Mai Pham is author of The Pleasures of the Vietnamese Table and is also chef and owner of Lemon Grass Restaurant in Sacramento, California. Mai came to the U.S. with her family after the fall of Saigon in 1975 and graduated college with a degree in journalism but eventually decided to pursue her passion for food full-time. She writes extensively about Vietnamese cuisine and has received the distinguished Bert Greene award from the IACP. Her most recent book is Flavors of Asia (DK, 2009).