On Thursday 20 February, Faber cooked a Luxembourg-themed lunch with hospitality students in Laos’ capital Vientiane.
Faber is certainly no stranger to Asia – she has travelled to Asia over 16 times and filmed 12 episodes of her “Anne’s Asian Adventures” show (RTL 2019) in Bangkok, Hong Kong and Tokyo.
“I’ve always been passionate about Asia, and especially South-East Asia keeps drawing me back. I’ve travelled to Thailand over 12 times, and been to Vietnam and Cambodia. Laos has been on my list for a long time, so when I found out that LuxDev has a hospitality-related project in Vientiane, I knew I’d have to go.”
So, Faber coordinated a lunch service at Pakpasak Technical College in Vientiane – one of the many vocational institutions that are supported by the Skills for Tourism Project (LAO/029), which is co-financed by the Governments of Lao PDR, the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg and Switzerland, and implemented by the Ministry of Education and Sports of Lao PDR and the Luxembourg Development Cooperation Agency (LuxDev).
Over the course of one morning, Faber cooked a three-course meal with Luxembourgish flavours with the help of 20 students, a food production teacher – and one translator, to breach the language barrier.
The lunch was served to 22 distinguished guests, including Mr Sam Schreiner, Chargé d’Affaires of the Embassy of the Grand-Duchy of Luxembourg in Lao PDR.
The menu was designed to teach Lao students a few European techniques and introduce them to the flavours of Luxembourg.
“South-East Asian soups tend to be a clear broth with noodles, veg and meat/protein added to it. I’ve decided to make a pumpkin soup with Asian flavours – but blend it, like we do in Europe,” says Faber.
The soup was served with a coriander pesto and Luxembourg-shaped croutons – which the students cut out with Faber’s Luxembourg-shaped cookie cutters.
The main course consisted of traditional Luxembourgish Kniddelen.
“Asia has wide-spread love for dumplings, so I wanted to show the Laot ian students that Luxembourg also has dumplings,” says Faber.
In contrast to Asian dumplings, which always come with a filling, Luxembourgish Kniddelen consist of a simple dough which is first boiled and then fried in butter and served with bacon lardons.
For dessert, Faber decided to make her grandmother’s famous orange cream – a popular recipe from her TV show and ‘Home Sweet Home’ cookbook.
“It was an incredible experience which I would love to repeat in other countries in the future!”
With lots more embassy-related cooking projects up her sleeve, Faber is certainly on the way of becoming Luxembourg’s very own food ambassador.
