Cooking up food and identity in Pailin Chongchitnant's "Hot Thai Kitchen"

For more than 12 years, Pailin Chongchitnant has hosted the YouTube cooking show Hot Thai Kitchen. Chongchitnant's recipes (of which there are hundreds, free to access online) aim to offer a deeper understanding of the steps and the ingredients that make Thai cuisine so distinct. They also highlight the cultural background of each dish; from steaming bowls of tom kha gai to crispy coconut corn fritters, Chongchitnant weaves stories from her own life and childhood into each video. (My personal favorite is her recipe for instant pot massaman curry; the freshly toasted warm spices and rich curry is more soul-nourishing and flavorful than any bowl I've had at a restaurant).

And the videos are resonating widely; the channel has more than 1.4 million subscribers worldwide. Chongchitnant's cookbook, Hot Thai Kitchen: Demystifying Thai Cuisine with Authentic Recipes to Make at Home, was published in 2016.

But while her love of food was always a driving force, the road to Chongchitnant's current position had some unexpected turns. She grew up in Southern Thailand, and when she was in high school, cable