself discusses traditional Thai ceremonies, including the floating lantern festival called “Pra Raj Cha Pi Tee Joong prennai Wan Pen Duan Sibsong” which later be called “Loy Kratong Festival”. Its protagonist wants to decorate a lantern more beautifully than other concubines, so she uses many kinds of flowers to decorate her lantern. Then she carved fruits into bird and swan shapes and placed them on the flower petals.
As time moved on, the popularity and novelty of fruit and vegetable carving increased and decreased. In fact, in 1808, King Rama II liked fruit and vegetable carving so much, he wrote poetry about it. Reversely, during the 1932 revolution of Thailand, Fruit carving wasn't very popular. In order to boost popularity, it was taught from age 11 in primary schools all the way through secondary school.
Hosting this live demonstration on the stage reminded me of my childhood carving class. I think I was about 14 years old when my teacher asked us in our Art class to carve a soap, trust me, that was the ugliest soap I’ve seen. However, as we spent the whole semester learning and practice it. My showpieces started to look better gradually, “practice makes perfect!”.
Personally, I would strongly recommend everyone to give it a try. Like Chef Now said in the end of the interview that “ You don’t have to wait to join a very expensive lesson or training. Since nowadays, you have all the access to the lessons online or any culinary school near by. So, stop procrastinating, get yourself together, buy one good knife, and try it out.”. I couldn’t agree more.
I would also like to take the chance to challenge myself with this new skill as well, in order to see whether I can do it or not. Let’s give it a try or just dry trying.
