The story of the author starts in 1960's Cambodia, in the provincial town of Battambang, where Chantha's family lived a quiet and peaceful life, where the delicious food of her mother played a huge part in the life of Chantha and her brothers and sisters, before the gruel dictator Pol Pot came to power, before the Khmer Rouge killed more than a million innocent Cambodians, and ethnic Vietnamese, like Chantha's family, in a horrific genocide. Together with her brothers and sister she flees to Saigon, while her other sister joins a convent in Belgium and her mother stays behind in war torn Cambodia. During her time in Saigon, the author loses her mother, brothers and sister, which is just devastating and very tragic. She survives by taking on all kinds of jobs cooking for the woman who work in a brothel, serving drinks in a nightclub, making and selling street food, becoming a suture nurse, and weaving silk. DUring her stay in Vietnam and Thailand, her mother's traditional Khmer recipes, filled with love and memories, play a huge part in her life, as this keeps both the memory of her mother and her Cambodian culture, which the Khmer Rouge tried to destroy. The book is filled with the original fantastic and mouth watering recipes; from chicken lime soup, green papaya pickles, and pâté de foie, to as Khmer curries, stir-fries, and handmade bánh canh noodles.
Later on, as war is also tearing Vietnam apart, she flees to Thailand with her husband, where they land for many years in extreme poverty in a refugee camp, their hope to move to a country as America slowly vanishes as everytime they apply, they are refused. They decide to go back to Cambodia, where Chantha later on became the f =co-founder of Mekong Blue and the Stung Treng Women’s Development Center (SWDC), a social enterprise that offers a living wage, education, and social services to women and their families in rural northeastern Cambodia.
Slow Noodles is a moving and gripping book. I have read more book about Cambodia, but never such a detailed and moving, personal story about someone who truly experienced the horrific Khmer Rouge period. With everything that happens to Chantha in both Cambodia, Vietnam and Thailand, I am not sure if i could stay as strong as she is. During extremely difficult and tragic circumstances she keeps going on strong and doesn't give up. The recipes of her mother give her also a lot of mental strength .As a reader it left me with great and deep respect for this strong woman. The book is beautifully written, altough what happens to Chantha and her family isn't beautiful at all. Nguon gives also so much information about regional history in Cambodia and the political climate during the 70s and 80s in Cambodia, Thailand, and Vietnam You can truly feel the deep love for her family and food in the book. This is one of the very best memoirs coming out this year, and I truly recommend reading it!!
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