Student turns fruit into works of art

A student at the College has an unusual talent for turning ordinary items of fruit and vegetables into attractive sculptures.

Ruthai Udomkaewkanjana, from Thailand, has worked in many top restaurants in her home country and has also taught cooking and baking techniques in colleges there.

She came to the UK for a year to join the College's NVQ Bakery course, in order to pick up some new techniques which she could use back home.

But she is still putting her fruit-sculpting talents to good use, as she has taught other students some of her techniques, as well as working part-time at a Thai restaurant in the city and being invited to give a demonstration for a local hospitality training firm.

She said: "Making sculptures out of fruit or vegetables is an important part of Thai cooking, particularly in the more prestigious establishments.

"I first started learning how to do it around eight years ago and I got better with practice, although if you really concentrate your efforts, you could probably learn to do it fairly well in a year."

Ruthai said the cooking techniques she has picked up on her course have been quite different to what she was used to back home.

She added: "I wanted to be able to teach my students something different – and there are a lot of differences between baking in Thailand and the UK.

"I'd never seen some of the ingredients before, while I couldn't believe it when I saw my lecturer here make a loaf of bread in six minutes, when it takes around 45 minutes in Thailand!"