To enhance the skills and knowledge of individuals in response to new development, the labour ministry has been providing upskilling and reskilling programmes to many Bhutanese firms. For the last two weeks, the ministry provided advanced cooking training to 20 hoteliers and staff in Trongsa. They were trained to prepare Indian and Continental cuisines.
Sonam Dorji, a cafe-restaurant owner says reskilling and upskilling will help him diversify his food items. Through this training, he plans to add five more dishes to his restaurant’s menu.
“In Trongsa, we don’t get dishes which are served in the hotels of Thimphu and Phuentshogling. Therefore, we want to make use of the skills that we acquired and make those dishes available here,” he said.
Like Sonam, others were also inspired to serve a variety of Indian and Continental dishes hereafter.
“We can either run our own business or work for other hotels and restaurants after getting this training,” said Sonam Choki, a participant.
“At the moment, the way of preparing dishes is the same whether it is chicken or beef. So, from this training, we learned how to cook differently,” said Sonam Choden, a hotelier.
According to the Bhutan Institute of Tourism and Hospitality, Indian and Continental cuisines are not so popular at the moment in Trongsa. Only a few hotels serve such cuisines.
“About 32 cuisines including dessert are taught to them. Henceforth, we hope they can prepare such cuisine at their homes or in the hotels they work with,” said Tshering Dorji, the trainer from the Bhutan Institute of Tourism and Hospitality.
There are 38 hotels and 12 restaurants in Trongsa town.
Passang, Trongsa
Edited by Tshering Zam
