Published 2.20.2024 with Algonquin Books.
SLOW NOODLES
A CAMBODIAN MEMOIR of LOVE, LOSS, and FAMILY RECIPES
by Chantha Nguon (with Kim Green)
ORDER FROM:
Book Trailer
Starring Clara Kim, the author's daughter and the audiobook narrator.
Events
Nashville live events (with Chantha, Clara & Kim):
There's something for everyone:
🎨🥂Want to sip and celebrate? Come to the launch on Tuesday.
🍸🍜Want cocktails and Cambodian food? Come to Bastion on Sunday.
📚🎤Want to hear a reading and book talk? Come to Hanna Bee/Bookshop Nashville on Wednesday 2/21 or Blakeford on Monday 2/26 .
🧣Want to buy a Mekong Blue scarf? Get one at Julia Martin Gallery on 2/20 or Blakeford on 2/26.
- Tuesday, Feb. 20 @ 6-9pm - Book launch & art exhibition at Julia Martin Gallery
- Wednesday, Feb. 21 @ 6:30pm - Reading & book talk hosted by The Bookshop Nashville, next door at Hanna Bee Coffee
- Sunday, Feb. 25 @ 5-8pm - Cambodian à la carte popup at Bastion Big Bar (no reservation needed - 21+ only)
- Monday, Feb. 26 @ 3pm - Book club(s) discussion & reading at Blakeford in Green Hills. (Park at lot across Burton Hills Rd. and check in at front desk, then head to Blakeford Hall.)
Salt Lake City live event (with Chantha & Clara):
- Thursday, Feb. 29 @ 6:30pm - Reading & discussion at The Ruin
Remote events (with Chantha, Clara & Kim):
- Saturday, Feb. 24 @ 12-1:15pm ET - Transnational Literature Series Webinar co-hosted by Brookline Booksmith & lala Books. Get tickets here.
Scroll down for more detail about events.
BOOK LAUNCH & ALL-FEMALE GROUP EXHIBITION
Julia Martin Gallery
Tuesday, Feb. 20 @ 6-9pm
In-person event
Please join the authors and 21 female artists to celebrate the launch of Chantha Nguon's memoir at Julia Martin Gallery.
Parnassus will offer books for sale, and Kim, Chantha, and her daughter Clara Kim, the audiobook narrator, will be available to sign copies. There's no formal presentation, so come and go anytime!
1/3 of proceeds will go to the Stung Treng Women’s Development Center, 1/3 to the artists, and 1/3 to cover costs.
444 Humphreys St, Nashville, TN 37203
BOOK READING, TALK, & SIGNING
Hanna Bee Coffee, Hosted by The Bookshop Nashville
Wednesday, Feb. 21 @ 6:30pm
In-person event
Please join the author, Chantha Nguon, and her daughter (& the audiobook narrator), Clara Kim, for a reading and discussion at Hanna Bee Coffee, hosted by The Bookshop Nashville.
Event is free! Please RSVP here.
1035 W Eastland Ave #1045, Nashville, TN 37206
TRANSNATIONAL LITERATURE SERIES
Brookline Booksmith (Boston) & lala Books (Lowell, MA)
Saturday, Feb. 24 @ 12:00-1:15pm ET
Virtual event
Join the Transnational Literature Series at Brookline Booksmith and lala books in Lowell, Massachusetts for a virtual event with Chantha, Kim, and Clara to discuss and celebrate the release of Slow Noodles.
The Transnational Series focuses on stories of migration, the intersection of politics and literature, and works in translation and is supported by the independent bookstore Brookline Booksmith.
Get tickets here.
Pop-up at Bastion bar
Sample Cambodian fare & visit with the authors & audiobook narrator
Sunday, February 25, 2024 @ 5-8pm
21+ only - In-person event
Come by the bar at Bastion for an informal pop-up of Cambodian recipes from Chantha's book, prepared by Chantha's daughter (& audiobook narrator) Clara Kim, Meg Giuffrida, and their crew. We'll offer 5-6 à la carte items and serve from 5-8 (or until we run out). Bar specials will include a Cambodia-inspired cocktail.
Sip, sample Cambodian fare, and visit with Chantha, Clara, and Kim at Bastion.
434 Houston St STE 110, Nashville, TN 37203
READING & BOOK TALK
Blakeford at Green Hills, 11 Burton Hills Blvd, Nashville
Monday, Feb. 26 @ 3pm
In-person event
Clara will read a selection from Slow Noodles, and a Q&A and discussion will follow. We'll take audience questions and sign books after the talk.
We'll have some copies on hand to sell, or you can bring your own for us to sign. We'll also have a limited selection of Mekong Blue scarves for sale.
Park across Burton Hills Blvd. at the office park, then check in at the front desk when you enter. They'll direct you to Blakeford Hall.
BOOK READING, TALK, & SIGNING
The Ruin, 159 S Main St., Salt Lake City, UT
Thursday, Feb. 29 @ 6:30pm
21+ only - In-person event
Please join the author, Chantha Nguon, and her daughter (& the audiobook narrator), Clara Kim, for a book event at The Ruin in Salt Lake City, Utah!
Clara will read a selection from Slow Noodles, and a Q&A and discussion will follow. We'll take audience questions and sign books after the talk.
We hope to have copies on hand—details TBA. But just in case, it's safer to pre-order and bring your copy to be signed. If you order now, your copy should be delivered or ready for pickup well before this event! (*note: The Ruin is a bar, so this is a 21+ event.)
About the Book
Take a well-fed nine-year-old with a big family and a fancy education. Fold in 2 revolutions, 2 civil wars, and one wholesale extermination. Subtract a reliable source of food, life savings, and family members, until all are gone. Shave down childhood dreams for approximately two decades, until only subsistence remains.
In Slow Noodles, Chantha Nguon recounts her life as a Cambodian refugee who loses everything and everyone—home, family, and country—all but the remembered tastes and aromas of her mother’s kitchen. She takes us back to the quiet rhythms of 1960s Battambang, her provincial hometown, before the dictator Pol Pot tore her country apart and exterminated more than a million Cambodians, including ethnic Vietnamese like Nguon and her family. Then, as an emigrant in Saigon, the author loses her mother, brothers, and sister and eventually flees to a refugee camp in Thailand. For two decades in exile, she survives by cooking in a brothel, serving drinks in a nightclub, making and selling street food, becoming a suture nurse, and weaving silk.
Nguon’s irrepressible spirit and determination come through in this lyrical and inspirational memoir that includes more than twenty family recipes for dishes like chicken lime soup, green papaya pickles, and pâté de foie, as well as Khmer curries, stir-fries, and handmade bánh canh noodles. Through it all, recreating the dishes from her childhood becomes an act of resistance, of reclaiming her place in the world, of upholding the values the Khmer Rouge sought to destroy, and of honoring the memory of her beloved mother, whose “slow noodles” approach to healing and to cooking prioritized time and care over expediency.
For readers who devoured Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner and The Girl Who Smiled Beads by Clemantine Wamariya and Elizabeth Weil, Slow Noodles is a testament to the power of food to keep alive a refugee’s connection to her past and spark hope for a beautiful life.
Upcoming Events
Stories on Sunday: Zoom Webinar with Hippocampus Magazine
January 21, 2024 @ 6:00 pm - 7:30 pm EST
A reading and Q&A with Chantha, Clara, and Kim, hosted by the editors of Hippocampus Magazine, who published the SLOW NOODLES excerpt heard round the world, and helped this book find a publishing home.View more details...Book Launch & All-Female Group Exhibition
Opening Reception: Tuesday, February 20, 2024
6-9pm
Celebrate Chantha Nguon's life and work and the launch of her memoir at a women's group exhibition at Julia Martin Gallery.View more details...Listen to a sample of the audiobook!
Narrated by Chantha's daughter, Clara Kim.
About the Authors
Chantha Nguon
Chantha Nguon was born in Cambodia and spent two decades as a refugee, until she was finally able to return to her homeland. She is the 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.
A frequent public speaker, she has appeared at universities and on radio and TV news programs, including NPR’s Morning Edition. She cooks often for friends, family, and for private events.
An excerpt from Slow Noodles in Hippocampus was named a Longreads Best Personal Essay in 2021.
Kim Green
Kim Green is an award-winning writer and public radio producer based in Nashville. Her work has appeared in Fast Company, the New York Times, and on NPR’s Weekend Edition, Marketplace, and The New Yorker Radio Hour.
A licensed pilot, she was formerly a flight instructor. Read more of her work at The Greenery blog.
Sample Dishes
Dive into Khmer home cooking, from simple dinners & finger food to holiday feasts.
No-Brainer Meal
Easy recipes, familiar ingredients
Stir-fried noodles (w/ meat or veg)
Coconut sticky rice dessert
Khmer Favorites
Popular & defining dishes
Khor tamarind—a Battambang-style stew with pork and chicken
Coconut sticky rice dessert
For Special Occasions
Fancy food that's worth the effort
Amok: Khmer-style fish curry
Stir-fried morning glory with rice
Bánh flan
Cambodian Breakfast
Noodle soup for breakfast? YES!
Kuy Teav—noodle soup with fun toppings
Vietnamese iced coffee
Homemade Noodle Soup
Chantha's mom's slowest noodles
Bánh canh—chicken soup w/ homemade rice noodles
Vietnamese iced coffee
Vietnamese Specialties
Dishes from next door
Bánh xeo—crepe with pork & shrimp
Vietnamese iced coffee
Vegetarian Friendly
Dishes for veggie lovers
Green curry with tofu, long beans, & eggplant
Tofu fried with lemongrass & garlic
Green papaya pickles
Schedule a Class
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1Purchase
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2Pay Online
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3Deliver
We'll teach you to cook a meal, then sit down & eat it together.
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SlowNoodles © 2018