Doctor is an occupation that is required to have a comprehensive understanding the complexity of human body and often we always witness how doctors usually get involved in the advocacy of health literacy and diseases.
But behind the white doctor gown after work, surprisingly, Doctor Orain Vintachai, is also one of the most renowned food ‘Reviewers’ at Wongnai, the well-known “What to eat today.” bible in a platform of the popular website for food lovers.
It’s an honor for Balance to have had the opportunity to have a fireside chat with her today as we would like to pin point seven miscellaneous stories of the food reviewer to our readers.
How does doctor become food reviewer?
The journey started from how medical school has its own tradition to treating their new juniors, so I went to search for the information on the internet about what and where to eat and I have found Wongnai website sometime around 2011 or 2012. At times, it was the beginning of the website. I saw many people put their reviews on the website. I, as a person who loves taking pictures and knows so many delicious restaurants also wanted to be part of this, so I have done it for 7 years now. As time flies, I have over 60,000 fans and followers.
How do you see yourself being one of the most influential food reviewers in Thai culinary industry?
Positively speaking, it is how I get to help promote the small restaurants that on one knows or the big high-end restaurants that people may think that they cannot afford them when in fact they might be able to do so. Food reviewing plays a very beneficial role for both buyers and sellers, but in contrast, it can also be very risky because we can never know if the review can really be trusted unless that reviewer should have certain credibility to some extent. In fact, there’s also some restaurants who tried to sponsor me because they wanted to get a 5-star ranking, but I chose to refuse their sponsorship because it’s easier and more ethical for me to write the review as the way it truly is.
I review and judge the foods based on the major considering elements of taste and decoration. For the big restaurants, I would also consider services. Even if you have super good foods, but if you have bad services, I would rank you less stars anyway.
Could you tell us about the most prenominal experience on how people follow your review?
There was one short-term culinary project that was super expensive beyond the reach of the people, however, the foods were created with interesting stories that could be rarely seen anywhere else. The food presentation was well executed alongside the decent services which in fact worth trying. Also, the provider also put big emphasis on the use of ingredients both imported or the local ones. For example, if they name one cocktail accordingly to one famous river, the ingredients of that cocktail would also come from places where the river passes by. This culinary storytelling makes it very interesting which later many people approached and asked me for the information.
Could you tell us about the eating culture of the Thai people based on your previous experiences?
Honestly speaking, I think that Thai people love to follow the eating trend even though individuals have their own specific preferences who seek different types of cuisine. But as for the teenage market, they tend to follow the current trend despite the fact that the menu is almost the same. As long as in trendy, they will just follow other people such as the case of bubble tea or salted egg lava.
Looking from the doctor’s perspective, how do you see the eating trend now?
I think it’s quite critical now because most of the foods is made of carbohydrates. In fact, there’s also the emerging trend of clean food but yet still not much. When I said it’s critical, I’m talking about the group of dessert eaters as we can find young generation with blood pressure and diabetes more and more. As a doctor, I think we find more younger people who have disease related to fats, blood pressure and obesity.
And whether or not the clean food is really clean? I think we may have to take up some observation because based on my personal experience, clean foods in the market tend to be more spicy or salty than what’s proclaimed in their advisement. I think we should pick the clean food from the trusted provider.
How would you see the eating trend in the next 10 years?
I think that the healthy trend would become more popular in the next 10 years as we may find more diseases in the group of younger people. The bubble tea may be gone by then. But in fact, foods like many other industries such as fashion, is a vicious cycle. They will come and go and come back again. The chili paste with boiled vegetable may become the high-end cuisine in the future. Who knows?
If you were to review yourself, how would you describe your eating habit?
I think that our lives are like the sin wave which go up and down all the time. I also have my own diet period that I won’t do any reviews during that time because I don’t think I can fully feel the energy. But other than that period, I would also go extreme in eating and reviewing the foods. Partly, it’s because of the stress from work, so many doctors have turn themselves to be food reviewers more these days. But most importantly, please do not forget to take care of ourselves at the end.
Over an hour conversation with the food-reviewer doctor, it gives us the feeling that she is trying to do her best job as a food reviewer as much as being a doctor who treats their patients. Because the bottom line of her message is to emphasize on the fact that even though how massive choices of food we have, and no matter how the reviewers may make the menu sound and look even more interesting, but at the end of the day, what makes a good food lies on its quality. The doctor also told us that it’s very important for the new generation reviewers that to become a quality reviewer, you should have a comprehensive know-how about the source of the ingredients, basic of culinary knowledge, good sensory, and decent taste differentiation skill – that makes you a good reviewer.
Author
Nattaporn Pinpech
Creative / Story teller
Interviewee
Doctor Orain Vintachai
Residency, Department of Emergency Medicine,
Faculty of Medicine Vajira Hospital
Elite member of Wongnai application 8 years