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No need to consult the Moscone Center map to find Channy Laux’s booth at the recent Winter Fancy Food Show, a massive San Francisco trade showcase for 80,000 new and distinctive food products. You could smell your way there.
Exotic aromas of lemongrass and red chile peppers led you to Angkor Cambodian Food’s cooking sauces and condiments. Laux, a retired aerospace and biotech engineer, started the company in 2010 with her husband Kent using ingredients from California farms.
Inspired by her late mother’s recipes, Laux has always cooked fragrant, authentic Cambodian curries and other dishes for family, friends and co-workers. But when they started asking to buy her chrouk metae, a fiery hot sauce used on everything from barbecue to noodles, a business was born.
Today, her company sells 10 products, including a new raw version of the hot sauce and a lemongrass paste that won a 2018 sofi Award at the Fancy Food Show in January.
Q: What’s the back story on Angkor Cambodian Food?
A: My mom and I were really close and when she passed away in 2010, I was reflecting on her life and wanted to find a way to honor her. She was an orphan. She never had a day of school in her life but she was a strong woman, a single mom who raised four kids to become engineers and business owners. After arriving in the U.S., her first job was in a kitchen. She went on to cook Cambodian food in many weddings.
Q: How many employees do you have?
A: Both Kent and I are putting in long hours, basically seven days a week, and love it. Sometimes we hire Cambodian acquaintances part-time to help us out. We also get help from friends and family. My brother and his wife are in the food business, as well. They own House of Bagels in Santa Clara.
Q: How did you grow your business those first few years?
A: I started out offering samples outside Village Market in the Ferry Building in San Francisco just to familiarize people with Cambodian food. It’s about introducing people to new flavors and ingredients, like prahok, a fermented fish that we use like salt. Americans love it. Since then I’ve done a lot of demos and private dinners promoting the products. I did a pop-up in New York City and I do cooking classes in my home through Airbnb Experiences.
Q: What role does food play in your culture back home?
A: Growing up in Cambodia, most homes did not have refrigerators nor other kitchen tools that we are spoiled with today. Shops were not open 24 hours a day. Every ingredient was fresh from our yard, or shopped for very early each day. There was a lot of sharing and borrowing, neighbors got to know each other and count on each other a lot. If you decided to cook something that was time consuming, you might as well make a lot of it, so you can share with your neighbors.
Q: How do you describe Cambodian food to people who’ve never had it before?
A: I say it is similar to Thai, but not as sweet and spicy. We use many of the same ingredients, like galangal and lemongrass, but our food is more subtle. And some dishes are unique to Cambodian cuisine, like amok, a steamed curried fish. We feature a lot of recipes on our website, www.angkorfoods.com.
Q: Why do you think Cambodian food hasn’t become as mainstream as, say, Thai or Vietnamese cuisine?
A: There are several reasons. One is financial. We arrived here not only as refugees, but as genocide survivors. We arrived with completely empty hands. Almost all of us came without knowing a word of English. Unlike Thai families, we were influenced by French colonization so our second language in school was French. And the American footprint in Cambodia before the Khmer Rouge was very light. Not many American soldiers were familiar with our culture and cuisine.
Q: What are some of your favorite dishes to make with these products?
A: Many dishes (can be) made with prahok, like prahok ktees — minced pork that is sauteed with another product, our lemongrass paste or kroeung, and chiles and coconut milk. Also lok lak, a Cambodian beef salad. It is the best way to cook with our Kampot peppercorns. And Cambodian grilled corn on the cob. I could have this for breakfast, lunch and dinner. It’s grilled ears of corn or fire-roasted corn drenched in Cambodian White Sauce.
Q: Where can people find your sauces and condiments?
A: They are available at Market Hall Foods in Oakland, Delucchi’s Market in Redwood City, Village Market inside the Ferry Building in San Francisco, and online at www.angkorfood.com. I will also be at Moveable Feast’s Noodles on Noodles Festival in Fremont on April. 6.
Channy Laux
Age: 55
Position: Founder and chef, Angkor Cambodian Food
Hometown: Lincoln, Nebraska
Residence: Fremont
Education: BS, computer science and mathematics, University of Nebraska, Lincoln; MS, Applied Mathematics; Santa Clara University
Five facts about Channy Laux
- A Cambodian refugee, she spent four years in a labor camp, from 1975 to 1979, before coming to the United States with her mother and three siblings.
- She is the author of 2017’s “Short-Hair Detention: Memoir of a Thirteen Year Old Girl Surviving the Cambodian Genocide.”
- She worked in Silicon Valley as an engineer in aerospace and biotech for 30 years.
- Her favorite restaurant is Blue Fin in San Jose.
- Her newest product is a raw version of her popular hot sauce.