How Memories of Her Mother’s Cooking Saved Chantha Nguon’s Life
Food with Mark Bittman
Sweetness and Light
4.9 • 947 Ratings
🗓️ 9 July 2025
⏱️ 25 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
We revisit an episode from last year, in which the author and cook talks to Kate about what she remembers about fleeing her home in Cambodia at the age of nine, five years before the genocide; why, and how, she decided to reclaim her family's recipes; and what brings her true happiness now.
The recipe mentioned on today's show can be found on the Bittman Project, here: https://bittmanproject.com/recipe/chantha-nguons-sour-chicken-lime-soup-village-style-sgnao-chruok-sach-mouan
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome to food. I'm Kate Bitman, and we are so glad that you're here with us. If you want more, |
| 0:08.4 | remember to check us out online at bitmanproject.com. We've got more than 1,500 recipes with new ones |
| 0:14.5 | added daily, plus some really wonderful food writing from some really wonderful food writers, |
| 0:20.1 | and recommendations for products and more. |
| 0:22.9 | Bitmanproject.com. And as always, email us with any questions or feedback at food at markbitman.com. Today's episode is an interview with writer Chantah Newin, and it's a rerun from last summer, |
| 0:54.0 | and it's one of the most poignant interviews we've done thus far, in my opinion. |
| 0:59.1 | I knew I wanted to talk with Chanty as soon as I read about her memoir, Slow Noodles, a Cambodian memoir of love, loss, and family recipes, |
| 1:08.6 | which she wrote with the writer Kim Green. But I was really nervous. How do you talk to |
| 1:13.9 | someone who's been through so much, someone who has persevered the way Chantza has, someone who |
| 1:19.6 | essentially embodies the word inspirational? Five years before the start of the Cambodian genocide, |
| 1:25.7 | when Chantah was a child, she fled her home there |
| 1:28.7 | for Vietnam. Slow Noodles is the story of her life as a refugee who loses everything and everyone, |
| 1:36.0 | home, family, country, and eventually flees to a refugee camp in Thailand, with nothing but her |
| 1:42.7 | memories of her mother's cooking to sustain her. |
| 1:45.8 | The story of how Chanta picked herself up after seeing and experiencing such atrocities is, |
| 1:51.3 | as you might imagine, remarkable. You'll hear some about just how she did that, and much of |
| 1:56.4 | it involves food. She's an absolute wonder, and it was an honor to talk to her. |
| 2:03.3 | Your book is beautiful. Congratulations. Thank you. Thank you for sharing your story. It's hard to even to say |
| 2:12.1 | how I felt about it when I was reading it. I just want to say welcome to the podcast. I'm just thrilled to have you on. |
| 2:19.8 | And I really thank you for having me. Yeah. Seriously. Thank you. |
| 2:26.4 | So, Chantta, I don't want to get too much into the details of the book because I know that's |
| 2:32.4 | probably hard for you and people should read it. |
... |
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