World to Table • Galangal

Elusive Sukhothai Noodles and a Recipe for Tom Yum

Meet Nat: globetrotting citizen of the world, seeker of delicious foods and our newest contributor to World to Table. He’ll be sharing with you his travels, his recipes, and his unbridled love for food. — Veronica

My name is Nat, short for Natayada, and I’m from Thailand by way of America. I was born in Bangkok and have lived in Europe and Africa, but now go back and forth between east and west.

My obsession with food came early. One of my first memories is of being in a kitchen in Paris as my mother and grandmother were debating how to make Thai dish taste right with the limited ingredients we could find.

The One-Pot Meal: Thai Coconut Galangal Chicken

When it comes to cooking (and eating), I am a big fan of the one-pot meal. From my mother’s “famous” tomato ox-tail stew to made-from-scratch chicken soup, there’s something about throwing a bunch of fresh ingredients into a pot, stirring them around, and inhaling that steady flow of aromatic steam that is extremely satisfying. It’s how I imagined cooking would be when I used to play house with my sister, and as I’ve grown older, I’ve discovered the joy of only cleaning one pot after dinner.