The food documentary Tasteful Thailand, directed by Chinese producer and filmmaker Chen Xiaoqing, won a Gold award at this year’s Telly Awards.
The Telly Awards, held for the 47th time this year, received more than 14,000 entries reviewed by the Telly Awards Judging Council. The competition recognises productions across multiple formats, including television, YouTube, social media, animation, vertical video and AI-generated content.
The Tasteful Thailand documentary received the Gold award in the General Documentary category. The series was produced through a collaboration between the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT), Thai news website Sanook and Chinese streaming platform Tencent Video, also known as WeTV.
Chen Xiaoqing, known for the food documentary Once Upon A Bite, led the production of the 10-episode series. Each episode, running about 10 to 15 minutes, explores Thai ingredients and their origins while highlighting the flavours associated with regional cuisine.
Leading Thai chefs also appear throughout the documentary to discuss food culture and cooking. In addition to cuisine, the series features tourism destinations across different parts of Thailand.
The first episode aired on Tencent Video and WeTV on December 28 last year, and all 10 episodes are now available on the platforms.
The production team also released behind-the-scenes videos, articles and interviews with Chen Xiaoqing between December and March, documenting his experience filming in Thailand.
According to TAT, the Tasteful Thailand documentary was created to promote the uniqueness of Thai food and tourism destinations to younger international travellers, particularly Chinese audiences.
Deputy government spokesperson Ploythalay Lucksameesaengchan welcomed the award result and said it reflected the international appeal of Thai cuisine as part of Thailand’s soft power strategy.
Ploythalay added that the recognition represented another step in promoting Thai culture globally and supported the government’s policy of positioning Thailand as a gastronomy tourism destination.
The story ้Chinese-directed Tasteful Thailand documentary wins Gold at Telly Awards as seen on Thaiger News.
