Q+A and Recipe: Soleil Ho on Writing The Memory of Taste with Tu David Phu and New Worker-Owned Media Company COYOTE

Interview with a chef, author and journalist!

Jun 26, 2025

Today, we’re excited to present a Q+A with Soleil Ho on co-authoring The Memory of Taste: Vietnamese American Recipes from Phú Quoc, Oakland, and the Spaces Between with Tu David Phu. They are also a worker-owner of the Bay Area’s new COYOTE Media Collective, which is currently raising money for a late summer launch, so we talked about that as well!

Tamara Palmer/Food Book Club: What was the best part of working together to create this beautiful book?

Soleil Ho: The best part was going to Vietnam and frankly learning about a regional cuisine I’d never encountered before! My family is from a different region of the country, so Tu’s culinary window into Vietnam is so different than mine. I’m still dreaming about the bún kèn we had on the island.

Which recipes are in your personal heavy rotation?

I already loved salmon belly (because I love fish and I’m cheap) but Tu’s tomato-braised belly is so perfect—and I’m looking forward to making it during Early Girl season.

How will food play a role in the new worker-owned media organization that you are involved in launching?

I’m definitely planning food coverage as a core vertical! Still dreaming up particulars and sifting through my mental slush pile, but I’m excited to have the freedom to explore weird and wild ideas that I haven’t gotten the chance to yet.

Are there other cookbooks from any era that you'd like to recommend to our readers?

While working on another cookbook with a chef named Lokelani Alabanza, I heard a lot from her about an amazing cookbook called Spoonbread and Strawberry Wine. Written by two sisters in 1978. It’s an incredible project: both a detail-rich family history and a compendium of excellent Southern recipes.

Download the Fish Sauce Caramel recipe from The Memory of Taste below: