Immigrants have helped change how America eats. Now they dominate top culinary awards

Chef “Nok” Chutatip Suntaranon can trace the flavors on her menu all the way back to her childhood, in the city of Trang in southern Thailand.

“I grew up helping my mom making curry paste to sell in her little shop in the market,” Suntaranon says. “So I knew all that recipe by heart.”

What Suntaranon did not know was how diners in Philadelphia would react when she opened her restaurant Kalaya four years ago, with an uncompromising approach to the flavors and the heat of southern Thai cooking.

But Kalaya has thrived, moving from its original location with 35 seats to an airy, sun-dappled space that holds up to 300. And Suntaranon has been nominated three times for an award from the James Beard Foundation — the so-called “Oscars of the food world,” which are widely considered the top prize in the U.S. culinary industry.

“I know my…