Ros Rotanak
Cambodian Celebrity Chef
Advocate for Preserving Khmer Culinary Heritage & Promoting Cambodian Cuisine Globally
Ros Rotanak, aka Chef Nak, was born in Phnom Penh in a foodie family. Her mother was a seller at a wet market where Chef Nak learned to pick the best ingredients and to cook from a very young age. Today, Chef Nak is a leading Cambodian celebrity chef who has made a name for herself and her mother-land cuisine both domestically and internationally through the work of preserving, developing, and promoting Cambodian culinary arts. Her activities include writing and publishing Cambodian Cook books, Cooking Classes, Home Dining, Homestays, Restaurant Consultancies, Culinary Arts Tours, and video production of Cambodian food for social media that feature stories and skills of elderly women in the rural area whose voices are rarely heard.
Her platforms have demonstrated as a source for youths to learn about their history, and communities through food, and inspired women to be proud and confident in themselves by believing that they can be more than just homecooks. It also shows that food has great potential to attract tourism and contribute to community development. Since 2024, she has contributed her expertise as an IGCAT Expert.
As well as working to promote Cambodian cuisine, she also works and consults for numerous projects such as UNICEF, WFP, FAO, EpicArts, GIZ, iDE, Heinrich Böll Stiftung, CLA, MOE, MOT, Embassies and companies to promote healthy cooking and food safety for children and families, women empowerment and inclusive of people living with disabilities. Despite facing a difficult time due to the pandemic, Chef Nak is still going forward and stronger, she continues to produce engagement-provoking social media content to promote Cambodian cuisine, women, and people living with disabilities. Her newly opened Chef Nak Culinary Arts Center is actively providing cooking classes, luxury homedining, homestay to local and international visitors while so, she is also working on her new astonishing second cook book about Cambodian royal home cuisine.
12 December 2024
