Half-Day Thai Cooking Class in Organic Farm - Asia Scenic School

Asia Scenic's farm class takes you out of the city to the school's own organic farm, where you cook in an open-air kitchen surrounded by rice paddies with the mountains behind. It is the longer, calmer version of the school's half-day class and suits anyone who likes the idea of picking herbs before cooking with them. The school only runs it in the daytime, so the garden can be seen in daylight and nothing is rushed.

Pickup is from your accommodation in the Chiang Mai city zone between 8:20 and 8:50, with a market stop on the way to learn how Thai cooks choose their ingredients. At the farm you walk the garden, about 1.6 acres of vegetables and herbs, picking and tasting what goes into your dishes. Then you cook six dishes, one from each of six categories: an appetizer such as spring rolls, papaya salad or laab; a stir-fry such as pad thai, fried rice or pad kaprao; a soup such as tom yum, coconut soup or tom sab; a curry paste made from scratch; the curry made from it, from green, red, panang, massaman or khao soi; and a dessert such as mango sticky rice, bananas in coconut milk or fried banana. There is no fixed menu: you choose, the teacher guides. Every person has their own wok and station, and you eat as you go. Afterwards there is time for photos and the hammocks.

Coffee, tea and water are unlimited, you take home a printed cookbook, and the school posts a photo album of the day for free download. The class runs from 9:00 and you are back in the city around 15:30, so it takes most of the day even though the school calls it a half-day course. Vegetarian, vegan, halal and gluten-free are all catered for because the class cooks dish by dish.