by Dr. Iain
Corness
Chris Kridakorn-Odbratt is certainly not your average
Swede. These days he is the executive chef at the Royal Thai School of
Culinary Arts in Bang Saen, a position that has come to him after a
colourful (and culinary) passage through life.
He was born in Gothenburg in Sweden, the elder son to
an Ericsson executive who was posted all over the world, from Asia, to
Eastern Bloc countries and the Middle East by the late ’60s. These
postings happened in such quick succession that Chris was never able to
sit down to formal education. “I was enrolled in the British School in
Cairo, but by the time I was accepted we had moved on again!” So his
education was done, on the run, by his mother.
However, he would spend two months of the year with his
maternal grandmother. His interest in the kitchen began with her, a lady
who was a chef and restaurateur. When he was old enough to see over the
tops of the pots and pans, he would stand beside her on a chair and stir
the day’s stockpot.
When his ‘informal’ education was over, the young
Chris found himself drafted into the company his father worked for,
nepotism being a great way to get a head start! However, the authorities
had other ideas, and Chris was drafted into the Swedish Army for his
National Service.
There, after basic training, he was asked what he would
like to do, but after being rejected for training as a Navy Seal (because
he could actually swim!) he decided that being an Arctic Commando sounded
as if it were exciting. Exciting or not, it was enough to keep him
gainfully employed for the next five years, rescuing Arctic climbers who
had got into difficulties, and possibly Arctic seals from polar bears! He
resigned when he found that the next step up the ladder involved three
years of driving a desk. Not to his adventurous liking at all.
He returned home to his family while he took stock of
what was to come next. This part of his life lasted two days before he met
a young lady doctor in a restaurant and they formed a relationship which
afforded Chris the opportunity to return to his missed education, sit for
his High School Leaving Certificate and go to college to emerge with a
Masters in Business Administration.
This was 1980 and the world was just discovering
computers. Chris joined Intel, working in various corners of Europe, and
was passing on to his customers the benefits of using a standard operating
system for their computers. This system was MS DOS 1.0 (I did mention this
was early days in computer technology)!
With the rapid advances in IT, it was common to receive
telephone calls from head-hunters, offering incredible wages. Chris
rejected these offers, since he felt he did not have the true depth of
experience necessary to do justice to the salary; however, when one day he
received a telephone call from a certain Mr. Bill Gates, the next stage of
his life began. He was to head up world sales for Microsoft, other than in
the USA.
This period of his life was a hectic race with frequent
flyer miles as the prize. This was not job related, but was rather related
to the fact that he had discovered Thailand and spent weekends in Bangkok
and weekdays in Europe. “The money was there big time, but I was getting
tired of the 80-100 hours a week,” (to say nothing of the travelling and
weekend activities) and he turned his back on the computer industry,
deciding to settle in Thailand. “When I quit, I gave my stock options
back. Some days I regret this.” It was 1984, and nobody could have
really predicted what was going to happen in the next two decades.
He took a position as a financial consultant to the
Marketing Organization of Thai Farmers, and after that he took another
position as that of husband to M.L. (Princess) Pratabjai, who just
happened to have a restaurant as part of her dowry. The two had met in
Tokyo, while he was working as a financial consultant there and they
married shortly after, amalgamating their surnames as part of their joint
commitment.
The newly-weds returned to Thailand and Chris began to
renovate his father-in-law’s summer house in Bang Saen, as he really did
not know where his next move in life should be. This direction turned out
to be heading back towards standing on a chair beside his maternal
grandmother stirring stockpots, but this time it was standing in five star
kitchens in Tokyo and then a year in London at the Cordon Bleu Cooking
School, graduating with a Grand Diploma.
He returned to Thailand with his new diploma in his
pocket, but then took it to Taiwan where he had been invited to set up a
school of culinary arts in Kaoshiung. After this it was back to Thailand,
and this time, with his wife, set up the Royal Thai School of Culinary
Arts in the renovated Bang Saen summer house in 1997. This was designed to
teach Thai cooking to Thai and foreign chefs.
His teaching role there resulted in a Professorship
from Kasetsart University, and this was followed by his being elected
president of the Chef’s Association of Thailand, a position he has only
just relinquished.
However, with the world downturn in travel and economy,
the school was obviously going to go through a downturn too, and Chris
decided to open a restaurant attached to the school. This is called Bahn
Pratabjai, after his wife, and will be the subject of our food critic,
Miss Terry Diner’s review, in a few weeks time.
So is Bang Saen the final stop for Chris Kridakorn-Odbratt? I doubt it.
His ambition is to run the Thailand school from October to March and a
small summer restaurant in Sweden from May to August. Watch this space!
