S4 E7 A Legacy of Celebrating Lao Food with Saeng Douangdara

Sabaidee and Hello! Welcome to another episode of our podcast, Legacies . I’m Dr. Palina Louangketh, Board member emeritus with Legacies of War and I have the honor today of welcoming to the podcast our friend, Saengthong Douangdara!Saeng is a personal chef who specializes in Lao cuisine turned content creator. After earning his undergraduate degree in social welfare with certificates in Asian American Studies and Southeast Asian Studies, he pursued a Master's degree in counseling psychology. While working as a counselor at the University of California, He also taught as a chef instructor in the evenings at the School of Gourmandise. A month-long trip back to Laos inspired Saeng to start his personal chef business, Saeng's Kitchen LLC, and cook for Hollywood clientele. Saeng’s work has been featured in numerous publications such as Delish, Buzzfeed, the New York Times, and LA Times. He even won an episode of the new TBS cooking competition show, Rat In The Kitchen. Saeng is one of many chefs who are part of the Lao Food Movement, a grassroots effort to center and empower Lao cuisine. His goal is to continue advocating for Lao cuisine and inspire others to explore the delicious flavors of our culture.Thank you, Saeng, for our conversation today. Thank you dear listeners,  for tuning into Legacies brought to you by our Innovators Sponsors AKIN GUMP and ARTICLE22. Please continue to listen and follow us on Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. The theme music used in this podcast are by the Lao Jazzanova Band from Vientiane, Laos.The Lao Kitchen: https://www.saengskitchen.com/cookbookLegacies of War: https://www.legaciesofwar.org/