About Suwannee

        

   Suwannee Kwan Cheablam was born in Chiangrai, the north of Thailand. She lived on the edge of the town and was always interested in the growing of rice, vegetables and how food was prepared. She actually owns a rice field next to her home. At home her grandmother was always busy in the kitchen and Suwannee was by her side. 

      As the student on the Chiangrai Rajbhat University she decided that she wanted to explore the world after her study. At that time this was an extraordinary decision for a girl from Thailand. First she went to Bristol, the UK to continue her studies and after a short time in Paris she started living in the Netherlands for around 11 years. There she worked in a restaurant of a friend in the weekends and learned how to cook Thai for westerners.

     She kept on traveling and visit Egypt, Gambia, Turkey, India, Brazil, USA, Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, Belize and most European countries. The last years she went to Japan China, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Papua New Guinea, Ethiopia, Spain and Switzerland, all together around 40 countries , and everywhere she looked into the local kitchen to see and taste.

    In August 2007 Suwannee returned to Chiangrai and opened “Suwannee Thai Cooking Class Chiangrai”, the first in this Northern Thai town. The market is the place where she buy all the fresh ingredients and where she takes her students to pick the things they like and to learn them about the many spices, curries, vegetables etc. Everyone knows her on this big market and she makes this visit a real adventure for her students under the slogan “support local farms and markets”. 

    In the last years she had thousands of students from all over the world and not one was disappointed in the courses and the many trips around Chiangrai she also has to offer. On the contrary everyone is enthusiastic about her and her cooking classes. And she is continually improving the recipes and adding new one to her courses.

  

The strongest point of Thailand is "food"