The “Chef Chumpon Builds Community Chefs” Project by GC

A collaboration involving multiple partners including GC, the Tourism Authority of Thailand (Rayong office), and Rayong province led to the launch of the “Chef Chumpon Builds Community Chefs” project by GC to promote jobs and boost incomes for communities in Rayong. This project is creating delicious and authentic dishes from Rayong and conserving and standardizing local cuisine in order to be nationally recognized, ensuring that Rayong remains a popular destination for tourists.

“Chamuang Pork Curry,” a mouthwatering dish that is perfectly paired with boiled rice, is a local favorite that the people of Rayong have been passionate about for a long time. However, there are currently only a handful of restaurants that know how to prepare this delicious dish making it difficult to find. Maintaining chamuang pork curry and passing it on to future generations requires someone who knows about its preparation inside out, unfortunately, many of the cooks are simply not well-known. This is the reason Chef Chumpon Jangprai, Thailand’s Iron Chef came up with this campaign.

Developing new menus is a way to broaden employment opportunities by generating increased revenue to communities and supporting tourism in Rayong, adding value to menus created by community chefs and promoting food tourism and quality destination which can further help by extending the province’s tourist season. This project is being supervised by Thailand’s Iron Chef and Michelin-starred Chumpon Jangprai who is acting as its counselor and ambassador.

The “Chef Chumpon Build Community Chefs” project by GC

organized a contest involving eight finalist chefs who each created signature dishes using Rayong’s unique local ingredients such as Chamunag Pork Curry” (1^st prize), “Yum Sampan Ha Sahai,” “Spare Ribs in Rayong Sauce with Chamuang Hee,” “Thin Rice Noodles in Red Sauce,” “Kua Curry Pla Hee,” “Deep-Fried Prawns with Chamuang Leaves,” “Deep-Fried Pak Krachub Salad,” and “Yellow Curry with Female Crabs, Fermented Bamboo Shoots, and Pak Krachub.” Additionally, the eight chefs shared their know-how in restaurant management to boost engagement and increase awareness of conserving and promoting Thai foods internationally. The campaign took place at the MSC Cooking School.

Chef Chumpon also developed 10 delicious must-try menu items for visitors to Rayong, including “Kua Curry with Chamuang Leaves,” “Sun-Dried Fish with Pak Kood in Coconut Soup,” “Yellow Curry with Red Snapper (winter green),” “Stir-Fried Seafood with Chili,” “Stir-Fried Sun-Dried Squid with Chili and Salt Kao Chad,” “Stir-Fried Pak Krachub with Indian Salmon from the Prasae Estuary,” “Stir-Fried Free-Rane Chicken with Shampoo Ginger,” “Stir-Fried Klang Noodle with Seafood,” “Prawns with Shrimp Paste (Lhon),” and “Durian Pudding.”

Enjoying Rayong’s Local Dishes with Community Chefs

To extend the success of the “Chef Chumpon Builds Community Chefs” project, GC launched the “Enjoying Rayong’s Local Dishes with Community Chefs” event in 2018 to share Rayong’s delicious dishes by Chef Chumpon with local residents to increase job opportunities with the purchase of local ingredients. This coincided with the publication of the Rayong Guide, in which Chef Chumpon invited everyone to try Rayong’s local foods. The guide includes a map with Rayong’s popular destinations including the restaurants run by the eight finalist community chefs, offering a useful way to publicize an important part of Rayong’s local heritage.

To extend the “Enjoying Rayong’s Local Dishes with Community Chefs” event and preservation of Rayong’s local ingredients, GC collaborated with the TVET Career Center, Eastern Economic Corridor in Rayong, Rayong Technical College, and MSC Cooking School to develop a vocational certificate on “Learning About and Teaching Rayong’s Local Foods” for students at the Food and Nutrition Department, Faculty of Domestic Science, Rayong Technical College. The aim is to enhance vocational manpower to support the government’s Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC) policy by improving the tourism and food processing industries. Students can further apply the knowledge they gain from Rayong’s local culinary heritage by promoting food-based tourism in the future.

In addition, GC renovated “The Learning Center of Rayong’s Local Food, Bai Chamuang Restaurant” to be a learning resource that provides both an education and opportunities for students to gain professional career training while earning an income during their time at Rayong Technical College. Mr. Supattanapong Punmeechaow, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Energy, presided over the unveiling event during mid-year of 2020.

The “Community Chefs for Sustainable Tourism” Project

Due to the success of the “Enjoying Rayong’s Local Dishes with Community Chefs” event, GC, the Ministry of Tourism and Sports, and Tourism Authority of Thailand teamed up to reinforce a food-based tourism promotion policy with the launch of the “Local Chef Thailand” project in 2019 involving the public and private sectors and communities to develop 30 community chefs across Thailand. The project aims to promote Thailand’s cultural tourism, improve local food standards and build a food-based tourism network.

The “Chef Chumpon Builds Community Chefs” project by GC has created jobs and additional incomes for communities in Rayong, and will promote Rayong as a popular tourist destination known as a province featuring pristine beaches and a diversity of delicious foods.

Last Update Apr 2021

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