Eat Lao

Sam Sempill was born in Australia and raised in a traditional Lao family.

The recipes in this book follow the trail of Sam's grandmother's cooking back to Lao. The food her grandmother cooked has remained a constant in Sam's life, providing her with a connection back to a country she left as a child. They celebrate the uniqueness of the Lao food tradition. Each recipe, like the scent of a signature perfume, evokes memories of a certain moment in time, and tells the story her family's journey from Lao to Australia.

Through compiling these recipes, Sam have discovered the central role that food has played in her family's life, and how food was used to communicate empathy and love, in a family where hugs and kisses were substituted with soups and braises.

The recipes in this book aim to keep those memories alive and to share the unique flavours, joy and love of cooking from a Lao kitchen.

About the Author

Sam Sempill is a Lao-born Melbourne Architect. In 2001, while studying for her architecture degree at the University of Melbourne, she opened a restaurant in Fitzroy where, together with her mother and grandmother, she cooked family recipes. After finishing her degree, Sam became a registered architect and has worked at a range of Melbourne architectural studios, including her own architecture and textile studio in Carlton. Sam is an award-winning artist, and weaver, with works previously displayed at the National Gallery of Victoria. Inspired by her Lao heritage and family traditions, Sam is a self-taught textile artist and hand-weaver. Many of the textiles seen in this book have been designed and hand woven by Sam, and the antique Lao textiles are family heirloom pieces, many of which were woven by her grandmother. All illustrations seen in this book are by Sam.