ohy_SR12320.xml Guide to the oral history interview with Nong Poonsukwattana Poonsukwattana (Nong) oral history interview Sarah Stroman Oregon Historical Society Research Library 2022
1200 SW Park Ave. Portland, OR 97205 libreference@ohs.org https://www.ohs.org/research-and-library/
This finding aid was produced using ArchivesSpace on 2022-05-24. Finding aid is written in English. Finding aid based on DACS (Describing Archives: A Content Standard), 2nd Edition. Oregon Historical Society Research Library Oral history interview with Nong Poonsukwattana Poonsukwattana, Nong, 1980- SR 12320 107 megabytes 1 audio file (M4A, 47 min., 37 sec.) 2019 August 12 Oral history interview with Nong Poonsukwattana conducted by Monica Salazar on August 12, 2019, for The Immigrant Story. Poonsukwattana discusses her experiences as a Thai American and a restaurant owner in Portland, Oregon. English

Collection is open for research.

Gift of The Immigrant Story, June 2021 (RL2021-057).

Nong Poonsukwattana was born in Bangkok, Thailand, in 1980. In 2003, she married an American citizen and immigrated to the United States. The couple settled in Portland, Oregon, but soon divorced. Poonsukwattana remained in Portland and worked at Thai restaurants, including Pok Pok. In 2009, she opened Nong's Khao Man Gai in the Alder Street food cart pod in downtown Portland, and in 2011, she also opened a restaurant by the same name in Southeast Portland. In 2018, she opened a second location in downtown Portland.

Access to audio recording is provided online in OHS Digital Collections.

Oral history interview with Nong Poonsukwattana, by Monica Salazar, SR 12320, Oregon Historical Society Research Library.

This oral history interview with Nong Poonsukwattana was conducted by Monica Salazar on August 12, 2019. The interview was recorded for The Immigrant Story, an organization that documents and archives the stories of immigrants and refugees in the United States. Poonsukwattana's landlord was also briefly present.

In this interview, Poonsukwattana discusses her family background and early life in Bangkok, Thailand, and talks about experiencing child abuse. She talks about immigrating to the United States after marrying an American citizen in 2003; about adjusting to life in Portland, Oregon, including learning English; and about working as a waitress in Thai restaurants in Portland, including Pok Pok. She discusses developing recipes, opening Nong's Khao Man Gai, a food cart in downtown Portland, in 2009, and then a restaurant of the same name in 2011. She then describes opening a second location for her restaurant in 2018. She closes the interview by sharing her plans for the future, by talking about managing her restaurant staff, and by discussing her experience with the immigration process.

Joint copyright for this interview is held by the Oregon Historical Society and The Immigrant Story. Use is allowed according to the following statement: In Copyright – Educational Use Permitted, http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC-EDU/1.0/

An article about Nong Poonsukwattana, "The Ingredients of Leadership" by Monica Salazar, was based on this interview and published on The Immigrant Story website at https://theimmigrantstory.org/the-ingredients-of-leadership/.

 Poonsukwattana, Nong, 1980- Family violence--Thailand Immigrant business enterprises--Oregon--Portland Immigrants--Oregon Restaurateurs--Oregon--Portland Restaurants--Oregon--Portland Thai Americans--Oregon Oregon Oral Histories oral histories (literary works) interviews Salazar, Monica The Immigrant Story (Hillsboro, Or.)