Cooking with Poo Bangkok: How a Small Business Changed Lives
Saiyuud “Chompoo” Diwong turned cooking classes in Bangkok’s Klong Toey slum into a thriving microenterprise that supports her family and creates opportunities for others. With support from Urban Neighbors of Hope and its Helping Hands program, her cookbook and cooking classes have attracted international attention.
- Poo began teaching Thai cooking classes through a microenterprise initiative in Bangkok’s Klong Toey slum.
- Her cookbook, Cooking with Poo, gained international recognition and sold more than 6,000 copies at the time of the article.
- Book proceeds support Helping Hands, and Poo contributes 10 percent of her net profit to the microenterprise group.
By Jennifer Johnson
It’s the attention-getting title of a new cookbook that’s received international attention—and helped Saiyuud “Chompoo” Diwong create a new life for herself and her family in the Klong Toey slum of Bangkok.
Cooking Classes Create New Opportunities in Bangkok
Poo began by offering cooking classes as part of a microenterprise initiative led by Ash and Anji Barker, directors of Urban Neighbors of Hope (UNOH), which partnered with Christian Missionary Fellowship (Indianapolis, IN) earlier this year. The Barkers and two other families live in the Bangkok, Thailand, slums and lead community centers, a Christian school, the Helping Hands microenterprise program, and more. Other UNOH teams live among the urban poor in Melbourne and Sydney, Australia, Auckland, New Zealand, and Mae Sot, Thailand (along the border with Burma).
Although the classes began small—often with Anji serving as an interpreter to curious tourists—today Poo offers classes six days a week. Each class includes a tour of the local market, a half-day cooking session, and time to enjoy the results. She also runs a catering service offering full meals, sweet Thai desserts, and appetizers.
Cooking with Poo Gains International Recognition
In 2011 she released the 100-page Cooking with Poo, which caught the attention of celebrity chefs like Jamie Oliver and won the Diagram Prize, an international contest for the strangest book title. She’s been featured in CNN Go, Der Spiegel, and the Bangkok Post, and her cooking classes are highly recommended on tripadvisor.com.
More than 6,000 copies of the book have sold so far. The proceeds support Helping Hands, and Poo also donates 10 percent of her net profit back to the microenterprise group.
“Before, we felt like no one cared about us here in the slum, but now we know people do care and are interested in our lives,” Poo said in a recent article in The Nation. “And they are encouraging us to keep going and help others. Lots of jobs have come as a result, and we can help more people. It’s allowing us to give new opportunities to many people, so I’m really excited!”
Jennifer Johnson, one of Christian Standard’s contributing editors, lives in Levittown, Pennsylvania.
