In the main community where Courageous Kitchen operates, people struggle to feed their families. It’s not uncommon in this poor neighborhood outside of Bangkok’s tourist sites to see families scavenging through the trash for leftovers that can be used to feed their families.

“Food isn’t a Fun Topic for Everyone”

Often, this includes children who can dig through trash piles without drawing ire or attention from those nearby. So when you bring up food in this community, versus the food loving crowd of teens a similar age at Bangkok Patana (a prestigious international school in Bangkok), the reactions are drastic.

I’m proud to say we’re changing that and if you’re new to our organization we do it in three important ways:

  1. We distribute nutritious food, most often fresh produce, to the families in the community.
  2. We provide a pre-school for students 3-6 years old, and a Saturday school with English and cooking lessons. Lunch is provided to all of the students and adults participating.
  3. Courageous Kitchen identifies the most vulnerable families and provides emergency support for housing, medical expenses, or emergency needs.

This three-fold, holistic approach to reaching out to the community means we’re changing attitudes about food and our students anticipate cooking classes and opportunities to practice their cooking skills at home. The proof is the look on their faces when it’s time to cook!

We couldn’t do this without your support, thank you!


Dwight

Dwight is director of Courageous Kitchen and a long term expat living in Bangkok, Thailand. A Thai speaker and astute lover of food, he enjoys teaching cooking, and using his passion for food to transform communities.