BIOGRAPHY CHEF MCDANG
Many years ago – but not too many – I was a young student in England, away from home for the first time. Desperate for a taste of home, I ventured into the kitchen for the first time to make my very first meal: kai pullo, or Chinese-style five-spice-accented pork belly and boiled egg stew.
I have always loved Thai food. Growing up in the palace, I experienced the traditions and artistry that go with cooking top-flight Thai food first-hand. I was also lucky enough to have as a mentor my father, MR Thanadsri Svasti, who was – and remains – a pioneer in the realm of food education in Thailand. He is a brilliant man, able to parse very complicated concepts and ideas about food into language that is readily accessible and engaging for the layman. My love of Thai food (and, hopefully, some of my ability to translate the intricacies of Thai food to a wider audience) come from him. But it took me a while before I realized food would be my calling. As a young college student at Georgetown, I was studying to become a diplomat. Then something else happened. I saw Julia Child on TV, put an apron on, started cooking, and my life changed. I got a job as a lunch cook at the Back Porch Café in Delaware. I began voraciously studying everything food-related that I could get my hands on. It was as if someone had turned the lights on in a very dark room. I never looked back. Today, I consider myself a diplomat of sorts; only this time, the medium is food. Whether on television, through my lecture series, or via this website, I have spent a lot of time in many different places showing people exactly why I think Thai food is so special. People all over the world are interested in learning about Thai cuisine – its origins, history and ongoing evolution – as well as the fundamentals that make Thai food the marvel that it is. “I believe our food is our people’s most brilliant invention, and I am privileged to be able to “export” my love of Thai food to people across the globe.”
Television International Appearances
2013 Chef Mcdang teaching principle of Thai cookery in Bishulim school
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lkU4x0lg1Mk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pu8PAOiD9XM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gIoyhfsF6Ts
2012 Judge around THE WORLD IN 80 PLATES (US)
2011 Guest appearance on Voyage Channel, Street Food Around the World
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D0twod-M3xA
2011 Guest appearance with Donna Perkins, Andiamo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8KU863WkM60
2010 Guest appearance with Gordon Ramsay, Gordon’s Great Escape
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nlMd4ssyEKY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uWDMq6KIDnY
2009 Guest appearance on NZZ Channel,Thai Food documentary
2008 Chef Mcdang at CCA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gv4cSn4jszQ#t=11
2008 ANTHONY BOURDAIN, No Reservations (USA)
2004 JEFF CONWIN, EXTREME CUISINE CITIZEN PICTURES (USA)
2003 TASTE TAKES OFF TO THAILAND 2004 (New Zealand)
2003 CITY CABS/ Letter boxLocal TV Show (UK)
Local TV Show
2012-Present ‘MCDANG TRAVEL LOG’, on PPTV Channel
2007-2012 ‘MCDANG SHOW’, on MCOT Channel 9
2003-2007 ‘MCDANG KITCHEN WEEKLY’, on ITV Channel
2000-2003 ‘FATHER AND SON KITCHEN, on ITV Channel
2000-2001 ‘MCDANG KOO KRUA’, on Channel 5
1998-2000 ‘MCDANG PLANG ROS’, on Channel 7
1997-1998 ‘KROB JAKRAWAL KITCHEN’, Channel 9
Newspaper Column / Columnist
2010-2012 CNNGo (English version)
2010-2011 KHAO SOD (Thai Popular Newspaper)
1995-2008 THE NATION WEEKEND (The Local leading English Newspaper)
1994-Present DAILY NEWS (The most Popular Newspaper)
Consultancy
2013-Present Consultant, BANGKOK AIRWAYS INTERNATIONAL CO.,LTD. (PLC)
2011-2014 Exclusive Events Chef, DUSIT INTERNATIONAL
2010-2014 Consultant and Food Ambassador, SODEXO, INC
2006-2012 Consultant and Advisor, BETAGRO GROUP
2002-Present Marketing and PR consultant, SIAM WINERY CO.,LTD.
2001-2009 Consultant, BANGKOK AIRWAYS INTERNATIONAL CO.,LTD. (PLC)
2000-Present Food Product Development Consultant, WAI WAI INSTANT NOODLES
1996-2001 Consultant, THAI AIRWAYS INTERNATIONAL CO.,LTD.(PLC)
Publications
Present MODERN THAI CUISINE
2010 THE PRINCIPLE OF THAI COOKERIES
2007 DELICIOUS FOOD FROM MCDANG KITCHEN NEW MCDANG COOKBOOK
2004 MCDANG GUIDE
2003 MCDANG GUIDE
2001 MCDANG GUIDE
1999 YUM THAI YUM FARANG COOK BOOK
2000 MCDANG COOK BOOK 2
1998 MCDANG COOK BOOK
Vision & Mission
Because I frequently travel throughout Thailand, demonstrating my my favorite recipes for my television show and writing my food column, I consider myself primarily a teacher. When I travel abroad, lecturing on the principles of Thai cookery to non-Thai audiences, I become a sort of Thai food “ambassador”. Both of these pursuits are tremendously fulfilling, and help to sharpen my own perspective on Thai cuisine and how it fits into the rest of the world. What has struck me most about Thai cuisine lately is that few people — including Thais –have a concrete grasp of what it really is. It seems to me that we are at a kind of crossroads for Thai food identity (and possibly Thai identity in general), spurring people to develop their own understanding of what Thai food is like. Unfortunately, that also leads to some pretty confused Thai food. There is nothing more disheartening than entering a Thai restaurant abroad, only to be met by an embarrassed-looking Thai owner-chef who apologizes for his food before you have even taken a bite. “Our food is for foreigners,” they invariably say. “You should have told us you were coming earlier.” What is left unspoken is that a completely different cuisine is being served to people — a parallel “Thai food” that has only a glancing acquaintance to the wonderful things we have at home. Don’t get me wrong. I love that more and more people, every day, are tucking into a plate of pad Thai (stir-fried rice noodles in pad Thai sauce)or slurping up a bowl of thom yum goong (spicy prawns soup). I believe Thai food is probably the Thai peoples’ greatest invention, and an integral way to share Thai culture with the world. But I want to make sure people to get to know the real McCoy, the Thai food that grew up in Thailand, as well as the cuisine that has evolved over the past few decades, touched by increasing Western influence and a broader perspective of the world. In creating this social media website, I hope you will enjoy exploring the fundamentals that make up Thai cuisine, as well as my take on the direction in which Thai food is going. I believe that it is a genuinely exciting moment in time for Thai food, a crossroads that will determine how Thai food willbe enjoyed by diners in the years to come. It is my hope that this website – as well as our consulting services, international television productions, and cooking school – will serve as a center of knowledge for all things Thai food: its innovations as well as its fundamentals. So grab your mortars and pestles, and let’s start cooking!