Charlie Boonprasert and Tutu Navachai arrived in Fairbanks in the 1980s, when their friend offered them jobs mining and cooking at a gold lease. The pair, originally from northern Thailand, soon realized there was almost no south-east Asian food available in Alaska’s remote interior.
But they did find a small Thai population in Fairbanks yearning for a taste of home, and a chance to meet up and gossip.
