Where to Start with Leela Punyaratabandhu

Leela Punyaratabandhu is a Thai-American cookbook author and food writer born in Bangkok. She studied linguistics and philology before turning to food writing, and she divides her time between Chicago and Bangkok. From 2008 to 2021, she wrote about Thai cuisine on her cooking blog She Simmers, which Saveur Magazine named the best Regional Cuisine blog in 2012. She has published three cookbooks: Simple Thai Food (2014), which NPR named one of the best books of the year, Bangkok: Recipes and Stories from the Heart of Thailand (2017), which won the 2018 Art of Eating Prize, and Flavors of the Southeast Asian Grill (2020). Her writing combines a native Thai perspective with a clear understanding of what Western cooks need to know.