On a last minute whim I decided to join Travel Massive‘s latest event in Bangkok – Exploring Food Tourism, which basically featured an evening full of interactive discussions with food bloggers on food tourism in Bangkok, a networking session with food community members and expert panelists and finally a fun Thai cooking class.

I arrived at the Bangkok Thai Cooking Academy  (the host) a bit late thanks to the rain and traffic. The room was half full but more people expected to come. After signing in (having pre-registered on the website for just THB 300) I introduced myself to everyone in the room and sat down on a table with the fewest people. Two young Thais from SiamRise, a sustainable tour operator sat next to me and ultimately would be my team for the cooking session.

Soon after Ian (founder of Travel Massive) started things off by introducing himself, the event and the co-hosts. He gave some interesting facts, figures and trends on food tourism in Bangkok and worldwide.

Did you know that the term foodie on Google has been growing exponentially while food tours and food bloggers have been relatively stagnant? It seems like foodie has been a real buzz word as of late, which might contribute to its rise.

Panel Discussions

First up, the software developers from Cookly (a marketplace for culinary activities) were invited to the panel as they were interviewed by Ian. Cookly was launched in late 2015 to offer foodies, chefs-in-training and travelers to find culinary experiences with ease. Through Cookly, you can join cooking classes, go on wine tastings and even food tours. Although a simple Google search could list out all the food tours and classes in a city, Cookly makes it easier by having them all in one space.

Up next, a discussion with expert food bloggers who were none other than the couple behind With Husband in Tow. They shared their experiences, thoughts on food tourism and how they started off blogging. After 4 years of traveling for food, they noted that they are extremely happy with where they are.

The Cooking Class

Finally time for the good part – cooking. There were three dishes on the agenda – chicken satay, fried spring rolls and corn fritters.

A chef from Cookly started us off by introducing the ingredients, method and cooking process. He explained it very well and guided us every step of the way.

There were three stages of our cooking. The first was the prep – cutting of meat/vegetables and marination.

Then we went on to the actual cooking, which was mostly deep frying or pan frying.

It was quite a fascinating scene as half of the people were cooking while the other half were either snapchatting or live Facebook videoing the class for their blogs. Guilty as well! Here’s my Snapchat ID in case you were wondering (lol shameless plug in).

Anyways, here’s our final output. I must say by the way, these spring rolls were the best I’ve ever had. So juicy and fresh!

To be honest, this was my first time joining a cooking class and other than making simple dishes like fried rice/noodles or stir fry chicken, I’ve never really cooked a Thai dish before. So this was really interesting for me and rather enjoyed it.

Here’s a short video of my team member cooking.