From KCRW, I'm Evan Klyman, and this is good food.

My childhood was quite unusual, so growing up, my mom would actually turn the apartment into a saloon where people would come and gamble to the wee hours in the night.

And then during that time, as people are gambling, there are various food vendors

who would pop up and sell fried chicken that's in a paper bag, or there's the papaya lady salad

who would, you know, had her seat in her van ripped out and set up a papaya salad station.

And then not only that, there's this park called Andrew Cruz

Park. And there you can find food vendors that's just setting up, like as if it was in Cambodia,

selling lemongrass beef skewers, Cambodian-style sausages, Keteo Prompah and like pork noodle soup.

You know, looking back, I thought this was very normal,

but I realized that it was quite unique.

With a childhood like that,

is it any wonder that Chef Knight Young found her way back to food?

In her new cookbook, My Cambodia, a Kamai cookbook,

Knight traces her journey from Cambodia to Northern California,

where she's the chef owner at Lunette Cambodia in San Francisco.

Hi, Knight.

Hi, Evan.

So good to speak to you.

I'm such a fan.

Oh, we're so happy that you're here.

Your book is quite beautiful.

Your parents fled Cambodia after the Khmer Rouge seized power in

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