Theary Ngeth | South Seattle Emerald

Emerald eats is a bi-monthly documentary series starring chefs, farmers and entrepreneurs building a more diverse, meaningful food culture in South Seattle and South King Counties. This series focuses on local businesses and their role in the fight for more sustainable and equitable food systems in our communities. We bring you behind the scenes – and into life – of the people who change our food through community, culture, tradition and innovation.

by Dylan Cate

Can cooking reconnect us with loved ones we have lost? Can changing our relationship with food also change our relationship with our parents and our past?

Theary Ngeth’s relationship with food has always been complicated. When she was a young child in Cambodia, her family escaped the Khmer Rouge and brought only what they could carry. They only ate what they could find on their long journey to a refugee camp in Thailand. When her family finally settled in the United States, Theary’s mother was a productive and accomplished cook – but the food was always for someone else. As the wife of a Buddhist priest, she fed the community at weddings, social gatherings, and a community center for Cambodian elders. As a teenager, Theary refused to cook and did everything possible to avoid the kitchen when her mother was preparing large meals. For Theary, these meals were the reason her parents devoted a lot of time and attention to feeding the community, but never enough time with her.

For Theary, however, everything changed when her mother died. With her own Cambodian food kiosk in South Seattle, Theary is not just trying to reconnect with her community. She builds a new relationship with her mother’s memory and takes on her mother’s legacy. Check out their story here on Emerald Eats.

Continue reading Emerald Eats: Theary’s Kitchen →