about the banh chung collective
The Banh Chung Collective was born out of a desire to affirm and strengthen community bonds between women, LGBTQIA, and people of color. For the past few years, the Collective has convened friends and chosen family to celebrate Lunar New Year and make banh chung.
For the uninitiated, banh chung is a banana leaf-wrapped dumpling made of sticky rice, shallots, mung beans, and pork. If you never made banh chung before, don’t worry: Collective teachers will be on hand to show you how to make your very own banh chung to eat and gift.
photograph by coral von zumwalt
about banh chung collective founder diep tran
The Banh Chung Collective was founded by Diep Tran, the former chef and owner of Good Girl Dinette in the Highland Park neighborhood of Los Angeles. She has been featured in the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, Lucky Peach, Saveur, the Netflix series Ugly Delicious and KCET's Migrant Kitchen. Her published work and recipes have appeared on NPR’s The Salt, LA Weekly, Los Angeles Times, and New York Times.
Diep has been a longtime advocate for workers' rights in the restaurant industry and has spoken about the connection between race and labor at the Southern Foodways Alliance’s annual symposium.
Since closing her award-winning restaurant, she co-wrote The Red Boat Fish Sauce Cookbook, which was named one of NPR’s Books We Love.