Eating deep fried insects may not be everyone's cup of tea, but there's something to suit every palate at the upcoming Isan Food Festival in Thailand. Visiting chefs, guest lecturers, and the world's largest woven sticky rice basket are just a few of the highlights planned at next year's party, celebrating Thailand's Northeast cooking.

Travel to Khon Kaen, Thailand in March 2008 for the inaugural Isan Food Festival and its culinary masterclass weekend. Festival dates are March 7-16, 2008. The Thai Cuisine Masterclass Weekend, modelled after similar events overseas, on March 8 and 9 at the prestigious Sofitel Raja Orchid hotel.

London restaurateur Vatch Bhumitchitr, author of six Thai cookbooks in English, leads the line up at the Sofitel Raja Orchid's Thai Cuisine Masterclass Weekend, with simultaneous English-Thai and Thai-English translations in every workshop. English expat Philip Cornwel-Smith, author of the contemporary culture book "Very Thai" is also presenting, plus Australian-based textile expert Morrison Polkinghorne, cookbook author Robert Carmack, along with local Isan specialist Pramol Pimsen. As well, regional food producers, from sausage makers to fish sauce brewers, are on hand to give an introduction to their foodstuffs. There's even a workshop on "Inedible Cuisine' featuring the unusual Isan custom of eating fried locust and lizard, and stir fried silk worm — not to mention the famous Isan/lao specialty of ant egg soup.

Bordered by Laos to the East and Cambodia to its south, Thailand's remote Northeast Isan region is renowned for some of the kingdom's tastiest cooking. Yet it's a style less familiar to foreigners. Unlike the coconut cream curries of tropical and coastal districts, dishes here largely rely on local ingredients from an arid region, such as delicious kai yang grilled chicken, som tom green papaya salad, firey jaeow chili jams, and sticky or glutinous rice. Not only that, the area hosts the finest examples of ancient Khmer temples to be seen outside of Cambodia, and the country's most intricate silk weaving.

Isan is alive with the flavours of neighbouring Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam, and the region's cuisine is some of the best on offer in the Thai kingdom. Late night Bangkok revellers have long clamoured to Isan hawker stalls for snacks in their capital city, and several upmarket Lao and Isan restaurants now cater to the city's affluent, as well.

Isan's capital city of Khon Kaen lies some 450 km from Bangkok, and today is a major regional development centre and university city of 200,000. The city is served by three flights daily from Don Mueang (DMK) airport in Bangkok, plus regular bus service and several trains daily. Flights take less than an hour, but road and rail from 6 to 8 hours.

Contact information:
Globetrotting Gourmet
Web sites: www.isanfoodfestival.com or www.asianfoodtours.com
Tel: (+61-2) 9550 5510
E-mail: info@globetrottinggourmet.com

Sofitel Raja Orchid Khon Kaen
Weekend package rates for the Thai Cuisine Masterclass Weekend plus hotel on:
http://www.accorhotels-asia.com/search/default.aspx?
E-mail: prm@sofitelkhonkaen.com

Source: Globetrotting Gourmet release dated September 22, 2007