The culinary and cultural landscape of Los Angeles is shaped by immigrant and diasporic communities. In turn, our food cultures help build connections across communities. Leading voices in food writing, history, and food justice will come together to explore the relationship between migration, food, labor, placemaking, politics, and identity in Los Angeles and beyond.

Panelists:

• Tien Nguyen has been writing at the intersection of food and culture for over a decade. She is the co-author of several cookbooks, including, most recently, The Choi of Cooking with Roy Choi and My Cambodia with Nite Yun. She also is an editor at Synonym Magazine, which celebrates immigrant and diasporic food cultures, and her work has been honored by the International Association of Culinary Professionals. She has taught food writing at the University of Southern California’s Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism and lives in Los Angeles.
• Mark Padoongpatt is Associate Professor of Asian American Studies and Interdisciplinary Studies at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV). He is a social and cultural historian of the 20th century United States who focuses on empire, race, migration, food, and urban and suburban culture. His first book, Flavors of Empire: Food and the Making of Thai America (University of California Press, 2017), explores how and why Thai food shaped Thai American community and identity since World War II. He’s currently working on a book on Asian American placemaking in Las Vegas. He’s also published in Eating Asian America, Eating More Asian America, and the Journal of American Ethnic History, and his work has been featured in podcasts and television shows, including an Emmy-winning food series The Migrant Kitchen and the Hulu series Taste the Nation with Padma Lakshmi.
• Sarah Portnoy is a professor of food studies and food justice in the Department of Latin American and Iberian Cultures at USC, where she teaches courses on Latinx food culture and social justice. An activist and public speaker, her work bridges scholarship, documentary filmmaking, and community engagement in South Los Angeles. She has received grants from Cal Humanities and the National Endowment for the Humanities to create a documentary film series and related museum exhibit, Abuelita’s Kitchen and Abuelitas on the Borderlands. She is the author of Food, Health, and Culture in Latino Los Angeles and numerous academic articles.
• Gustavo Arellano (moderator) is a columnist for the Los Angeles Times, covering Southern California everything and a bunch of the West and beyond. He previously worked at OC Weekly, where he was an investigative reporter for 15 years and editor for six, wrote a column called ¡Ask a Mexican! and is the author of Taco USA: How Mexican Food Conquered America. He’s the child of two Mexican immigrants, one of whom came to this country in the trunk of a Chevy.

This panel is part of the 2026 Los Angeles Times Festival of Books at USC.