Angkor Kitchen to Promote Culinary Diplomacy Inaugurated

Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation this morning launched the Angkor Kitchen to promote the Culinary Diplomacy through Khmer authentic dishes and desserts.

The inauguration ceremony took place under the presidency of H.E. Prak Sokhonn, Deputy Minister, Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation and his spouse, H.E. Mrs. Kheng Samvada, Honorary Chief Patron of ASEAN Women’s Circle of Cambodia, with the participation from ministry’s leaders and the spouses of ASEAN Ambassadors and ASEAN Partners who are the AWC members.

The “Angkor Kitchen” establishment is one of the internal reforms initiated by H.E. Deputy Prime Minister and part of the Culinary Diplomacy stated in the ministry’s Economic Diplomacy Strategy 2021-2023, with the full blessing of Samdech Akka Moha Sena Padei Techo HUN Sen, Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Cambodia, said a press release of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation.

According to the source, the “Angkor Kitchen” is built for three main reasons. “The Taste of Angkor” cookbook, one of the reasons, won the “Best Asian Cookbook” at the Gourmand World Cookbook Awards in 2021 in Paris because it contains an easy-to-follow detailed instruction of 38 recipes of authentic Khmer dishes and desserts.

“The Ministry will use the cookbook as a key tool to promote our Culinary Diplomacy through our foreign friends all over the world, as an example of our ASEAN friends today,” it said.

The second reason, it continued, is that the ministry through NIDIR has planned to organise a Culinary Diplomacy Training Programmes for Cambodian Diplomats especially Ambassadors’ spouses in order to improve their capacity to understand the fundamental recipe and cooking instruction of the authentic Khmer cuisine. Then they will be able to use this acquainted knowledge to explain a thousand-year history of Khmer food and promote Cambodian identity to foreign friends.

Another reason is that after the Khmer Food has been accepted and well-known, the ministry believes that there will be more investment opportunities in different sectors such as tourist industry, airline industry, agricultural production, restaurants and hotel expansion, the press release underlined, adding that as the result, it will contribute to the effort of the Royal Government of Cambodia in transforming the country to become an upper-middle income country in 2030 and high-income country in 2050.

Source: Agency Kampuchea Press