Humanitarian! Chantha Nguon, SLOW NOODLES: A Cambodian Memoir of Love, Loss, and Family Recipes
Totally Booked with Zibby
Zibby Owens
4.4 • 602 Ratings
🗓️ 13 May 2024
⏱️ 14 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Zibby welcomes Chantha Nguon to discuss SLOW NOODLES, a haunting and beautiful memoir about a Cambodian refugee who loses her country and family during Pol Pot’s genocide of the 1970s but finds hope by reclaiming the recipes she tasted in her mother’s kitchen. Chantha describes her experiences as a refugee, recounting the atrocities of the Khmer Rouge regime and the importance of preserving Cambodian culture, especially through food—from Namya fish soup to spicy green papaya pickles. She also shares the therapeutic effects of writing her story and her hope that the harrowing experiences of her people will never be forgotten.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hi, I'm Zivie Owens, and I am the host of this podcast. Moms don't have time to read books. |
| 0:08.1 | I am also a newly minted USA Today bestselling author of the novel, Blank. |
| 0:14.2 | I've created a whole community of book lovers around this podcast, a publishing company, reading retreats, a bookstore, and more. Learn more |
| 0:22.2 | at Zivimedia.com or follow me on social at Zibby Owens or join the community at Zibi Readers. |
| 0:31.3 | Chanta Noghiyan is the author of Slow Noodles, a Cambodian memoir of love, loss, and family recipes. |
| 0:38.7 | Chanta was born in Cambodia and spent two decades as a refugee until she was finally able to return to her homeland. |
| 0:44.1 | She is the co-founder of the Stung-Tren Women's Development Center, a social enterprise that offers |
| 0:50.1 | a living wage, education, and social services to women and their families in rural, |
| 0:54.9 | northeastern Cambodia. A frequent public speaker, she has appeared at universities and on radio and TV |
| 1:00.7 | news programs, including NPR's Morning Edition. She cooks often for friends, family, and for private |
| 1:06.6 | events. An excerpt from Slow Noodles and Hippocampus was named a Long Reade's best personal essay in 2021. |
| 1:13.6 | Welcome, Chanta. Thank you so much for coming on Moms Don't Have Time to read books, to discuss |
| 1:19.0 | Slow Noodles, a Cambodian memoir of Love, Loss, and Family Recipes. Congratulations. |
| 1:26.5 | Thank you for having me. |
| 1:28.8 | It's my pleasure. |
| 1:30.3 | Where are you zooming in from today? |
| 1:33.0 | I am at home in Cambodia, and we are on Cambodian New Year, the third day of the year, new year. |
| 1:42.0 | So tomorrow everybody is back to work. Oh, well, enjoy the time. |
| 1:48.7 | Tell listeners about your book. When did you decide to write a book? And what is your book about? |
| 1:55.5 | It's a story of my life. And the reason the book is written because it's a story of a refugee. |
| 2:04.7 | It's the story of the country that we have, Mar Rouge called Paul Pott, who tried to erase the history here, everybody. |
| 2:21.4 | So I was asked to tell the story as a living proof of our society, our country, our |
... |
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