LEAN CUISINE

Thailand's burgeoning spa industry is turning to the freshness and vitality of Thai cooking to create tasty, trend-setting spa cuisine.

The old image of ‘spa-rtan’ cuisine -- two lettuce leaves and a carrot on a plate -- continues to haunt the spa industry. But in today's reality, chefs in Thai spa resorts are raiding the abundant garden of Thailand for its tremendous variety of fresh vegetables, herbs and fruit to create tasty, innovative food that would not be out of place in gourmet restaurants.

Just look at the big picture. Thai food is one of the world's best-loved cuisines; Thai spas are Asia's trendsetter in quality, service and variety of treatments. Now that healthy food is taking off in Thailand's top residential and resort spas, guests can expect something really special.

For those still reluctant to try the food spas offer, spa cuisine guru Andrew Jacka of Horwath Spa Consulting debunks some of the myths: "It's not vegetarian food as we utilise lots of fish and lean meat. However, spa cuisine tends to incorporate more vegetables to balance the leaner protein used.

"And we're not serving up bland hospital food! The creativity of the chef makes spa cuisine come alive with flavourful blends of meat/fish, vegetables and herbs."

So What Is It?
Simply put, spa cuisine is healthy, nutritious food that enhances the spa experience. Royal Orchid Sheraton Hotel's Executive Chef Michael Hoevel believes that as people look after their outer beauty with carefully selected spa treatments, it makes sense to put healthy ingredients inside as well. You are what you eat.

Spa cuisine is a simple, healthy style of cooking that encompasses three fundamentals, explains Horwath's Jacka: reduced fat, reduced salt and reduced sugar. "We over-use these in our modern diets, so we would be a lot healthier if we reduced the quantity we consume."

Of course, there's a bit more to it than that. Thailand's spa chefs source the freshest organic ingredients, lean meat and seafood, while dumping unwanted enhancers like MSG, artificial flavouring -- and microwave ovens. In this unique cuisine, herbs are selected not just for their flavour, but their medicinal properties as well. For instance, ginger aids digestion, and tangy lemongrass helps clear breathing tracts.

Food preparation is equally important. Deep frying and frying with fat are no-nos. The emphasis is on baking, grilling, steaming, and boiling, aided by substitution of unwanted ingredients such as extra virgin olive oil instead of fat, sweet apple juice in place of sugar, sea salt for the processed variety.

With such broad guidelines, it's not surprising that in Thailand's rapidly expanding and ever inventive spa industry, its chefs have their own fascinating interpretations of what constitutes ‘spa cuisine’.

All photos © Chiva Som

One of the world's best destination spas, award-winning Chiva Som in the seaside resort of Hua Hin is a pioneer of spa cuisine in Thailand, setting the benchmark for healthy food that has won top marks from Condé-Nast Traveller. "Our guests stay on average 10-14 days as we are a true destination offering over 100 treatments plus fitness, wellness and rejuvenation," explains General Manager Paul Linder. "So our gourmet spa cuisine is an essential part of the Chiva Som experience." Chiva Som follows the three basic premises of spa cuisine, using substitutes where necessary such as honey for sugar or frying in vegetable stock instead of oil. Executive Chef Paisarn Cheewinwsiriwat concentrates on the natural flavor of the ingredients - grown in the spa's small organic garden, at a huge organic farm in Phetchaboon province where Chiva Som intends to build a new mountain spa, or in the numerous Royal Agricultural Projects in northern Thailand. All guests have a consultation on arrival to determine the treatments they should have during their stay, plus satisfactory nutritional preferences, explains Holistic Health Manager Jeff Nieuwenhuizen, who then provides guidelines for Chef Paisarn's culinary creations.

All dishes served at Chiva Som are listed with the calorie count per serving to assist those who are on weight-loss programmes and make everyone else feel good. However, guests are free to eat as much as they want. While the daily menu is packed with fresh organic vegetables and herbs, you can also dine on lean steak, lamb, veal, chicken, fish and succulent seafood provided by Hua Hin's fishing fleet.

Chef Paisarn enthuses about Thai spa cuisine, which he says is healthy, thanks to the simple cooking style and abundance of herbs used. "Just look at our famous tom yam goong (sour and spicy prawn soup). It's prepared with herbal mixture of coriander, galangal, lemongrass, kaffir lime, and chilies, so eating it will do you a lot of good."

To reinforce his message, Chef Paisarn will launch the third Chiva Som cookbook in October, focusing entirely on healthy Thai spa cuisine. It can be purchased through the spa's website www.chivasom.com

If you miss the inimitable taste of Thai spa cuisine, Chiva Som's nutritious dishes are now available in the first-class sections on British Airways flights, ensuring the healthy spa food of Thailand follows you around the world.

Big City Spas

All photos © Metropolitan Bangkok	In high-powered Bangkok, people have less time for leisurely spa experiences. Nevertheless, a city hotel like chic and trendy Metropolitan Bangkok offers brief solace at its elegant Como Shambalah spa and adjacent Glow restaurant. Here Executive Chef Amanda Gale prepares very fresh food in the form of light meals and energizing juices, rich in living enzymes, vitamins and minerals. Ms Gale's mentor, top Australian chef Neil Perry, taught her the necessity of using only high quality local ingredients. She brings this insight to Glow's Thai-inspired dishes, pleased that so much food, vegetables and herbs are now grown organically in Thailand. At Glow she believes in leaving ingredients close to their natural state. "I like to use a lot of boiled vegetables and fresh herbs, spiced up so their natural juices come out. If you don't have good quality ingredients, it is very hard to do." The menu is strong on vegetables, fish, a little chicken and lots of pulses and herbs, offering up delights such as salt and pepper tofu, green papaya and longan salad with a chilli and lime dressing.
All photos © Royal Orchid Sheraton Hotel	At Royal Orchid Sheraton Hotel, Chef Hoevel became so enthused about healthy cuisine that Starwood Hotels & Resorts made him Spa Cuisine Ambassador for Thailand for the launch of its Seven Pillars of Well-Being in the Starwood Spa Collection in 2004. True to his German nature, he studied many aspects of spa cuisine and realized that essentially it is back-to-basics cooking, using the simpler and less refined ways of the past to create naturally flavoursome food. Careful selection of fresh Thai herbs ensures that extraordinary taste is combined with therapeutic values. As a result of his research, he has designed a unique spa menu that incorporates Starwood's Seven Pillars of aqua, harmony vitality, life balance, nature, nutrition and beauty, to go hand in hand with treatments at this riverside hotel's delightful Royal Orchid Mandara Spa. By offering a set menu, Chef Hoevel ensures "selection comes from the chef and not the individual so that we can look after our guest properly." Like all good menus, it has a sequence designed to revitalise the body from cleansing through to rejuvenation, such as: Detox: Essence of chicken infused with soy and lemongrass, with garlic chive dumplings; Calming: Lychee honey glazed Atlantic salmon, dashi consommé, Asian greens and silken tofu; Energizing: Fromage blanc with citrus fruit and basil reduction.

NORTHERN VARIATIONS
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