A New Thai Comic Book Cookbook (Food for Thought)

Summary

Podcast Summary: "A New Thai Comic Book Cookbook (Food for Thought)"

Podcast: All Of It (WNYC)
Host: Koosha Navadar (in for Alison Stewart)
Guests: Christina DeWitta (illustrator) & Malika Gao Bennen (Thai language teacher, co-author)
Date: June 13, 2024

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Episode Overview

This "Food for Thought" Thursday segment spotlights the comic-style cookbook Noodles, Rice, and Everything Spice: A Thai Comic Cookbook. Host Koosha Navadar speaks with authors Christina DeWitta and Malika Gao Bennen about their creative process, personal connections to Thai food, and how their illustrated book introduces culture and heritage through recipes and comic storytelling. The conversation covers the importance of food in Thai culture, the role of rice, favorite noodle dishes, pantry essentials, adapting Thai recipes, and tips for home cooks.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Origin of the Comic Cookbook

[03:48] Christina DeWitta:

• The idea for a graphic novel-style cookbook came from Christina's agent, Mark, who wanted something fully illustrated but not childish.
• Finding a publisher was a challenge, but when Ten Speed Press (whose editor for the project is Thai) accepted, "all the stars aligned."

  "You generally never see a fully illustrated cookbook that is maybe not as childish, you know... We only had a one shot, one chance with this book because there were not really other publishers interested." — Christina DeWitta ([03:48])

2. Long-Term Friendship and Working Together

[05:02]–[05:57] Malika Gao Bennen:

• Malika, Christina's online Thai language teacher, was thrilled to collaborate, feeling it was her "purpose."

  "I was born for this. This is my purpose, you know... This book is my trophy today." — Malika Gao Bennen ([05:16])

3. Food, Family, and Rural Thai Heritage

[06:10] Malika Gao Bennen:

• Shared memories of growing up in a Thai family where girls were expected to learn to cook.
• Described a backyard full of papaya and chilis, inspiring spontaneous meals.

  "People just love food in Thailand. We eat all the time... When I look at [the backyard], I’m like, I’m gonna make somtam today." — Malika Gao Bennen ([06:10])

4. Connecting to Heritage Through Language and Food

[08:15] Christina DeWitta:

• Belgian-born with Thai heritage, Christina deepened her understanding of Thai identity and language through the cookbook project.
• Discussed the significance of rice: its thousands of varieties, spiritual symbolism, even language connections.

  "Rice is almost as valuable as gold. There are so many thousands of varieties … Rice holds a very special, spiritual meaning in the Thai culture... Thai people even believe that rice has a soul." — Christina DeWitta ([08:15])

5. Rice in Thai Culture

[09:53] Malika Gao Bennen & [10:56] Christina DeWitta:

• In school, teachers stressed the hard work behind every grain of rice; wasting rice is frowned upon.
• Rice is used as spiritual offerings and in respect to monks.

  "Every single grain in the plate, it should be finished." — Malika Gao Bennen ([09:53]) "Feeding monks was a way of staying connected through that spirituality... my mom always told me to finish my rice more than anything." — Christina DeWitta ([10:56])

6. Thai Noodles: A Run-Down

[11:47] Christina DeWitta:

• Favorite noodles: senyai (wide, flat rice noodles), especially in pad see ew. Differentiated between other types: sen lek (thin), egg noodles, and instant ‘Mama noodles’ (celebrated as a snack, even uncooked).

  "We even don't hate instant noodles in Thailand... Mama noodles are, there’s a space for everything." — Christina DeWitta ([11:47])

7. Staple Pantry Items for Thai Cooking

[15:19] Christina DeWitta & [16:19] Malika Gao Bennen:

• Malika’s essentials: oyster sauce, fish sauce, thin soy sauce, and "Roti" (properly "RosDee," a flavor enhancer powder).

  "A good fish oil and ...a few types of soy sauce, you could use the black and the thick one and even the seasoning one... but you should not get all the fancy ingredients." — Christina DeWitta ([15:19])
  "Oyster sauce... fish sauce... thin soy sauce... and Rot D, the powder that adds flavor." — Malika Gao Bennen ([16:19])

8. Recipe Highlight: Pad Krapao

[17:19] Malika Gao Bennen:

• Described as the "all-time favorite" Thai street food, usually made with minced meat or chicken, chili, garlic, oyster and soy sauce, sugar, and holy basil. Flexible with substitutions (regular basil).

  "When you go out, know what to eat, you just order padkrapao because it’s never gonna disappoint you." — Malika Gao Bennen ([17:19])

9. Why Comics? Visual Storytelling in Cookbooks

[18:58] Christina DeWitta:

• Christina found traditional cookbooks hard to follow and wanted to create something visual for learners like herself.
• Each recipe rarely exceeds 10 illustrated steps, aiding “high-speed” Thai cooking.

  "I lost track many, many times [with traditional cookbooks], resulting in a recipe, you know, failing... Illustrating every step would be so helpful... you don’t have time to waste." — Christina DeWitta ([18:58])

10. Vegan and Versatile Thai Cooking

[20:49]–[21:46] Christina DeWitta:

• Recipes are easily made vegan: swap tofu, use vegan fish sauce, omit oyster sauce, or use alternatives.
• Spicy vegan options include pad krapao with tofu and spicy noodle soups (kuay tiew) with chilis and plant-based broth.

  "Everything is adaptable in a halal way, in a vegan way, in a vegetarian way... Anything can be turned vegan." — Christina DeWitta ([20:49])

11. Techniques: The Importance of Preparation and the Rice Cooker

[23:10] Malika Gao Bennen:

• Strongly recommends owning a rice cooker for efficiency.

  "You need to have a rice cooker to save your time." — Malika Gao Bennen ([23:10])

12. Favorite Summer Thai Dishes

[24:10] Christina DeWitta:

• Christina: Som tam (green papaya salad) — "so sour, so fresh, so refreshing."
• Malika: Thai ice cream for beating the heat.

  "Sorry, there is only one decent answer here, and that is som tam. ...It's so amazing... so easy." — Christina DeWitta ([24:10]) "I would go for the ice cream... the sweetness ...will give you energy and it's super good." — Malika Gao Bennen ([24:38])

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On making the cookbook a reality:

  "We only had a one shot, one chance with this book because there were not really other publishers interested. So we really were very lucky." — Christina DeWitta ([03:48])

• On rice having a soul:

  "Thai people even believe that rice has a soul. So that’s why they get to learn at a very young age that rice is important. And you should always finish your rice even before your proteins." — Christina DeWitta ([08:15])

• On food as identity and community:

  "People just love food in Thailand, we eat all the time." — Malika Gao Bennen ([06:10])

• Listener interaction:

  "We are Indian, but for every family celebration we go out for Thai food, the owners and staff have become our family. I’m so intimidated by Thai cooking, but I love the idea of your book." — Listener Indira Vo ([18:17])

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• [01:22] – Introduction to guests & the cookbook concept
• [03:48] – How the comic cookbook came to be
• [05:09] – Malika’s immediate excitement
• [06:10] – Food and everyday life in rural Thailand
• [08:15] – Christina on food and connecting with Thai heritage
• [09:53]–[10:56] – Rice’s cultural and spiritual importance
• [11:47] – Thai noodles overview
• [15:13]–[15:19] – Listener asks about pantry staples; Christina replies
• [16:19] – Malika’s list of must-have sauces
• [17:19] – Pad Krapao recipe walkthrough
• [18:58] – Christina explains comics as a teaching tool
• [20:49]–[21:46] – Adapting dishes for vegan/vegetarian diets
• [23:10] – Malika’s must-have kitchen item: the rice cooker
• [24:10]–[24:38] – Favorite summer dishes
• [25:07] – Wrap-up

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Final Thoughts

Noodles, Rice, and Everything Spice offers not only Thai recipes, but a colorful introduction to cultural heritage, family tradition, and visual learning. Through comics, both experienced and new cooks can find accessible, flexible, and authentic ways to bring Thai flavors into their kitchens. The conversation underscores food’s vital role in culture, memory, and community, both in Thailand and across immigrant and diasporic experiences.

Hosts and guests remind listeners:

• Thai cuisine is adaptable—don’t be intimidated by unfamiliar ingredients.
• Cooking and comics can be fun and approachable for everyone.

Listener Engagement:
The hosts encourage calls, texts, and social media interaction to celebrate the NYC community’s diversity and relationship with food.

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For more vibrant stories of food and culture, catch "All of It" weekdays on WNYC.

Transcript

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[McDonald's Customer]

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[Koosha Navadar]

All right, un.

[Christina Dewitta]

Welcome to McDonald's. Can I take your order, miss?

[McDonald's Customer]

I've been hitting up McDonald's for years. Now it's back. We need snack wraps. What's a snack wrap? It's the return of something great. Snack wrap is back.

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Let's say your small business has a problem. Like maybe one of your doggy daycare customers had an accident. You might say something like, doggone it.

[Malika Gao Bennen]

Hey, Chihuahua.

[Koosha Navadar]

Holy schnauzers.

[State Farm Advertiser]

But if you need someone who can actually help, just say, like a good.

[Christina Dewitta]

Neighbor, State Farm is there.

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And get help filing a claim from your local state farm agent for your small business insurance needs. Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there.

[Koosha Navadar]

This is all of it. I'm Koosha Navadar and for Alison Stewart. Hey, happy Food for Thought Thursday, everyone. Every week we bring you food, or at least we bring you a conversation about food. Making it, enjoying it, appreciating the stories behind it. And now we'll get into some stories and recipes and techniques from Thailand's food culture. A new cookbook is out. It's called Noodles, Rice, and Everything Spice, a Thai comic cookbook. And unlike other cookbooks, this one takes an illustrated cartoon like journey through the history of Thai food. Its flavors and influences from Chinese cooking, the regional agriculture of the different parts of Thailand, and from trading European produce with Portuguese merchants. All that history and culture adds up to some extremely tasty dishes like Pad Thai, Khao soi, and Tom Yum. So now that we're around lunchtime, let's get our mouths watering and our inspiration flowing for some weekend cooking ideas with the authors of Noodles, Rice and Everything Spice, a Thai comic cookbook. With me now are illustrator Christina dewitta and Thai language teacher Maliga Gaupebnen, who have been longtime friends and collaborators. Christina, Malika, welcome and congratulations on the cookbook.

[Malika Gao Bennen]

Thank you.

[Christina Dewitta]

Thank you. Thank you.

[Koosha Navadar]

Absolutely. And Malik, I just want to make sure. Did I pronounce your last name correctly?

[Malika Gao Bennen]

That was correct.

[Christina Dewitta]

Yes.

[Koosha Navadar]

Wonderful. Thank you both so much for being here and listeners. We can take your calls if you have a connection to Thailand and its culinary Traditions. We want to hear from you. What's your favorite dish to cook and what does it mean to you? Call 212-433-9692. That's 212-433. WNYC. You can also tell us how you think about blending the flavors common in Thai food, like making peanut oil, coconut milk, and lime all work together. You can also message us on Instagram or X. We're all of it. Wnyc. Our questions are for Thai cooking for our guests. The number again is 212-43396 too. So let's talk about the book for a little bit. So, Christina, you said in another interview for the, for. For this book that the idea for an illustrated Thai cookbook came from your agent. He called you up with this idea and you talked about it. Can you tell me about that conversation a little bit?

[Christina Dewitta]

Yeah. The funny thing is, Mark, who is my agent in New York, came up with the idea of a graphic novel style cookbook. And I never, I never really thought about it because you generally never see, like a fully illustrated cookbook that is maybe like, not as childish, you know. So he came up with the idea and then we talked it through and I actually was immediately on board. But the next step was to find a publisher that would want to publish a fully illustrated graphic novel cookbook. So that was really exciting. And we got a yes from Ten Speed Press, which was amazing and which is even more amazing because Kimi, the editor of Ten Speed Press, well, of the book happens to be Thai as well. So we got all the stars aligned. And that was really amazing because we only had a one shot, one chance with this book because there were not really other publishers interested. So we really were very lucky with this. Yeah.

[Koosha Navadar]

And Malika, you and Christina had been working together in a different context. You're actually her online Thai language teacher, right? Is that right?

[Malika Gao Bennen]

That's correct.

[Koosha Navadar]

That's wonderful. So what excited you about this project when Christina called you up to pitch the idea?

[Malika Gao Bennen]

Okay, so she called me up and like, she asked Malika, are you interested in doing this book with me? And it's about Thai cooking. I don't remember her last word. I was just, yes, yes, yes. I don't know how many times I said yes. I'm like, I'm born for this. This is my purpose, you know, because I started cooking when I was 7. At the time, I didn't like it at all because it was more like duty, something that I had to do at home. And, you know, some often I Thought to myself, like, one day I should get a trophy for being so much in the kitchen. And this book is my trophy today.

[Koosha Navadar]

Yeah. Tell me a little bit more, because I understand that you grew up in a rural community in Thailand. Can you bring us into some of your memories growing up? Like, what was your relationship, your family's relationship, like with cooking?

[Malika Gao Bennen]

Yes. So we are a big family, and as a Thai girl, like, we have to cook, we have to do housework. That's like ladies duty at home in Thailand. So when I grew up, I already grew up with food every day. I had to cook food. Like, I had to help around in the house. And people just love food in Thailand. We eat all the time. And even our house in the backyard, it was full of, like, papaya, for example, chilies, all the food. So when I look at it in the backyard, I'm like, I'm gonna make somtam today, or I'm gonna make, like, other food today, because what I see is just food around me. So, yeah.

[Koosha Navadar]

So, listeners, we're talking about Thai food and Thai cooking, and we'd love to hear from folks out there who have a connection to Thailand and its culinary traditions, who love Thai food, who have questions about Thai cooking. What's your favorite dish to cook? What. What does it mean to you? Give us a call. Send us a text. We're at 212-433-9692. That's 212433. W NYC. You can also tell us about how you think about blending the flavors that are common in Thai food, like peanut oil, coconut milk, lime, how they all work together. What are some of your favorite ingredients in Thai food? We can also take your comments and questions on social. We're of it WNYC. Give us a call at 212-433-9692. That's 212-433. Why? See, Christina, this partnership that you and Malika have and started out with is so, so interesting. And I wanted to. To talk a little bit about Thai heritage through language. You know, as a. As a biracial person born in Belgium with ties to the other side of the world that you had to sort of uncover. So how is working on this book and diving into Thailand's food culture further developed your connection to that heritage?

[Christina Dewitta]

I discovered more about my heritage, and I learned way more about my own culture through food, which was very, very special to me because I think I started learning learning Thai with Malika around the early 2020. February 2020. But we got this offer to do the cookbook together, I think late 2021, which is, in hindsight, like, seems ages ago, but it isn't. It isn't that long time ago. But in the two or three years that we've been working together on this book, on this book project, I've learned so much about language through true food. Because, for example, the Thai word for rice is right? But rice holds so much cultural importance because rice is almost as valuable as gold. There are so many thousands of varieties of rice, and rice holds a very special, you know, like, spiritual meaning. Even in the Thai culture, which I didn't know before, I learned through Malika about our, you know, cultural heritage. And even, like the word white resembles cow because it's cow and the color white is. See how. Right. So it's all intertwined. It's all connected. Thai people even believe that rice has a soul. So that's why they get to learn at a very young age that rice is important. And you should always finish your rice even before your proteins. Right?

[Koosha Navadar]

Yeah.

[Malika Gao Bennen]

Yes, that's. That is correct. I remember that when we were in class in what. What do you call primary school? Yeah. The teacher teach us, like, how. How hard the farmers work, how difficult it is to get each grain of rice, so we cannot waste it. So every single grain in the plate, it should be finished.

[Koosha Navadar]

Can you tell me more about either of you? Tell me more about this idea of rice having a soul. How does that show up? Malika, maybe you can take over.

[Malika Gao Bennen]

Rice has a soul. Because I think that we believe. We already worship rice, right? We think that rice is very important to us. And we. Even in some region like Isan region, they use rice, or even my region, actually, we. When we. We believe in spirit, for example, and we would use rice to kind of offer to the spirits.

[Koosha Navadar]

Wow.

[Christina Dewitta]

I also remember back in my. My youth days when I, you know, spent the summer in Isa region, which. Which is in northeast of Thailand, that we had to offer rice to monks as well, because that was our way of, you know, showing respect. And, you know, feeding monks was a way of staying connected through that spirituality. And from a very young age, my mom always told me to finish my rice more than anything. So, yeah, rice is important.

[Koosha Navadar]

We just got a text from a listener that wants to talk about noodles as well. It reads, can we get a quick best of for the many Thai noodles? Noodles are a passionate food component of mine. Christina, do you have a sense of the noodles that you kind of got to discover through making this book, some of your favorites, maybe?

[Christina Dewitta]

Yes, definitely. The funny thing is I just got back from Thailand and this was my first time in Thailand that I, that I could actually distinguish the types of noodles that are available when you go to, you know, like a food vendor. But my favorite one is the senyai, which are the big, flat, large noodles. And these taste incredible in patsi eo, which is like a stir fried dish with noodles. And it's so like I ate it, I think five times my past trip and it was so good because the texture is different than the senle, which is the smaller noodles. But you have, you know, egg noodles right in the sen lake or rice noodles, but you have all types of varieties. We even don't hate instant noodles in Thailand. It's, it's a staple. It's a staple. Mama noodles are, there's a space for everything, right? Exactly. Even uncooked. And Thai people will acknowledge this. Uncooked mama noodles are like a snack.

[Koosha Navadar]

Well, listeners, if you have any questions or if you have a favorite kind of Thai noodle or you have a favorite Thai ingredient in Thai cooking, give us a call. We're at 212-433-9692. We're here with Maliga Gao Pai Nen and Christina Dewitta. They are the authors behind Noodles, Rice and Everything Spice. We're going to take a break. When we come back, we'll take more of your calls and talk more about all that delicious food. Stay with us. This is all of it on wnyc. I'm Kusha Navadar and we're joined by Christina dewitta who is an illustrator and cartoonist and Malika Gao by Nen, who is a Thai Finnish language coach and they are the authors behind the Thai cookbook Noodles Rice and Everything Spice. It is a, a Thai comic book cookbook. So you open up the book and you see comics and illustrations as well as wonderful recipes. Listeners, we're taking your calls about Thai food. Give us a call if you have questions. Favorite dish, favorite place you want to shout out, give us a call or text us at 212-433-9692. That's 212-433-WNYC. We've got a caller on the line. This is Samantha. Hi, Samantha. Welcome to the show.

[Samantha]

Hi, how are you? Good to see you. Hear you. Sawadika. I just came back from Thailand about Sawadika and I learned how to cook Thai food at a cooking class that was part of our excursion cooking at home in Chiang Mai. And it was an amazing experience of Learning how to use great flavors and different ingredients that I never thought would go together, like papaya and, well, just papaya. Papaya salad. I never thought to make a salad out of papaya. It was an amazing, amazing taste experience. My question is, I know there are a lot of ethnic supermarkets in New York City area, but what would you recommend as staple products for Thai cooking that we should all have?

[Koosha Navadar]

Oh, wonderful. Samantha, thank you so much for that question. Christina, do you want to start?

[Christina Dewitta]

Yeah, I think. Well, Malika and I were discussing this recently that you should not even have, like, a specifically Thai store to find, you know, all the staples and all the basic necessities that you need. But I think a good fish oil and, you know, like a few types of soy sauce, you could use the black and the thick one and even the seasoning one and the thinner one. But you should not get. By all means, you should not all get all the fancy ingredients because that might seem overwhelming in the beginning. But like a good base of, you know, palm sugar, for example, you can't find it anywhere these days. But I think Malika could add more to that. Yeah.

[Koosha Navadar]

Molly?

[Malika Gao Bennen]

Yes? I'm sorry, can you repeat the question? Sorry, the Internet got lost.

[Koosha Navadar]

No problem at all. So Samantha from New York was just asking, what are some staples in the pantry that you should definitely have if you're going to try to cook Thai food?

[Malika Gao Bennen]

Okay, so I have three sauces at home. I have the oyster sauce that is a must. A fish sauce. It can be any brand. And soy sauce, thin soy sauce. And if you could have another one is rot D. And that is like the powder that add the flavor in the Thai food. You can find that in. Yes.

[Koosha Navadar]

Do you know how you would spell.

[Malika Gao Bennen]

That is R, R, O, S, D and E, E. Rosti.

[Koosha Navadar]

Rosti. Okay, so those three main ingredients. Well, it was three and then.

[Malika Gao Bennen]

Yeah, four.

[Koosha Navadar]

Four. Four main ingredients. Yeah. And then there's this recipe that I wanted to bring up from the book. There's some great recipes. Pad Gap Rao and Malika, can you go ahead and tell us what that dish is, what we need to make it, how to make it? Okay.

[Malika Gao Bennen]

Okay. So pad kaprao is like the all time favorite for Thai people. It's the best street food. When you go out, know what to eat, you just order padka prawn because it's never gonna disappoint you. It's cooked usually with mincemeat or chicken. And how to cook is very simple. It needs chili and garlic. You crush them together first and then you fry it in the oil and then you put the meat in it. When the meat start to get cooked, you put oyster sauce, thin soy sauce, rot, di, and a little bit of sugar to make it balance the flavor. Balance, yes. And then at the end you put the basil leaves. It. Usually the original is a holy basil, but you can use alternative. You can use a basil from any store to put it at the end.

[Koosha Navadar]

There's a tweet that just came through that I want to read to you. I think you'll both enjoy this. It says, I'm listening to you right now and I just ordered your book. We are Indian, but for every family celebration we go out for Thai food, the owners and staff have become our family. I'm so intimidated by Thai cooking, but I love the idea of your book. It's beautiful. So listener Indira Vo, thank you so much for sending that. Thanks for the love. And Christina, let's talk about the book a little bit more for a minute because this is a beautiful book. There's a lot of comics in here. And while I was looking through it, I was wondering, why comics? What is it about illustrations that lets you explain or communicate in a way that maybe pictures or just words can't?

[Christina Dewitta]

The main thing for me, I'm. I'm a very, very big fan of cooking myself. But the one thing for me was that I could not concentrate. When I read a regular cookbook, I lost track many, many times, resulting in a recipe, you know, failing. And one thing that I've realized, I am a visual learner and I have been comic. I've been making comics ever, you know, ever since I can hold a pencil. So to me, it was very logical to create something that would work for me in the first place. So I figured that illustrating every step would be so helpful to when you're cooking because, you know, Thai cooking is a very. Preparation is key, but like, is a very high speed kitchen. Everything goes all together all at once and you don't have time to waste, right? So if you could do a quick glance at the page that you're currently working at, I feel like that would be more helpful to people like me, at least to be on track and to be, you know, at the right, at the right space. So I think illustration was a very logical step for me to, to work this book out. I wouldn't, I could not imagine any other way of making this, which was still challenging because illustrating every step was very hard. And we had to make a lot of choices too, because it's always in the details. But yeah, if you look at it, there is generally no more than 10 steps, which is very doable in my opinion.

[Koosha Navadar]

Yeah. We got another text that Christine, I'm going to send to you. It says, do you recommend any spicy Thai dishes that are vegan or that can be easily adapted for a vegan diet?

[Christina Dewitta]

Okay. So I very much love this question because I have for myself been trying to make all of the recipes, well, some of them, at least for now, in a vegan version. As we were talking about pakrapao, you could easily, easily make it with, for example, tofu or with, you know, like replacement meat. Any protein works, so you could just omit the oyster sauce or like go for a vegan fish sauce. You can find alternatives even in, you know, like the Asian stores these days. So, yes, yes, Big yes. Everything is adaptable in an halal way, in a vegan way, in a vegetarian way. The Thai kitchen is so versatile. So I truly, truly, truly believe anything can be turned vegan.

[Koosha Navadar]

Is there a specific dish that you would recommend especially? It says here spicy. Is there something that's spicy?

[Christina Dewitta]

That spicy vegan? I think you could, you could turn anything spicy, really. But I truly believe that the patra pao contains a lot of chilies. So if you would turn that one to start with, I think that's a good, like base level recipe to be introduced with in a Thai kitchen. But for example, the cotio I also really enjoy because it could be a plant based broth, but they add like a lot of chili, dried chili spices into it. So it can turn very spicy very quickly. But it's a noodle soup, actually, which is very, very nice.

[Koosha Navadar]

So if you're listening, if you're listening out there and you sent that text, there's a lot of options there. It sounds like anything is adapt. You just get the chilies and you can substitute tofu and get vegan fish oil there. So that's wonderful. And Malika, I'm listening to Christina talk about how fast it is and there's only 10 steps generally to these dishes. And I'm wondering for you, are there any cooking techniques that if you saw somebody getting it right, it suggests to you that they definitely know their way around a Thai kitchen. Whether it's how they prepare the rice or the kind of heat that they use, the kind of pan that they use. Are there any secret things that show you, oh, that that's really a person who knows their Thai cooking.

[Malika Gao Bennen]

My techniques, I would, I would go for like, you need to have rice Cooker to. To, you know, to save your time. So I'm not sure if that's a technique.

[Koosha Navadar]

I would call that a technique.

[Christina Dewitta]

Okay.

[Malika Gao Bennen]

Yes. It saves lots of time. You just put it there and put on the button and you go and do something else. And when the food is ready, the rice cooker is ready.

[Koosha Navadar]

That's such a cross cultural thing, isn't it? Just get a rice cooker. That's the way to do it. So you have a rice cooker. Do you have multiple rice cookers?

[Malika Gao Bennen]

No, I have only one.

[Koosha Navadar]

One. I've heard. I've heard of some folks having multiple rice cookers for specific needs. You know, I'm looking at the clock. We're just about getting ready to wrap up. But I want to get a quick. Just one dish from each of you because the summer is season is here, it's getting hot outside, the weather's getting warmer, at least in New York. I'm wondering for each of you, what's your favorite Thai dish to eat when it's hot out? Christina, let's go to you first.

[Christina Dewitta]

Sorry, there is only one, one decent answer here, and that is som tam. I'm so sorry, Malika. If it was, if that was gonna be your answer, but som tam all the way. It's so sour. It's so fresh, it's so refreshing. Oh, it's so amazing. I learned how to make it this past trip as well. And it's so easy. It's so, so easy. But I think once you get the hang of it, you wouldn't want anything else this summer.

[Koosha Navadar]

And Malika, how about you?

[Malika Gao Bennen]

I would go for the ice cream. Yeah. In Thailand. And it helps a lot because you know, in the heat in the summer when you get hot. Right? The ice cream, the sweetness from the ice cream, it will give you energy and it's super good.

[Koosha Navadar]

That sounds great. The book is Noodles, Rice and Everything Spice, a Thai comic cookbook. We've been here with Malika Gao Bennen and Christina DeWitta. Thank you both so much for hanging out with us and for the book.

[Malika Gao Bennen]

Thank you for having us.

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[McDonald's Customer]

I'm gonna put you on nephew.

[Koosha Navadar]

All right, unk.

[Christina Dewitta]

Welcome to McDonald's. Can I take your order, miss?

[McDonald's Customer]

I've been hitting up McDonald's for years. Now it's back. We need snack wraps. What's a snack wrap? It's the return of something great. Snack wrap is back.