When we started ideating on Immigrant Kitchen, I knew I wanted to feature Phon Sann first.
A co-host from one of last year’s BIPOC Foodways Alliance Tables, Phon’s story, and the way she told that story through her cooking, completely blew me away.
Phon is a perfect example of what we know to be true at BFA and Immigrant Kitchen: the language of cooking is a profound and powerful one— often more powerful than words can convey.
Her four daughters understand this language well— they grew up at her table, and around (but not always in) her kitchen, where all of the important family business takes place.
Phon’s refugee immigrant story is one of hardship and survival, but the cooking she learned from her mother before being forced into exile is the what keeps her anchored not just to her culture, but to the continual survival instincts needed when one home gets traded in for another— against one’s own hopes, wishes, or will. That survival includes a way to show love, and a way to remember, when remembering, and verbally communicating, is painful.
I could say more, but wouldn’t you prefer to taste Phon’s cooking yourself, experiencing her story the way she would have you hear it?
Subscribers— tickets for our first Immigrant Kitchen event on April 30, 2025 at 6p.m. are available to you now! They will go on sale to the general public tomorrow. Act fast— tickets are very limited.
Click the Eventbrite link below for full event details. Read about our second April 30 co-host (there will be two) Sina War, next week!
Get your preorder tickets here!
Hope to see you at our first Immigrant Kitchen Table.
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