Kwol meets AJ

Kabocha pumpkin is smaller and sweeter than American pumpkin

Kwol, her husband, Eugene Pierce,  and I went to Greensboro's Table 16 to meet AJ, Table 16's sous chef, who will be working with chef and owner Graham Heaton on the MashUp project. To help introduce the foods she enjoyed from the Central Highlands of Vietnam, Kwol brought by several vegetables locally grown by Montagnards and seasonal.

Her selection included the kabocha pumpkin, whose fruit, leaves, tendrils and flowers are all favored, lufa squash, hot peppers, water spinach, sweet potato greens, and cassava leaf, which is especially prized.

AJ was immediately interested in everything and the two quickly launched into possible recipes and combinations, with questions about how cassava leaf was prepared and local availability of some, such as lufa. Kwol also explained how Montagnards dried meat. And how she and her husband had been down to the Asheboro area harvesting river snails, another favorite, that would be quickly boil-cooked, then dipped in hot pepper sauce.

The conversation was exciting for me to hear, a conversation among equals in which both parties were eager to share and overcome barriers. As an experienced chef AJ was completely open to Kwol's ingredients and her cooking traditions.

Next steps, figuring out a time during the restaurant's busy schedule to get Kwol in to work side by side, experimenting and trying out new things together with AJ. 

This is going to be an exciting collaboration!

Sweet potato green

Lufa grown from a Montagnard garden

Cassava, a tropical plant, grown in Greensboro NC