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What's cooking in Klong Toey?

Pinned against the Chao Phraya River to the south of Bangkok's reaches, Klong Toey is known by many as a sink of poverty with the dubious honor of being the city's largest slum. However, very few residents and visitors to the city know much about this notorious area, and fewer still have taken the time to visit it. Inhabited by a mix of Bangkok locals, Thais from the poorer north, as well as people with no official status from Lao, Myanmar and further afield, Klong Toey provides a refuge to many who are unable to make a successful life for themselves in over-the-counter Bangkok's "mainstream" world. The slums are beset with the familiar blights of urban poverty, and many of the residents have little or no education, struggle with substance abuse and alcoholism as well as gambling addictions that often swallow the meager savings of poor families.

Khun Pooh is one long-time resident of Klong Toey who represents a remarkable model of success and positivity in an often stark and complex landscape of poverty and hardship. For the past two years she has been running her own cooking school for the tourist market as well as local Thais under a community self-help program that she built with four other slum residents. The Helping Hands initiative supports Klong Toey residents to develop micro-businesses based on their skills and talents by linking them with markets and credit support. Other projects that have been supported by the initiative include catering services, a mini-van service, a sushi delivery business, a small bakery and handicraft production.

Each small soi (or street) in the slum has a number of enterprises serving the soi residents and Khun Pooh worked for seven years selling home-cooked food to her neighbors. Prior to this she had been involved in a patchwork of different odd-jobs, including working in a garment factory. In late 2007, as the price of rice in Thailand doubled in the wake of a rippling global food crisis, Khun Pooh found herself fighting to break even. As one of only two breadwinners in a household of ten, including two young children, she had to reconsider her options. Fellow resident and Australian national, Anji Barker, has been working with the community centre in Klong Toey for the last seven years on a number of community development initiatives. Using their contacts, Anji and some friends supported Khun Pooh to start up her business. From fairly modest beginnings in the front room of Khun Pooh's house, the initiative has grown rapidly. The school has since generated enough profit for Khun Pooh to rent a dedicated room that can accommodate up to 10 students, and currently takes in from 15-30 students every month.

The program has been carefully structured to provide students with the skills to create some of Thailand's classic dishes, such as Pad Thai (fried noodles), Tom Yum (hot and spicy soup) and Som Tum (green papaya salad). During the half-day cooking session four dishes will be introduced to students, who can choose from five varied menus. Classes are given within the Klong Toey slum, and participants are picked up from the Emporium Mall (BTS Phrom Phong) and given a tour of the frenetic Klong Toey food market before being brought to the slum for cooking lessons. The cooking school provides a unique experience for visitors to the nation's capital, offering the opportunity to see a little-known side of Bangkok in a safe environment and the chance to master some Thai recipes.