STRATEGIC FLAVOURS

WeTV's new documentary series Tasteful Thailand explores the depth of Thai culture through ten essential ingredients

- STORY: TATAT BUNNAG

WeTV has officially unveiled Tasteful Thailand, a premium food documentary series that sets out to present the depth, diversity and cultural significance of Thai cuisine to viewers around the world. Positioned as one of WeTV's flagship cultural content projects of the year, the documentary was formally introduced at a press conference held recently at S31 Sukhumvit Hotel, marking a major milestone in cross-cultural storytelling between Thailand and China.

Tasteful Thailand is conceived as a cinematic exploration of identity — one that uses cuisine as its narrative language. The series is produced by a leading Chinese documentary team under the direction of Chen Xiaoqing, an acclaimed producer widely regarded as a pioneer of food documentaries in China. Chen is best known for Once Upon A Bite, a highly influential series that has amassed billions of views globally and set new benchmarks for the genre.

Serving as Thai co-producer is Sanook, Thailand's most-followed online media platform under 10cent Video. Together, the two production partners share a clear creative ambition to build a "cultural bridge" between Thailand and China by telling stories rooted in food, people and places — stories that transcend borders and language barriers.

Tasteful Thailand comprises 10 episodes, each centred on a single ingredient considered fundamental to Thai cuisine. Rather than offering a broad overview of dishes, the series narrows its focus to the building blocks of the Thai kitchen, revealing how everyday ingredients carry layers of history, geography and emotion. Featured ingredients include sticky rice, lemongrass, palm sugar, fermented fish (pla ra), coconut milk, chilli peppers and even the distinctive pink-hued yen ta fo, among others.