FRIDAY, March 29, 2024
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Dusit Thani’s recipe to beat food crisis: Herbal, local and innovative

Dusit Thani’s recipe to beat food crisis: Herbal, local and innovative

Thailand’s top hospitality school is rising to the challenge of global food insecurity and rocketing prices that threaten the economy’s twin engines of food and tourism.

Dusit Thani College on Saturday launched a course to equip graduates with knowledge to navigate a new food landscape shaped by Covid-19, climate change and war in Europe.


The Gastronomy Business Management MBA will lift food & beverage management to a new level in Thailand, said educators and hoteliers at Saturday’s launch event.

Siridej Donavanik, Vice President- Hotel Business Development Dusit International


Siridej Donavanik, Vice President - Hotel Business Development Dusit International, surveyed the "Next Chapter of Career Opportunities in Food Industry and Business Trends", revealing opportunities and directions for food business growth amid the Covid-19 crisis.


Siridej highlighted the global shift in consumer demands and said the food industry must adapt."From this October, we aim to purchase organic rice and produce from local and small-scale food producers to encourage them to implement resilient agricultural practices," he said.


Dusit International is also incorporating alternative energy as well as recycling food waste as fertiliser to grow the crops it buys."We want to be a food producer, not just a food preparer," said Siridej.


Meanwhile, Dusit Thani is on a mission to boost food knowledge among grassroots entrepreneurs and vendors to cultivate a sustainable food industry at all levels of society.

 

Dusit Thani’s recipe to beat food crisis: Herbal, local and innovative

Chef Chumpol Jangprai, CEO and founder of Thai Cuisine Academy, said healthy herbs would become a trend after the Covid-19 outbreak. He predicted Thai herbal cuisine would eventually become a global medicinal food, keeping people healthy with nutritional and healing benefits. This return to grassroots food would also help combat poverty and social injustice, he said.

Dr Wilasinee Yonwikai, dean of Dusit Thani College Graduate School, added that gastronomy business management covered not just food or what's on the plate, but a variety of useful disciplines. The subject taps international knowledge to provide practical lessons in labour management, strategic marketing innovations and other contemporary issues.


Meanwhile, Dusit Thani’s research on sustainable food tourism was aiding innovation in the Thai food business, laying foundations for future success at the local and international levels, she said.

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