Hawker Fare: Stories & Recipes from a Refugee Chef's Th… (2024)

I wouldn't normally include a cookbook in my Goodreads feed. The first 100 pages of this beautifully illustrated homage to Lao cooking are a memoir of Syhabout's childhood as the son of Lao emigres in Oakland, CA, and it's beautifully told. It's a picture of growing up in a tight-knit community struggling (successfully) to stay afloat in a new world, of the intersection of the Lao, other Asian, African-American, Hispanic, and white communities that are Oakland, of returning to Laos to visit.

Most of all it's the story of Syhabout's self-discovery through his culinary journey. If you ever wondered how the same person could have founded a Michelin-starred classic restaurant (Commis) and a gritty Lao street food restaurant (Hawker Fare), this book explains it.

Oh, and the recipes and discussions of ingredients are fascinating!

I am working on a more formal review for my uncle's publication in Seattle, but this is the book I needed to read, right now, this year. If you know me, you know how important representation in literature and media is to me. How the power of mirrors and the absence of them can marginalize or elevate your status. I want to make Syhabout's story of growing up as a refugee from Laos in the "Laotian ghetto" a YA novel. Don't be fooled that this book is solely a cookbook. The first half is visceral, sensory description of growing up with his Lao-Thai mother and Lao father in Oakland, with part of each family's pig share drying on the apartment roof for jerky and parties that went well into the night with gambling, drinking and ending with chicken noodle soup made by scratch. Syhabout's family's struggle with their own restaurant, cooking the food of their homeland for themselves while cooking the phat Thai and green curries their customers demanded. I am impressed and in awe of this man whose summer vacations and weekends were restaurant work, who put himself out there right after a 13 month culinary program to eventually work with top chefs and earn a Michelin star. I am impressed with his humility to return and celebrate his roots right after his mom moves back home and to do the work of returning home to find and own those roots himself. Yes, this book has recipes, but more than that it has writing that comes to life of a story that needs to be told.

This was out-freaking-standing, even though I was totally the white customer Syhabout's mother had to cook for throughout her career who would be like "I don't want the blood in my food, pls and thank you." I was reading a lot of the recipes and feeling like a picky eater - which I'm not in general but I'm not into offal, eggs, most fish, or mushrooms. So like I said, I would read the recipes and go "lordy lordy, I'm so damn white." Of course the grilled meats, various sauces, and desserts sounded delicious and I want those Lao peanuts that were like one of the first recipes.

But the memoir and its tone - and the part where Syhabout and I are both Californian and about the same age - resonated deeply with me, even though I'm a working-class white woman. The 89 earthquake was a huge deal and there was a huge SE Asian migration to various parts of California that added a new element to California's diversity. I was in the San Diego area, so we had more Vietnamese and Chaldean kids where I was, but Syhabout's memories 100% took me back to my childhood and the frankly unbeatable street Mexican my parents and I grew up. My dad can cook a mean carne asada and was downing sriracha before it became trendy, and we'd eat tons of Mexican on Christmas Eve with his family and there's nothing quite like a memoir that can evoke a time and emotion like a food memoir. Kitchen Confidential did that for me, and so did this book. Just great.

James Syhabout came to the United States as a two-year-old refugee from Laos. He is half Lao and half Isan/Thai. His parents escaped the war and brought him to Oakland, California, where they settled. His mother was an excellent cook and to help support the family she started working at a Thai restaurant. As the family became more acclimated, they opened their own Thai restaurant. James grew up helping in the family business and developed a strong interest in food. He decided to become a chef and earned an Associate degree from the California Culinary Institute. He then went to Europe and studied cooking in several countries before coming back to the U.S. and opening his own restaurant. He excels at fine cuisine and has a Michelin star rating.
This book is part memoir - the story of a refugee and his family and a tribute to his mother. The recipes are not restaurant fare, but the kind of food his mother cooked at home - Lao home cooking. The recipes are fascinating, even if one never tries to make them.

This book was fascinating! Part biography, part cookbook I enjoyed reading this book. The only thing that I can say that I disliked was some of the recipes and it’s not true dislike, there were new ingredients that appeared daunting to me as I’ve never made my own sausage or cooked with blood or eaten raw meats and while I was fascinated I’m not sure want to eat such foods. I’d try them if someone else prepared them for me though, I’m willing to try most things once- but that doesn’t mean I’m going to make them myself. I’d want to try them from a cook who’s made the dish before. I am excited to see there was a recipe for crispy fried rice- it’s one of my favorite dishes I tried at a restaurant and couldn’t find a recipe of my own to make. So I’m really excited to have the recipe now. Really excited!

I picked this up to browse the recipes and got sucked into Syhabout’s story almost from the first lyrical paragraph. I read the rest of it in one sitting (while simmering a totally non-Lao stew, and then while eating it) and I felt like I’d gone on an expansive, thought-provoking journey. I live in Oakland and have eaten at Commis as well as his more recent restaurant Hawking Bird, but really didn’t know anything about his story or how much I would resonate with it (in spite of having had a very different, but also Asian American, upbringing). What a beautiful book, a true immigrant story and love letter to past and present and the very different versions of cooking that he knows so well.

The memoir/biography part runs long (and I don't really go to cookbooks for memoirs and biographies), but he wrote it well and I don't think many people really know much about what Laotian immigrants have experienced.

The actual cookbook part is a little short, but the pictures are well done and the recipes are solid. Laotian food isn't too familiar in the U.S., but this is a good start for people who don't have access to Laotian restaurants or friends.

First reading about food of Laos. This book is part auto-biography and American hustle was unbelievable but James and his family has been very ambitious to come so far. Love the recipes and some points about this cuisine is so hard to clarify(because neighboring Thailand). Overall this is the only book written about Laos cuisine. Happy that I read about it.

This book transported me back to my travels in Laos and Thailand. I could taste everything. Looking forward to trying some of the recipes. The spiced peanuts look like the incredible ones I've been trying to recreate from our visit in Luang Prapang. Unfortunately, I don't think I'm brave enough to cure my own pork on top of my fridge, or cook with beef bile.

Try the crispy rice salad and the Imperial rolls! Also, the Lao fried chicken in chili jam is the best fried chicken my husband and I have ever had. The flavors are ingenious and as my son said, it's spicy without overcoming the flavor of the beautifully marinated chicken. I wish there were more Laotian cookbooks out there. It is an underrepresented cuisthat deserves more attention!

As a first-generation Laotian, I identify with Syhabout's story. I've been trying to cook more traditional dishes at home, so this is a welcome addition to our arsenal (aside from my Mom's memory). I'm looking forward to working our way through the recipes!

This is a well writen and very authentic northern Thai but mostly Lao cookbook. What kept it from "grabbing" me is that there are few vegetarian dishes (being a plant based guy). However, if you eat meat and want non-americanized recipes, this is the book for you.

Great descriptions of his refugee experience growing up and his experiences in the kitchen and restaurants that led him to the chef he is today. Also, good story of his family and a quest to make it in America and his Mother's restaurant and "drive."

Great looking recipe pictures, and the memoirs are interesting. The ingredients are really hard to get though. I might try this again some other time.

excellent read and good recipes

A gorgeous homage to the Laotian American story and celebration of Isan food.

Part recipe book and part memoir. Wonderfully illustrated. Great recipes! This is one I'll consider buying. (Got this one from my local library.)

This book made me want to travel and eat more than cook.
some amazing recipes but some of them seemed a bit complicated in terms of ingredients or tools.

Beautiful photos but easier to get take out

An interesting book! There are recipes for foods I've never heard of but I'll enjoy trying them!

Amazing stories + delicious recipes!

I thoroughly enjoyed the extensive biography because it felt and read like a good friend telling you about their travels and life. I learned a lot about Laos culture and the recipes were made accessible with great notes for each dish. Great, bright photography throughout the book. Well done!

Reading the world
✔Laos

A cookbook for reading the world? Most definitely. This book bursts from beginning to end with beautiful photographs and the first third of it’s pages are filled with stories of a childhood and culture resurrected through food. Syhabout proves “Food is digestible culture”—his book is an explosive sensory reminder through photographs, stories, and recipes of how much what we eat and the rituals associated with preparing and eating it have a lot to do with who we are, where we come from, and what soothes us and brings us feelings of home.

Syhabout brought a long forgotten nostalgic smile to my face when he mentioned liquor store candy. Definitely a blissful sensory reminder of my childhood.

Hawker Fare is my favorite cookbook so far this year---even though it is definitely not vegan, the cuisine I report for on my blog. Why do I love it so much? Hawker Fare's part autobiography, part cultural history, and part culinary advice with lots of recipes to match. Author Syhabout was born in Thailand near the border of Burma and immigratedwith his family to California while he was just a bit older than a toddler.

The book is attractively photographed---with lots of red colors in the plates, decorations and food---taking you inside Syhabout's story which has so much dimension. Syhabout's mission for his restaurant, Hawker Fare, and eventually the book by the same name was to cover the taste in food he grew up eating, the dishes his Mom created with ingredients from her local (Oakland, California) shops and markets.

Hawker Fare recipes give you an idea of the richness of an Isan-Thai meal, all of the foods that make it specifically an Isan (a Burmese area of Thailand) and Thai meal. Some of the exotic combinations of ingredients marry fresh and salt-water fish ferments with hot and dry tastes from chiles that are macerated with galangal (a cousin of ginger), makrut lime leaves, lemongrass, mint, brown sugar, toasted brown rice and garlic.

Fish and shrimp lend a particular taste to Isan food, but as Syhabout says, it's not about refining the method or what you add to a recipe, but the almost capricious act of approximating a recipe with what's on hand, that creates an Isan dish. I guess the pleasure is not only in recognizing a dish, but in how fantastic the flavors meld or excite, once you take a bite.

Ever since travelling in the part of the world chef James Syhabout is originally from, I really appreciate a chef's take on cooking, on finding recipes, sourcing ingredients. Many of the foods we've heard of, but just as many ways of eating them, we really have very little idea of. Syhabout provides a guide to ingredients for the adventurous---most are actually available in Asian markets in our big cities.

Another entry in the "cookbook/food memoir" hybrid that you sometimes see. Author James Syhabout writes his life story of his beginnings, his decision to go to culinary school/become a chef, plus recipes of various delicious-looking and sounding dishes in this really gorgeous book.

The first part is his life story: from his very early beginnings and fleeing Laos to move to California and growing up there to working in his family's restaurant to eventually going to culinary school and then working in restaurants to eventually opening one. It's a fascinating story to see where he came from, how he got to where he is, the story of Hawker Fare, etc. I had never heard of him before this book but had been intrigued by the cover.

Do agree that the biography part was a bit long. I learned quite a bit about Laos that I did not know before, so that was really interesting. But as it moves into his career I thought it got a little boring. The recipes look amazing but I also didn't actually buy the book for the dishes. Therefore I couldn't say how hard or easy they are to make for someone who is not familiar with the food.

The photography is really great, though, with some beautiful pictures of various food from snacks to noodles to soups and more. However, it's not necessarily the type of book that will stay open unless you make the effort, so it might be more of a coffee table book rather than one you would want to get stained in the kitchen.

I liked it a lot and thought I got more than I was expecting. It is not for everyone, though, so I'd encourage someone to thumb through at a bookstore or library before deciding if it's worth the purchase and shelf space.