The First Table
a narrative dinner with Johnny Chanthavong
For AG's first food experience, culinary storyteller, writer, and artist Johnny Chanthavong prepares a speculative story and accompanying dinner on what might have happened if Indonesian mariners, who had advanced shipbuilding and navigational skills in the 1600s, made their way to North America, and what foods might have resulted from a meeting of Southeast Asian and Indigenous American cultures. The menu also pays homage to the enduring impact of Indigenous American ways of life and use of local ingredients, and will be prepared in consultation with Indigenous community members.
Join us on Saturday, July 25th at 6pm for this special three course meal with complimentary beverages and relatively informal indoor and outdoor seating. We will also be celebrating the release of a collaborative zine with Johnny's story.
This is our first ticketed event, but we still hope to ensure accessibility. To help us cover the costs of production and service, we will be selling $30 community tickets which cover our base costs and $50 donation tickets for anyone who can give a bit more on Eventbrite. We have also reserved tickets for those who need reduced or free entry. To get your reduced or free ticket, write to us at airtightgarage.offspace@gmail.com with a few words about your financial situation.
Johnny Chanthavong is a culinary storyteller who works with what food has always been: a carrier of memory, a space for ritual, a way we make home together. Examining the origins of spices, herbs, techniques, and flavors, he opens portals to different times and places in human history, tracing how meals connect us to our ancestors and to one another. Growing up Lao-Thai American near the Merrimack River instilled a deep respect for the meals his family holds dear, and shapes how he contextualizes displacement, migration, and what it means to build belonging in places that weren't designed for us.
He approaches food with the eye of a storyteller: What histories live in this dish? Whose hands shaped this technique? How do we honor the traditions we've inherited while creating new rituals of our own? Drawing on over a decade in live event production and a practice rooted in culinary anthropology, Johnny creates experiences that slow down, honor presence, and make space for the stories we carry. Whether through writing, performance, or gathering around a table, his work is an invitation to remember that every meal is already sacred—we just need to pay attention.