Kim Fay, Kimmy Tang, and Tin Vuong will join us for a panel discussion on Vietnamese cuisine moderated by Nancy Zaslavsky!
Growing rapidly in popularity world-wide, Vietnamese cuisine is a unique amalgam of influences. For more than one thousand years the 1,025-mile long country experienced occupation, war and foreign trade that resulted in a food culture shaped by Chinese, Cambodians, Indians, French and Japanese to create a national cuisine. This assimilation and transformation of flavors continue to this day.
About the speakers:
Washington-born Kim Fay lived in Vietnam from 1995 to 1999 and has returned regularly ever since. Her book Communion: A Culinary Journey Through Vietnam, received a Gourmand World award, and she is the creator and series editor of the To Asia With Love guidebooks.
Chef Kimmy Tang was born in Saigon, Vietnam. After the Vietnam War, while still a teenager, she migrated to USA and earned a degree in fashion design from L.A.’s Fashion Institute of Design and Manufacturing. Her love of cooking was stronger, however, and in 2001, right out of FIDM, she opened her first restaurant, Michelia. In 2008 she took a sabbatical trip to explore the world’s cuisines on their home ground. On returning, she opened 9021PHO in Beverly Hills and expanded it to five locations. In 2015 she took another sabbatical to write a series of books, starting with Kimmy Tang’s Asian-Fusion Lenten Cuisine.
Tin Vuong’s grandparents fled Vietnam during the fall of Saigon and passed along a wealth of cooking knowledge to the young Vuong while he grew up in the San Gabriel Valley. Today he is chef/partner of Blackhouse Hospitality with six restaurants including the acclaimed Little Sister in downtown L.A. and Manhattan Beach. Little Sister introduces Angelenos to the influences of Vietnamese imperialist rule cuisine during the 19th century—it builds on classic French technique fused with Vuong’s culinary knowledge.
Free and open to the public. A reception with themed refreshments will follow the talk at approximately 11:30am.