Straits Times 7 Apr 08;
Thai hotel treats rich guests to grand meal after visit to poor village, despite outrage
BAN TATIT VILLAGE (THAILAND) - A BANGKOK luxury hotel treated its top clients to a tour of a poverty-stricken village before dazzling them with a lavish feast, ignoring outrage over the event that prompted a boycott by elite chefs.
About 120 guests in black- tie finery ate their way through 10 gourmet courses in the ballroom of Lebua Hotel on Saturday night.
Earlier, Lebua had flown about 30 of its top guests to an elephant camp in northern Thailand, with the idea that seeing the poverty would bring out the altruistic streak in them.
But the trip was almost derailed when the three French chefs slated to cook the feast found out that Lebua was not intending to give any money to charity. They pulled out, saying the idea was 'morally objectionable'.
The bad publicity spooked 20 other top chefs from France, Germany and Japan, who feared that taking part would harm their reputation.
Five other chefs were jetted in from Belgium, Britain, Canada, Germany and the Netherlands to cook the meal.
Highlights of the meal included seafood risotto, scallops with truffles, roasted rack of lamb, neck of Iberico pig - each course accompanied by a different fine Burgundy or Bordeaux.
The hotel later said it would give some money to charity: 4.5 million baht ($197,000) in donations from the hotel and some guests will go towards providing water sanitation for Ban Tatit village and books for its school.
Ahead of the feast, the guests - most of them golfing buddies, suppliers and friends of Mr Deepak Ohri, Lebua's managing director - looked on as the elephants frolicked with their handlers in the village.
After a few hours, the tired guests headed back to Bangkok in a private jet for the US$300,000 (S$414,000) meal which Lebua paid for.
'Gross!' was the reaction of Thailand's English-language Nation newspaper, which wrote in a recent editorial that the dinner cast a 'disturbing spotlight on the disparity between the rich and the poor'.
'We wanted to open people's eyes to a part of the world that needs help,' said Mr Deepak.
'Who better to give poor people what they need than rich businessmen?'
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, ASSOCIATED PRESS
Making a meal out of charity
Thai gourmet tour's altruistic aims come under fire
Today Online 7 Apr 08;
BANGKOK — Despite a moral snub from several celebrity French chefs, a Thai luxury hotel group ploughed ahead with a meal it claimed would help bridge the divide between the rich and poor.
About 120 guests clad in black-tie finery late Saturday worked their way through 10 gourmet courses, prepared by five chefs flown in from Europe and served in the glittering ballroom of Bangkok's Lebua Hotel.
Some guests were flushed — perhaps from the wine, but also because they had spent a day in the sun in a rural Thai village. The visit was the first course of a scheme Lebua dubs "emotional tourism", but derided by some as "poverty tourism".
Lebua flew about 30 of its top guests to an elephant camp in northern Thailand's Ban Tatit village, hoping that seeing the beasts and their handlers in miserable conditions would spark an altruistic streak in the food-loving high-rollers.
The trip was almost cancelled when the three French chefs slated to cook the feast found out that Lebua did not intend to give any money to charity and pulled out, saying the idea was "morally objectionable".
Said Mr Deepak Ohri, managing director of Lebua: "There was never a moment when we said we would rethink. We were determined."
Five chefs with a combined six Michelin stars were eventually flown in from Belgium, Britain, Canada, Germany and the Netherlands to cook the feast, which included roast lamb, pork and asparagus — a bit less showy than first planned, but still cost Lebua US$300,000 ($414,000), or US$10,000 per guest. The guests did not have to pay for the meal, on the condition that they attended the village tour.
Lebua also announced that it would donate money to charity, including 4.5 million baht ($196,000) to provide water sanitation for the village and books for its school.
Before the meal, the guests, who were mostly Mr Deepak's golfing buddies, suppliers and friends, wandered through the village, admiring the elephants as they frolicked with their handlers in a lake.
Meanwhile, sun-beaten villagers squatted nearby giving them curious glances.
Both the guests and villagers were confused about the aim of the trip. Mr Paluk Sak Homhuan, a 28-year-old villager, thought the gaggle of Asian and European visitors were simply tourists.
Some guests said they were not properly briefed on how the funds for the village would be used.
Mr Scott Whittaker, executive director of Bangkok's DWP architecture firm, said: "I guess what this is saying is that yes, you can come to Thailand and have a great time, but there's also another side." — AFP
