Spokane cook Suwanee Lennon lands spot as contestant on PBS ‘Great American Recipe’

Spokane cook Suwanee Lennon admits initial nerves about facing TV cameras for “The Great American Recipe” on PBS.

Lennon landed a spot among eight contestants in the show’s fourth season, scheduled locally at 9 p.m. Friday. Other weekly segments run Fridays through Aug. 15.

Raised until age 13 in a leprosy village in Surin – a northeastern province of Thailand – Lennon loves the bold Isaan cuisine she now embraces for creating recipes. Her blog, Simply Suwanee, offers tips to home cooks to ease into Thai cooking. The show’s team reached out to her.

“I didn’t expect this; it just came out of nowhere,” said Lennon, 47.

Before her Nashville trip in fall 2024 for filming, Lennon said, she realized that the show offered a larger stage to share about her Thailand village and its residents.

“After some talking and thinking, I just knew this was bigger than me,” she said. “It was about me telling my story and the story of the people I grew up with.

“I wanted to go on the show for them and to showcase my culture, Thai food and the country I grew up in.”

The PBS competition highlights a variety of tastes and traditions from around the U.S., while delving into the personal stories behind the home cooks’ signature dishes. This season brings influences from Bangladeshi to Belizean, Puerto Rican to Southern flavor, Cajun to Afghan, and Filipino to Lennon’s Thai dishes.

Host Alejandra Ramos is joined by chefs and restaurateurs Tiffany Derry and Timothy Hollingsworth, along with “Splendid Table” host Francis Lam, as judges who guide the contestants. The opening episode includes guest judge Al Roker, TV weatherman, cookbook author and creator of an upcoming PBS KIDS series “Weather Hunters.”

Lennon, a photographer, sent in Thailand pictures to air on the show along with the stories she tells about her village. She first heard from “The Great American Recipe” staff via social media and email, initially mistaking it for spam.

After a second email, she researched names and realized they were legitimate. Her follow-up call led to phone interviews, and Lennon said she felt comfortable from the start. She likes the show’s storytelling and heritage.

“Eight of us were selected from around the country,” Lennon said. “We all competed against each other in the cuisine of our background, and with that, also the stories.

“I think that’s the heart and soul of ‘The Great America Recipe,’ to share recipes we make in America, but they have a lot of heritage included with memories and families.”

Each week, after two challenges, the judges determine who has the winning dish. For the finale, the top three cooks compete to win the national search for “The Great American Recipe.”

Lennon features signature dishes such as Khanom Jeen Nam Ya – also called Thai Fish Curry – and a spicy, herb-packed laab salad.

“Fish curry was a dish that I grew up with in Thailand, and the one I used when going back to feed the village,” Lennon added. “It’s one of my favorite dishes of all time, the Khanom Jeen Nam Ya.”

Lennon raises money for a campaign she began two years ago, Feed the Village Project, to give back to her hometown’s elderly leprosy patients. Lennon has since made two trips to Thailand to help her community.

She went alone in April 2023, when she and 15 women cooked enough food to feed the village for two days. In 2024, her children raised money with a Thai tea stand and art projects to benefit children in the village. They joined their mom on a return trip a year ago, in summer 2024.

Lennon was born in Bangkok to a young, unwed mother, who didn’t tell her American soldier boyfriend about the pregnancy. Unable to care for a baby, her mom took Lennon to a sister. Lennon was raised by that aunt and uncle, both who had leprosy.

The Thailand government about 70 years ago built 14 leprosy villages, each gated and isolated, she said. Younger generations, including Lennon, don’t have the disease but they saw the stigma faced by older residents. That’s true even now, said Lennon, who went to school outside of the village.

An American woman, who visited her village with a Thai doctor, later sponsored her journey to the U.S. at age 13. Before Lennon left her village, many of the residents gave her gifts and small bills, although they were poor.

Lennon, who first lived in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, eventually married an Air Force pilot. Now a cargo airline pilot, he retired from the military in 2022. At home in Spokane, they have a son, 12, and daughter, 10.

Every four to six weeks, Lennon is a chef for a day to cook at Spokane’s Feast World Kitchen, a nonprofit restaurant. That work has helped her boost her fundraising.

“When my husband retired from the Air Force, I decided I’m going to pursue this dream of feeding the village, of feeding the people who have given me so much, with the little they have,” she said. “Last year was bigger than expected because I was able to raise a lot more money.

“I was able to raise money to support my project and not just feed more people, but we also incorporated my kids in where we raised money for (village) school supplies and uniforms. We also built a house for a family of five and helped with different things in the village, like the solar lights that were broken for years.”

Lennon plans to watch Friday’s first show at home with family and friends. On July 25, she is scheduled to cook that day at Feast World Kitchen, then spend time in the main restaurant as the site hosts a watch party at 6 p.m. Lennon plans to cook special dishes that day.

Although she can’t reveal the season’s outcome, Lennon hopes it brings more awareness about her village’s residents, so she can help them even more.

“I’m just thankful I was selected to be on the show, tell my stories and share my recipes and love of Thai food with America,” Lennon said. “Out of this, I hope I can continue to do my Feed the Village Project, and I would love to create opportunities for the people I grew up with.”

“Also through my blog, Simply Suwanee, I’m hoping for a cookbook someday, too, to have something written down as a legacy for the future, for myself and for the people in my village, because they are the inspiration behind my recipes.”