Karen got hooked on Asia when a grad school fellowship took her to Vietnam a decade ago. She has been nibbling her way through the region ever since and now covers Southeast Asia for Gourmet from her base in Chiang Mai. Karen is the author of Cambodia Now: Life in the Wake of War (McFarland & Co., 2005) and co-author of this fall’s Pacific Lady: The First Woman to Sail Solo across the World’s Largest Ocean. Karen can also be found at her blog, Rambling Spoon.
Karen Coates
Chiang Mai
Photograph by Jerry Redfern
Karen Coates on gourmet.com
chefs + restaurants
Eight Great Street-Food Vendors in Southeast Asia
Here are eight Asian spots the locals love just as much as visitors.
09.24.09
- Keywords
- street food,
- thailand,
- asia,
- eight great,
- karen coates
travel + culture
Asia’s Dirty Little Secret
What do we do about kitchen smoke, the problem that won’t go away?
09.10.09
- Keywords
- thailand,
- travel,
- asia,
- karen coates,
- culinary culture
travel + culture
Travel Smart: Southeast Asia’s Colonial Past
Gourmet’s Asia correspondent seeks out the romance of a bygone era in Singapore, Cambodia, and Burma.
09.04.09
- Keywords
- travel smart,
- hotels,
- asia,
- travel,
- karen coates
travel + culture
Recipes from the Southeast Asian Homelands
Two new cookbooks document the beloved foods that Hmong and Burmese immigrants left behind.
09.01.09
- Keywords
- cookbooks,
- burma,
- laos,
- travel,
- karen coates
travel + culture
The Wurst of Wisconsin
There are only two ways to grill a proper Wisconsin brat—the Sheboygan way and the wrong way.
08.26.09
- Keywords
- culinary culture,
- grilling,
- karen coates
food + cooking
Eight Great Things to do with a Lime
Asian countries have a way with this citrus fruit, and it’s a shame not to share.
07.21.09
- Keywords
- lime,
- eight great,
- asian,
- cooking + technique,
- travel
travel + culture
Busted in Burma
Gourmet’s Asia correspondent gets booted out of Myanmar, possibly for grocery shopping.
05.13.09
- Keywords
- asia,
- travel,
- karen coates
travel + culture
A Sunny Tour of Northern Thailand
What you get when you combine a top Portland restaurateur with a keen local cook.
03.23.09
- Keywords
- travel,
- thailand,
- chefs,
- culinary culture,
- karen coates
travel + culture
The General’s Tea
How the Kuomintang brought a favored drink to northern Thailand.
02.27.09
- Keywords
- karen coates,
- travel,
- thailand,
- asian,
- ingredients
travel + culture
Prem Lessons
A Thai academy teaches kids to cook from the ground up.
02.02.09
- Keywords
- karen coates,
- travel,
- cooking school,
- thailand,
- asian
