Meet the Women Behind Two of Portland's Buzziest Restaurants

Women Who Travel | Condé Nast Traveler

Condé Nast Traveler

Society & Culture, Places & Travel

4.4 • 636 Ratings

🗓️ 1 October 2019

⏱️ 28 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Full warning: a train comes barreling through the live recording of our podcast at the Feast Portland food festival earlier this month. But it hardly stopped us from chatting with Megan Sanchez, chef and co-owner of Güero, and Nong Poonsukwattana, owner and chef at Nong's Khao Man Gai—two of our favorite women in food right now. The two chefs, who both started with food carts next to each other in Portland, each bring their very different life experiences to the table. Megan's parents' Mexican and Egyptian heritage plays a major role in her menu (nothing brings mezze to mind like a slew of salsa pots, right?). And Nong, who moved to the U.S. in the early 2000s from Bangkok, specializes in the Thai dish she wishes she could have eaten growing up in Thailand: khao man gai, poached chicken served in its broth. Listen in as we talk about what authenticity really means, where they find inspiration in travel, and about women supporting women. (And just ignored aforementioned the train.)

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hi, everyone, and thank you so much for coming out on this very dreary day.
0:08.1	We are so excited to be at Feast in Portland for a live recording of Women Who Travel,
0:12.4	a podcast from Kahn and As Traveler.
0:14.6	With me, as always, is my co-host, Laliara Kowglue.
0:17.7	Hi.
0:18.2	And I am Meredith Carey.
0:19.7	And today, we are joined by Megan Sanchez,
0:22.2	chef and co-owner of Guero. I'm Nong Punsukutana, owner of Nong's Kaumangai. Thank you both so much
0:29.5	for being here on this like really treacherous, treacherous day in Portland. I can't feel my feet.
0:36.7	I'm freezing cold, but so happy to be here.
0:40.3	And today we're going to talk about the ways that our immigrant backgrounds or our family's
0:45.3	immigrant backgrounds shape the way that we eat and create food. Nong and Megan, both of your
0:51.8	restaurants draw so much from your respective connections to Thailand and to Mexico.
0:57.0	Why don't we kick things off by having you tell us a little bit about the food you grew up eating?
1:02.7	Sure. A little known fact is that my mother's Egyptian and I actually grew up close in proximity to that side of the family.
1:11.6	So, yeah, the Mexico side, those influences are there.
1:16.2	But to start with, yeah, a lot of Middle Eastern food and that style of eating,
1:20.6	which is just a lot of food, a lot of family, a lot of people around,
1:24.0	and just sort of an indulgence and never-ending party.
1:28.8	Hi, the food I grew up in is kind of home food. We didn't have money, so we cook every meal.
1:38.9	So the experience that I have is food that make at home but made from scratch.
1:47.0	And so with Megan, you've got that Middle Eastern vibe, the like shared mezzay plates and all that stuff, very communal, and then Nong, it's like home cooked food.
	...

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