Finding the future of the gastronomy business in tradition and identity
The Hansik we know today is the sum of what came before it, reshaped over time — and the wellspring of the food yet to come. Our Hansik, too, absorbed new ingredients through exchange with many countries across the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries and developed cooking methods of its own along the way. It's the same story anywhere in the world. Very few things worth knowing were made overnight. That trajectory turns into travel and experience, and reaches beyond ingredients and recipes to become 'business.' With that in mind, this session brought together chefs from across Asia to understand the past of each country's cuisine and then, in the present, actually collaborate. In the process, participants explored and debated how each cuisine's distinct character could be made to shine even more brightly.
Chef Ton of Le Du, joining from Bangkok, doesn't only run a restaurant serving traditional Thai cooking as it has been handed down at home — he also runs a fine-dining restaurant drawn from everyday Thai food. He said he's aware that today's exchanges between chefs could redraw the food map of the future. Mathias and Thomas of Sühring, the German restaurant in Bangkok, added that reinterpreting the food of your homeland is what will feel most distinctive in overseas markets. Watching them keep pushing dishes where Germany and Thailand meet in unexpected ways, everyone in the room paused to appreciate just how fresh the work felt.
