“Actually, Thai food recipes are not exactly very precise. Sometimes they are… inexistent!”. That was initially quite a shock to both teacher and students. “In which order should I put the ingredients? A lot of people have asked me questions like this, but in fact, there is not definite order. In Thailand the ‘Mai pen rai’ (No problem) way of thinking is pervasive. In order words, we tend not worry about or stick to the details. But that is the exact opposite of Japanese culture, I think.”

There is another problem, apart from the lack of written recipes. The average number of people in an ordinary Thai family is about 8 to 10, whereas most Japanese families have 4 or less. Adjusting all these differences involved a great amount “cultural translation”, which was not easy in the beginning.

“In Thailand home cooking is not always very elaborate. Eating outside is very cheap, so it is often a better option.” At home, most people cook easy dishes like curry or stir-fried vegetables.

In Japan, ‘white rice’ is an essential part of the meal, that stands by itself, even physically. How about in Thailand? “It is a bit different. Rice is often complemented with something else, such as curry. So we usually mix everything in the same dish.” In Japan it is not unusual to have a bowl of rice with ‘ramen’. Would that happen in Thailand? “No way!”, says Ms. Tassanee , laughing.