By: Catherine Cai

Everyone’s heard of the word “diverse”. It’s a buzzword that’s been thrown around in the media, especially in heated debates. Lately, it has been turning up the heat in the culinary world in the form of spicy Thai food.

Nok Chutatip Suntaranon has always been passionate about cooking delicious Thai food. Her unofficial cooking career has spanned decades, through cooking with her mother at her shop. She says that it is “not just food, it’s my culture, and my memories. This food has not just been cooked yesterday, it’s been cooked in my family for a thousand years” (Philly Magazine). She said that she has cooked so much curry paste that she “knew all that recipe by heart” (NPR).

Following in her mother’s footsteps eventually led her to open her first restaurant, Kalaya. Initially, she was unsure about “how diners in Philadelphia would react…[as she had an] uncompromising approach to the flavors and the heat of southern Thai cooking” (NPR). However, her fears were dashed, as her restaurant became very popular. She received so many customers that she had to upgrade her original place which had “35 seats to a… space that holds up to 300” (NPR).

Chef Nok has dominated locally, but lately, she has also received national recognition, having been “nominated three times for an award from the James Beard Foundation — the so-called ‘Oscars of the food world” (NPR). However, for chefs like Suntaranon, this would’ve been a rarity in previous years.

To some extent, Suntaranon’s fame has been the result of a growing shift in the country’s mentality towards diverse cuisines. This is especially true with younger generations. For example, the James Beard Foundation has had many critics raise concerns about “a lack of diversity among the top vote-getters” (NPR). After some reflection, the Foundation has promised to reinforce its “mantra of ‘good food for good’ [with an emphasis] on racial and gender equity and sustainability (NPR). Their recent votes reflect this effort as many of the nominees serve food that hails from countries across the globe. Their most recent winner was “Mashpee Wampanoag Chef Sherry Pocknett [for her] restaurant Sly Fox Den Too in Charlestown, R.I., in 2021… specializes in local Indigenous cuisine, sustainably sourced using traditional hunting, fishing and farming techniques (CBC).

With such an important foundation championing diversity, perhaps this will ripple into other industries as well.

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