Food is often closely connected to culture and heritage. In Thailand, cuisine is tied to family life and social traditions, while regional dishes reflect influences from neighboring culinary cultures.
Thai cuisine is known for its regional variety, with dishes ranging from everyday meals to royal Thai cuisine. Thailand also has culinary schools and short-course providers for beginners, travelers, and aspiring professional chefs.
This article provides an overview of several top culinary schools and course providers in Thailand.
Top Culinary Schools in Thailand
1. Wandee Culinary Arts School
According to its official website, Wandee Culinary Art School was the first Thai cooking school accredited and approved by the Ministry of Education to offer a complete Home Economics course of study.
The school’s catalog includes the Professional Thai Cooking Basic course, Traditional Thai Cooking, private cooking courses, a Royal Thai Cuisine course, Thai dessert and appetizer courses, and fruit and vegetable carving courses.
The Professional Thai Cooking Basic course is listed as a 150-hour, 20-day program. The official course page lists a fee of THB 75,000, with a THB 85,000 private-class option for an individual student.
2. MSC Thai Culinary School
MSC Thai Culinary School offers several programs, including the Thai Professional Cookery Grand Diploma, the Thai Professional Cookery Certificate, an intensive course, short courses, and Thai carving instruction.
The Thai Professional Cookery Grand Diploma is designed for people who want to develop their Thai cooking skills, including those without previous cooking experience. According to the official course page, students receive practical training in a professional kitchen and learn more than 150 Thai dishes, desserts, and snacks.
The course is taught by instructors and professional Thai chefs who provide direct guidance to students.
Applicants must be at least 18 years old and able to communicate in Thai through listening, speaking, reading, and writing. Educational requirements affect the type of certificate awarded. The Thai Professional Cookery Grand Diploma is currently listed at THB 245,000.
3. Thai Cooking Academy
The provider currently operates as Bangkok Thai Cooking Academy. It offers hands-on Thai cooking classes for beginners, travelers, aspiring chefs, and culinary professionals. Available options include standard Thai cooking classes, vegetarian classes, private classes, fruit carving instruction, and professional chef-training courses.
The standard half-day Thai cooking class is available in the morning or afternoon. Students choose five dishes, visit a local fresh market, prepare curry paste from scratch, and receive access to more than 90 recipes online. The class is currently listed at THB 1,300 per person.
Longer professional Thai cooking courses are available for one to six weeks, with listed fees ranging from THB 25,000 to THB 100,000. The academy also lists a 10-week International Grand Master Pan Asian Course at THB 180,000.
4. Le Cordon Bleu Thailand
Le Cordon Bleu Dusit Culinary School is a French-Thai joint venture. According to its official website, it was the first school in the global Le Cordon Bleu network to offer a Professional Thai Cooking course.
The Professional Thai Cuisine program is a nine-month, 540-hour course. It uses the school’s Watch, Learn, and Do method and covers more than 200 recipes, including traditional, regional, royal, modern, Thai-Chinese, and dessert dishes.
The curriculum also includes fruit and vegetable carving, banana-leaf crafting, restaurant-management topics, food and beverage supervisory skills, a market visit, restaurant-service activities, and guest-chef demonstrations.
For international students, the listed total course fee is THB 637,000. This includes a THB 10,000 application fee, a THB 12,000 uniform fee, a THB 55,000 tool-kit fee, and THB 560,000 in tuition.
The school’s current FAQ page states that Le Cordon Bleu Dusit does not provide scholarships or financial aid for its courses. Students should review the official FAQ and contact the school directly for information about external scholarship opportunities.
5. Blue Elephant Cooking School
Blue Elephant Cooking School currently lists two cooking-school locations: Bangkok and Phuket. Its Discovery classes allow students to prepare four or five Thai recipes during a half-day session.
At the Bangkok location, morning-session students also take part in a local market visit to learn about Thai ingredients and spices. After the class, students may enjoy their dishes in the restaurant or take them home.
The standard rate is currently listed as THB 2,800++ or THB 3,296 net per person. The fee includes ingredients and equipment, a recipe sheet, a Blue Elephant apron, a culinary certificate, and a special giveaway.
We hope this article helped you identify a culinary school in Thailand that suits your goals. Visit the Study in Thailand and Available Programs for International Students pages to find out more about universities and scholarships in Asia!
