Suwanee Lennon brings Thai heritage and personal journey to PBS’s The Great American Recipe

The Great American Recipe is a cooking competition aired on PBS. It showcases home cooks from all across the nation preparing their recipes, to share their story and share their culture.

On August 8, 2025, KREM published an article that profiled Suwanee Lennon, a Spokane resident featured on the show.

Lennon is a Thai home-cook and food blogger, and uses cooking to stay tied to her roots and to document her journey.

Lennon, when she was 13 years old, moved from Thailand to America without learning how to cook.

After some time, she began to miss the food of her village and started recalling and recreating her memories of the many meals and dishes she had growing up.

“My flavors and my inspiration all stem from the people that I grew up with in my village in Thailand. They teach me, and yeah, they're my inspiration,” she said.

While she wasn't sure about being on television, she chose to participate in the competition so she could share her story.

During The Great American Recipe she prepared Kanom Jeen Nam Ya, a vermicelli fish curry in coconut broth, and salmon with Walla Walla onions and huckleberry sauce, reflecting her Thai heritage and her life in the Pacific Northwest.

Finding inspiration through heritage and home in The Great American Recipe

 

 

 

 

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Lennon mentioned her food is traditional but creative. She loves to try recipes and use different ingredients, calling it making art, by way of cooking.

She suggested that a cook should learn the basics first, then can experiment, noting,

“First, you need to learn the rules, then you can bend them.”

She spoke about her move from Thailand at a young age, recalling,

“I left my country, my village, my people, by myself.”

The distance from her home led her to value the flavors and cooking methods she had grown up with. She credits the people in her childhood village for inspiring her food.

Initially, Lennon was hesitant to be part of The Great American Recipe.

As a photographer, she preferred to work behind the camera. She stated that she was not comfortable putting herself in the spotlight, especially on television.

Ultimately, she decided that it was worth the risk, because it would allow her to share her dishes, and it would give her the chance to share her own life story.

She valued the opportunity to use that platform to tell the stories of how she was raised in Thailand, as well as express how her hometown has impacted her cooking style.

Cooking under pressure on national television

On The Great American Recipe, contestants work in new kitchens and have only 60 minutes to prepare their dishes. Lennon said this was stressful but added,

“We all managed to get out our dishes.”

She has prepared two meals that represent her two homes, Kanom Jeen Nam Ya, a Thai vermicelli fish curry in coconut broth that she as a child enjoyed, and salmon with Walla Walla onions and homemade huckleberry sauce using ingredients from the Pacific Northwest.

Guest judge Al Roker said he enjoyed her huckleberry sauce.

Lennon said that while she cannot reveal the results of the competition, her goal is not about winning at all.

She explained that she cooks with love and comfort to bring people together.

“When we eat together, it’s our way of enjoying life,” she said.

Episodes of The Great American Recipe air on PBS. Lennon also shares her recipes and personal stories on her blog, Simply Suwanee, where visitors can explore more about her cooking and the dishes she prepared on the show.