The First Table
a narrative dinner with Johnny Chanthavong
For AG's first food experience, culinary storyteller, writer, and artist Johnny Chanthavong prepared 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 paid homage to the enduring impact of Indigenous American ways of life and use of local ingredients.
A handmade booklet in an edition of 36 was created in conjunction with event to share his story, recipe, and to commemorate this memorable evening.
Johnny's work lives at the crossroads of cooking, storytelling, performance, and socially engaged art. We're so glad we were able to bring this unique practice to our space and to share this special meal with so many generations.
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.