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An Interview with Thy Tran, Asian Culinary Educator
April 22, 2012We briefly caught up with culinary writer & instructor, Thy Tran, and chatted about her upcoming series of cooking classes in OACC’s kitchen. As someone who’s worked in the food industry for the last 18 years, including restaurants, cookbook publishing and culinary academies--Thy has a special philosophy about learning in the kitchen that shapes her teaching style. What’s your favorite part about teaching home cooks?Definitely seeing that “a-ha!” moment in students. At its best, it’s a full-body experience involving all the senses, when they understand not only the rationale behind a new technique but also appreciate the flavor and texture and transformation of food. When get their hands literally around a new ingredient or connect meaningfully with others in the kitchen or at the table later. Sometimes, it’s simply making a dish that they’ve eaten but never cooked. One of my favorite times was watching a woman finally forming, after several tries, a dumpling that her father had made when she was little but had never taught her. Even through her frustration with mastering the rolling and shaping, there was this excitement in her eyes as the cooking connected with the memories.How did you decide on these topics? Like flatbreads--that isn’t something we usually associate with Asian food.I think it’s important to remind people about the incredible diversity of Asian cuisines and the forces that shaped them, like the difference between Southern Chinese and Northern Chinese food based on history and climate and culture. I also believe there are fundamental techniques to learn that can be applied across a multitude of flavor profiles. The ingredients in basic dishes, especially the science involved, help people incorporate new techniques into their day-to-day cooking. Something as simple as understanding the behavior of wheat flour under different types of liquid and heat helps cooks appreciate a wide variety of dishes.You also don’t seem to focus on one cuisine. Each class combines the food of different countries. Is there a specific reason you decided to arrange the menus that way?Well, I could make a political argument that most of these foods predate national boundaries. But a more practical reason is just that I think it’s much more important to show the commonalities between how people cook and eat than divide their culture into distinct categories or columns. Like we could ever really say, without ignoring the rich and complex history of our foods, that this dish is Chinese and that one Japanese and that other one Korean.If you could take only one kitchen tool with you to a desert island, what would that be?Oh, that’s a hard one. It’d be a toss-up between my meat cleaver and my cast-iron skillet. I’d probably try to sneak in both. --End of interview. Thy Tran will be conducting her Asian culinary workshop series - Cooking with the Senses: Fundamentals of Asian Cooking - from May 5 to June 16, 2012. Register for one or more workshops, or the entire series today!http://cookingwithsenses.eventbrite.com/ Continue
| No commentsMay is Asian Pacific American Heritage Month at OACC!
April 10, 2012Celebrate Asian Pacific American Heritage Month with Oakland Asian Cultural Center at one or more of our amazing events, workshops and productions! Artists and organization partners include Patrick Landeza and the Ho'olupa Hawaiian Culture Foundation, Jay Loyola and the American Center of Philippine Arts, Aimee Suzara, WaSung Community Service Club, Thy Tran of Wandering Spoon, AYPAL and MORE! Visit the APA Heritage Month page for OACC's complete list of events.Continue
| No commentsThank you to the generous supporters of our Lunar New Year Festival 2012 campaign!
January 05, 2012Hey everyone!Thank from you from the bottom of our hearts to the generous companies, organizations, individuals, and others who have contributed to OACC’s Lunar New Year Festival 2012 fundraising campaign thus far. Much thanks also to those who have helped us spread the word about the campaign and the festival. We are pleased to announce that these donations and sponsorships have helped us raise approximately $4,000 toward our goal of $10,000 to support OACC’s teachers, artists, students, and weekly classes.Thank you to the following sponsors and donors of the campaign (as of 1/5/2012):Community Sponsors:Diamond Dragon: Asian Pacific Islander American Public Affairs Association, SPARC - San Francisco Patient and Resource CenterPlatinum Dragon: Dr. Lawrence Ng, Family Bridges, Inc., Oakland Chinatown Chamber of Commerce, Oakland Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce, Silver Dragon: Anonymous (1), Stewart Chen*, Asian Network Pacific Home Care & HospiceBronze Dragon: Barbara TilleyAlly: Kristine GeeSupporter: QinYi He, Teresita BautistaGovernment, Foundation and Corporate Supporters: The City of Oakland, National Endowment for the Arts, California Arts Council, The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, and U.S. BankFinally, OACC would also like to thank our dedicated and hard working Board of Directors for their fundraising efforts.*OACC Board MemberContinue
| No commentsHelp us raise $2,500 via Kickstarter to support our Lunar New Year Festival 2012!
December 22, 2011Hey everyone! On Tuesday, we launched a Kickstarter campaign to raise $2,500 of our $10,000 fundraising goal for our Lunar New Year Festival 2012. We have until Saturday, January 28, 2012 to make our Kickstarter fundraising goal. Please consider donating to the Kickstarter campaign to help us reach our goal. Donations of any amount are appreciated and will support the Festival, OACC's weekly classes, our students, teachers, artists, and our partnering organizationsPlease contact OACC's Executive Director Mona Shah or Development Manager Jennifer Chu at (510) 637 - 0455 if you are interested in supporting the Festival or have any questions. Check out this video for a brief snapshot of our students and classes. http://youtu.be/6jPkRjgSyQoContinue
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