May 19, 2026 • 8 mins
Today we highlight the activism and work of Cambodian Chef Nak, and talk about the importance of preserving recipes.
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Speaker 1 (00:05):
Hey, this is Anny and Samantha. I'm welcome to Stuff
Never Told, your production of iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
And for today's activist of around the world. We are
still celebrating AAPI Heritage Month and we are going to
talk about chef, author and change maker Chef Rosenknock Ross,
also known as Chef Knock, which is what I'm going
to reference her as throughout this episode. Because she doesn't
actually say her full name, I have a feeling she
does it for us English speakers non Cambodian speakers to
(00:40):
help us out. But she is known around the world
as Chef Knock and Chef Knock is a Cambodian self
taught chef who has brought her love of her home
and community into her food. Honoring the local ingredients and recipes,
Chef Knock has put Cambodian food on the map and
I love it. Growing up in Cambodia with her family,
this pushed her in her early age to start learning
(01:02):
to cook and feed her siblings. When she was young,
like around five, her parents had to stay for an
extending amount of time in the hospital after a serious
traffic accident. From then, she would go on to be
the one to cook and feed her siblings, and she
did this alongside her oldest sister eldest sister when her
parents had to work extended hours, so it just became
a part of her duties. Later, she did start working
(01:25):
at the Cambodian Living Arts, where she would learn about
Camboding cuisine as well as the performing arts. Here's a
quote from an article featuring her works from Robreport dot com.
As one of five children not grew up in the
chaos of life in Cambodia before the death of Paul
Pott in nineteen ninety eight, it was the era of
playing rice kangi. As a child, she would get up
(01:48):
after midnight to travel with her mother on the hour
long walk to buy vegetables for resale at their local market.
Her interest in food really began at age nineteen, when
she was hired by the nonprofit Camiod and Living Arts,
an organization tasked with passing the knowledge of traditional performing
arts from those who survived the Khmer Rouge to the
younger generations. She soon realized that recipes deserve the same care,
(02:12):
and this is something she's been doing since she began
working in her passion career. Essentially, here's what she had
to say about her love for Kimbodian cuisine in her
article Healing through Food, Reclaiming Kimbodian Cuisine. When I close
my eyes, I'm transported back to the bustly morning market
in PanAm Pen where my mother once had her stall.
It was there I learned one of life's greatest lessons
(02:35):
that choosing the right ingredients and cooking with care can
transform food into more than nourishment. It becomes a story
of place, people and healing. And she goes further saying
this storytelling through plate. Each cooking class, in each dining
experience always includes a narrative for where the dish comes from,
what ingredients are used, who taught it, and what it
(02:56):
meant in a household, etc. So one of the things
that she had done in Cambodia's open up a restaurant
and open up an area where she could teach Cambodian
food and cooking. So I love that she really wanted
to pass this on to generations. And beyond storytelling, she
also is telling the history of Cambodia and bringing back
some things that had been lost for a while. So
(03:16):
back to that rob Report dot Com, The Khmer rouge
killed anyone with any knowledge, said PanAm Pen based Rottennock Ross,
better known as Chef Knock. People fled to other parts
of the world. Documentations was destroyed, people were not allowed
to cook the way they used to cook. Our rich
cultural food became survival food. It goes on infectiously. Passionate
(03:37):
Knock is working harder than anyone to recover what has
been lost. A self taught chef without a culinary or
university education, she has spent the past eighteen years as
a cultural anthropologist, historian, archivist, writer and activist, in the
process becoming one of her country's most in demand celebrity cooks.
Knock is the force behind the hugely popular Khman menu
(04:00):
inspired by yesterday dishes of the royal family. So one
of the things that they do claim is that she
is the first Cambodian celebrity chef. So I guess that
means that, you know, she's just famous, because I'm sure
there's more chefs out there with the Cambodian background, But
she has kind of made the name, like I said,
made history by bringing Cambodian food and cuisine to the
(04:22):
public eye internationally. And she goes on to talk about
the in depth research she had to do to collect
some of these past flavors and recipes. She says, I
wanted to know more about what Cambodian food was like
before the regime, so I started to look for documents.
I was like, wow, I couldn't find anything at all,
she says. So I spent a lot of time and
(04:42):
money out of my own pocket to travel around Cambodia
collecting recipes from elderly people who still remember the textures
and the flavors. I documented how people cooked, what ingredients
they used, how they preserve their food, and the ceremonies
and stories behind what they cooked. So I loved every
about this. And she goes on in that article talking
about how she had to tweak it the recipes to
(05:05):
make it something beautiful and nostalgic, but kind of really
had to guess a little bit because these recipes were lost.
But she did it, and with this knowledge has opened
up restaurants and obviously cooking classes, written award winning cookbooks,
and in twenty twenty three, she released her second cookbook,
Saloi Royal Cambodian Home Cuisine. Here's what her site says
(05:26):
about the cookbook. Quote built on recipes compiled and taught
by Her Royal Highness Princess nor Dam Rasmi Tobahana in
the nineteen sixties. The book preserves a refined cuisine shaped
in the kitchens of Cambodian royalty. Chef Knock respectfully reinterprets
this legacy for today, bringing back long lost flavors, forgotten techniques,
and the philosophy of balance at the heart of Khmer cooking.
(05:49):
So apparently I think it might be a little more
difficult to get this book. Maybe not. I didn't look
it up. Because it is world renowned and it is
a big undertaking. I have a feeling it might be
difficult to try to do some of these recipes since
we don't have local Cambodian ingredients, But it would be
interesting to see what the book has to offer. And
with all that, she's also become an advocate in food
(06:10):
safety practices and healthy cooking with Unisuff. She's been working
with local organizations and farms to make sure she's helping
her community. So this is from the asianmagazine dot com.
Connecting farmers, traditional food producers, and young chefs is vital
to cultivating a thriving food industry in the country, says Chefknock.
By fostering a deeper connection to our cuisine, we can
(06:32):
ensure that the future generations take pride in their culinary
heritage and continue to share it with the world. Y'all
know how I feel about food that has so many
memories in it, that breaks up a lot in your heart.
And honestly, this is exactly what food heritage is. Remembering
what you grew up with that warm hopefully warm feelings,
sometimes not but warm feeling of that type of food
(06:55):
that really helped you grow up or shape your childhood
is amazing to see and to have that taken away
from you, I can't imagine. So I love seeing her
work like this and with all of that, of course,
she's been given many awards for her work and books,
including Gorman Awards for the Best Woman's Chef, Best in
Asia in twenty twenty, Best of the Best by the
(07:17):
Gormund World Cookbook Awards for her book Saloy, and in
twenty twenty three she was named top five of the
best Chefs in Asia by Travel and Leisure. So, yeah,
she's doing things.
Speaker 1 (07:29):
And that really is amazing work. I think people forget
that when a disaster happens, that part of the tragedy
is the loss of recipes. Right, even not on a
personal level, but on a bigger level as well.
Speaker 2 (07:40):
Right.
Speaker 1 (07:40):
Yes, So, listeners, if you have any thoughts about this,
or any suggestions for future people we should highlight, please
let us know. You can email us at Hello at
Stuffwannever Told You dot com. You can find us on
Blue Sky momsa podcast, or on Instagram and TikTok it
Stuff Never Told You for us on YouTube. We have
some merchandise to com bureau, and we have a book
you can get wherever you get your books. Thanks as
always to our super producers Chandler and Casey and our
(08:04):
executive producer Maya. Thank you and thanks to you for
listening Stuff Never Told You to protection of my Heart Radio.
For more podcasts my Heart Radio, you can check out
the heart Radio app, Apple podcast or where you listen
to your favorite shows.
Hey, this is Anny and Samantha. I'm welcome to Stuff
Never Told, your production of iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
And for today's activist of around the world. We are
still celebrating AAPI Heritage Month and we are going to
talk about chef, author and change maker Chef Rosenknock Ross,
also known as Chef Knock, which is what I'm going
to reference her as throughout this episode. Because she doesn't
actually say her full name, I have a feeling she
does it for us English speakers non Cambodian speakers to
(00:40):
help us out. But she is known around the world
as Chef Knock and Chef Knock is a Cambodian self
taught chef who has brought her love of her home
and community into her food. Honoring the local ingredients and recipes,
Chef Knock has put Cambodian food on the map and
I love it. Growing up in Cambodia with her family,
this pushed her in her early age to start learning
(01:02):
to cook and feed her siblings. When she was young,
like around five, her parents had to stay for an
extending amount of time in the hospital after a serious
traffic accident. From then, she would go on to be
the one to cook and feed her siblings, and she
did this alongside her oldest sister eldest sister when her
parents had to work extended hours, so it just became
a part of her duties. Later, she did start working
(01:25):
at the Cambodian Living Arts, where she would learn about
Camboding cuisine as well as the performing arts. Here's a
quote from an article featuring her works from Robreport dot com.
As one of five children not grew up in the
chaos of life in Cambodia before the death of Paul
Pott in nineteen ninety eight, it was the era of
playing rice kangi. As a child, she would get up
(01:48):
after midnight to travel with her mother on the hour
long walk to buy vegetables for resale at their local market.
Her interest in food really began at age nineteen, when
she was hired by the nonprofit Camiod and Living Arts,
an organization tasked with passing the knowledge of traditional performing
arts from those who survived the Khmer Rouge to the
younger generations. She soon realized that recipes deserve the same care,
(02:12):
and this is something she's been doing since she began
working in her passion career. Essentially, here's what she had
to say about her love for Kimbodian cuisine in her
article Healing through Food, Reclaiming Kimbodian Cuisine. When I close
my eyes, I'm transported back to the bustly morning market
in PanAm Pen where my mother once had her stall.
It was there I learned one of life's greatest lessons
(02:35):
that choosing the right ingredients and cooking with care can
transform food into more than nourishment. It becomes a story
of place, people and healing. And she goes further saying
this storytelling through plate. Each cooking class, in each dining
experience always includes a narrative for where the dish comes from,
what ingredients are used, who taught it, and what it
(02:56):
meant in a household, etc. So one of the things
that she had done in Cambodia's open up a restaurant
and open up an area where she could teach Cambodian
food and cooking. So I love that she really wanted
to pass this on to generations. And beyond storytelling, she
also is telling the history of Cambodia and bringing back
some things that had been lost for a while. So
(03:16):
back to that rob Report dot Com, The Khmer rouge
killed anyone with any knowledge, said PanAm Pen based Rottennock Ross,
better known as Chef Knock. People fled to other parts
of the world. Documentations was destroyed, people were not allowed
to cook the way they used to cook. Our rich
cultural food became survival food. It goes on infectiously. Passionate
(03:37):
Knock is working harder than anyone to recover what has
been lost. A self taught chef without a culinary or
university education, she has spent the past eighteen years as
a cultural anthropologist, historian, archivist, writer and activist, in the
process becoming one of her country's most in demand celebrity cooks.
Knock is the force behind the hugely popular Khman menu
(04:00):
inspired by yesterday dishes of the royal family. So one
of the things that they do claim is that she
is the first Cambodian celebrity chef. So I guess that
means that, you know, she's just famous, because I'm sure
there's more chefs out there with the Cambodian background, But
she has kind of made the name, like I said,
made history by bringing Cambodian food and cuisine to the
(04:22):
public eye internationally. And she goes on to talk about
the in depth research she had to do to collect
some of these past flavors and recipes. She says, I
wanted to know more about what Cambodian food was like
before the regime, so I started to look for documents.
I was like, wow, I couldn't find anything at all,
she says. So I spent a lot of time and
(04:42):
money out of my own pocket to travel around Cambodia
collecting recipes from elderly people who still remember the textures
and the flavors. I documented how people cooked, what ingredients
they used, how they preserve their food, and the ceremonies
and stories behind what they cooked. So I loved every
about this. And she goes on in that article talking
about how she had to tweak it the recipes to
(05:05):
make it something beautiful and nostalgic, but kind of really
had to guess a little bit because these recipes were lost.
But she did it, and with this knowledge has opened
up restaurants and obviously cooking classes, written award winning cookbooks,
and in twenty twenty three, she released her second cookbook,
Saloi Royal Cambodian Home Cuisine. Here's what her site says
(05:26):
about the cookbook. Quote built on recipes compiled and taught
by Her Royal Highness Princess nor Dam Rasmi Tobahana in
the nineteen sixties. The book preserves a refined cuisine shaped
in the kitchens of Cambodian royalty. Chef Knock respectfully reinterprets
this legacy for today, bringing back long lost flavors, forgotten techniques,
and the philosophy of balance at the heart of Khmer cooking.
(05:49):
So apparently I think it might be a little more
difficult to get this book. Maybe not. I didn't look
it up. Because it is world renowned and it is
a big undertaking. I have a feeling it might be
difficult to try to do some of these recipes since
we don't have local Cambodian ingredients, But it would be
interesting to see what the book has to offer. And
with all that, she's also become an advocate in food
(06:10):
safety practices and healthy cooking with Unisuff. She's been working
with local organizations and farms to make sure she's helping
her community. So this is from the asianmagazine dot com.
Connecting farmers, traditional food producers, and young chefs is vital
to cultivating a thriving food industry in the country, says Chefknock.
By fostering a deeper connection to our cuisine, we can
(06:32):
ensure that the future generations take pride in their culinary
heritage and continue to share it with the world. Y'all
know how I feel about food that has so many
memories in it, that breaks up a lot in your heart.
And honestly, this is exactly what food heritage is. Remembering
what you grew up with that warm hopefully warm feelings,
sometimes not but warm feeling of that type of food
(06:55):
that really helped you grow up or shape your childhood
is amazing to see and to have that taken away
from you, I can't imagine. So I love seeing her
work like this and with all of that, of course,
she's been given many awards for her work and books,
including Gorman Awards for the Best Woman's Chef, Best in
Asia in twenty twenty, Best of the Best by the
(07:17):
Gormund World Cookbook Awards for her book Saloy, and in
twenty twenty three she was named top five of the
best Chefs in Asia by Travel and Leisure. So, yeah,
she's doing things.
Speaker 1 (07:29):
And that really is amazing work. I think people forget
that when a disaster happens, that part of the tragedy
is the loss of recipes. Right, even not on a
personal level, but on a bigger level as well.
Speaker 2 (07:40):
Right.
Speaker 1 (07:40):
Yes, So, listeners, if you have any thoughts about this,
or any suggestions for future people we should highlight, please
let us know. You can email us at Hello at
Stuffwannever Told You dot com. You can find us on
Blue Sky momsa podcast, or on Instagram and TikTok it
Stuff Never Told You for us on YouTube. We have
some merchandise to com bureau, and we have a book
you can get wherever you get your books. Thanks as
always to our super producers Chandler and Casey and our
(08:04):
executive producer Maya. Thank you and thanks to you for
listening Stuff Never Told You to protection of my Heart Radio.
For more podcasts my Heart Radio, you can check out
the heart Radio app, Apple podcast or where you listen
to your favorite shows.
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