nonfiction/memoir - one Vietnamese/Cambodian refugee woman's stories told as through a kitchen table conversation, with recipes both literal (as with family recipes) and figurative (as with emotions and ideas). Set in Cambodia during Lon Nol's time (Late 1960s-1971) and the beginning of the transition to Khmer Rouge/Pol Pot's regime, through the end of the Vietnam War in Vietnam (1975) and the poverty and oppression that followed, and in a refugee camp in Thailand with her partner for almost 10 years after that (a place full of terrible abuses of its own, but nonetheless not bad enough to drive people back to whatever miseries were left of their lives in Vietnam or Cambodia), until a free election would finally be held in Cambodia in 1993, after which they reluctantly returned to a country with barely any food, money, or jobs, and where she would be the poorest and hungriest she'd ever been, before finding a job that provided food security and eventually founding their own nonprofit.

Nguon and Green seem to make a great team -- together they've written a memoir that is intensely readable. I really liked that this one ended with the author's (continuing) work to rebuild her country and treating others with boundless compassion. Highly recommended.

april 2024 bingo challenge: includes prologue and epilogue, moon on cover, no character on cover ( )

A wonderful memoir about a woman who faces unbelievable struggles as a Cambodian refugee for twenty years. Her story of resilience is amazing. How many of us could survive years of poverty, near starvation and awful living conditions? After her and her common law husband end up back in Cambodia, they work hard to help other people. ( )

“Once you have learned to lose everything, there’s nothing left to fear,” Chantha Nguon learned. A refugee at age five, she lost the security of a loving, comfortable home filled with the aromas of her mother’s cooking. Haunted by the memory of hunger and the memory of happiness that could be resurrected with a taste of a beloved dish from her childhood, Chantha endured and survived, and finally, was able to thrive and help other women with her non-profit organizations. But it was a long journey across three countries and a decade in a refugee camp.

It tasted like home and happiness, like a past I chose to remember as perfect.

from Slow Noodles by Chantha Nguon
Chantha shares her family recipes that shaped her life, including her mother’s Slow Noodles Porridge with Chicken and Pork and Pate de Foie, to foods of desperation, Land-Mine Chicken and Frog Soup.

“Free will is a muscle It requires exercise,” Chantha writes. Her family’s escape from Cambodia for Vietnam did not bring safety, for under Pol Pot starvation and death stalked them. As a young woman, she and a companion plotted to escape to Thailand, but instead of finding a refuge they were interned in camps where privation and hunger and disease awaited. Although Chantha spoke numerous languages and had training in sewing, cooking, and medical care, they were unable to gain refuge in the West. Desperate for their lives to begin, they accepted repatriation to Cambodia. After failed ventures to find an income, finally found employment and opportunity to help others.

From a soft childhood to the trauma of war and dictatorship to opening a Women’s Development Center, Chantha’s story will enthrall and inspire.

Thanks to the publisher for a free book. ( )

I enjoyed this book and rate it 4.5 stars rounded down. The subtitle "of love, loss and family recipes' gives a prelude to a book where the author tries to grieve by sharing family recipes and her love of cooking. There are 20 recipes, most of which are rather time consuming and neither my wife or i will probably try them. But I enjoyed reading them and many sound delicious. My wife does the cooking for the two of us. Her favorite cookbook is "30 minute Meals" by Rachel Ray.
Slow Noodles in the title is there because it takes hours to prepare rice noodles in the traditional manner. When the author worked at a food stall, she would arise at 4am to start preparations for selling at 7am.
If you are interested in Asian cooking, then this book is for you. i strongly recommend to anyone who enjoys cooking.
One quote: "The memory of hunger is a curse that never leaves you."
#slownoodles #SlowNoodles #NetGalley
#chanthanguon
Thanks to Katrina Tiktinsky at Algonquin Books for sending me this book.

recipes, Cambodia, Vietnam, sewing, family-drama, family-dynamics, family-expectations, family-history, survival, grief, grieving, Khymer Rouge, historical-figures, historical-places-events, historical-setting, history-and-culture, Indochina, forced-poverty, forced-labor, refugees, relationships, relatives, cultural-exploration, cultural-heritage, biography, memories, black-market, smuggling, war, bravery, education*****

I read the book for being the memories of a survivor of Indochina at horrible time in history and how she managed to survive and grow. I will buy one for my sister because she is a real cookbook geek and will love it.
Life for ordinary people in Cambodia was of a sort Westerners have trouble understanding before the series of wars, and the horrors of the takeover by Pol Pot were worse than those of the Gestapo. Chantha kept on doing whatever it took for survival until almost all of those she loved were dead. Then it became issues of becoming a refugee with hope diminishing each year despite learning new skills and languages. Finally she and her partner had to return to their former homeland and found it much changed. Working with one NGO after another and bringing forth the special cooking skills she retained she worked with others to save the hopeless and bring them choices.
(We have no Southeast Asian ancestry, and our people came to Wisconsin by choice in the early 1900s.)
I requested and received an EARC from Algonquin Books via NetGalley. Thank you!
Love Songs from a Shallow Grave (Dr. Siri Paiboun, #7) by Colin Cotterill (2011) is worth reading. ( )