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Who are we?
SavourAsia is the creation of Sandra Huang and Stanford Smith, who met in Hanoi in 2004 and discovered a shared passion for food, travel and education. This project grew out of our desire to share the fun, pleasure, and amazing diversity of eating in Asia.
Savour Asia’s circle includes friends and folks who hunt down new places to eat, order everything on the menu, then sit around the table, stuffed to the gills, and chat and pick over not-to-be-left-behind tasty morsels while conversation invariably wanders to choosing the next street stall and planning the next meal. They also understand that the concept of "three meals a day" is a shockingly unacceptable limitation on man's potential. To our utmost gratitude, some of these friends have contributed to our site, and we have provided brief biographies of them under Other Contributors.
Sandra Huang
 Born in the United States, Sandra is passionate about food, cooking and, of course, eating. An accomplished amateur chef, she has studied cooking in Thailand, China and Vietnam in addition to working in well-known kitchens in the United States. Sandra has spent most of the last 11 years living, working, writing, traveling and eating in Asia: as a teacher and development consultant she has worked in dusty schoolhouses in western Mongolia and mountain villages in northern Vietnam. Her writing and food travel have taken her to as many Asian street-side eateries and gastronomical opportunities as is physically possible. Sandra has lived in San Francisco; Washington, DC; Boston; Taipei; Hanoi; Beijing; and Port-au-Prince, Haiti. There is literally nothing she won't eat once. She speaks English, Mandarin Chinese and Vietnamese. Her husband, a U.S. diplomat, is perpetually in awe of her.
Stanford Smith
 As the first of eight children growing up in Virginia and then Utah, Stanford came to see food as sustenance above all else. Although his mother was a resourceful farmer’s daughter and there was always enough food, early memories include powdered milk, cracked wheat porridge and lining up to get the next pancake hot out of the pan. It was not until Stanford first visited Asia in 1988 that he discovered vegetables could be enjoyed rather than endured. After completing a masters degree in International Development, he worked on various education and economic development projects focusing on South and Southeast Asia, and in 1996 met Nga Nguyen (a Vietnamese American from Ohio with a serious passion for fine food) in Washington DC where they were both working. In 2001 they moved to Hanoi to pursue their desire to live in Asia, and it's been food heaven ever since, including a year and a half living in Bangkok. Currently working for the United Nations in Hanoi, he also founded the design and communications firm Linea Studios with his brother Adam.
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