Foo Swasdee

Rommanee “Foo” Swasdee, PhD, also known as “Dr. Foo”, is a native of Thailand. She founded the critically acclaimed SATAY Restaurant at 3202 W. Anderson lane in 1987. The restaurant served authentic, fresh, and healthy South East Asia cuisines which include the great flavors from Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam, and the Philippines. She is a life-long chef, entrepreneur, and food educator holding 3 degrees, a BS degree in Food Technology from Thailand. She was granted scholarships from USAID for her Master of Science degree and from US Natick Lab for PhD in Food Science from Texas A&M University. Her studies and working experiences covered food sources, food quality, food nutrition and food technologies in the fields of meat, grain, seeds, nuts, and etc. She relocated to Austin after having been working at Kellogg’s for 3 years with her husband, Manot Swasdee, PhD. Her business ventures include four restaurants, a coffee shop, two lady boutiques, importer of fresh cut orchids from Thailand and creation and sales of many lines of Asian sauces which include the SATAY brand sauces for food services. Recently, Dr. Foo’s Kitchen brand is created with cofounder-manufacturer “Fischer & Weiser” of Fredericksburg, Texas. The Bali BBQ Sauce from Dr. Foo’s Kitchen line was awarded the “Best New BBQ Sauce” at the 2017 Summer International Fancy Food Show in New York, NY. The retail line of Dr. Foo’s Kitchen sauces is sold in many local stores (i.e Central Markets, Randall’s, Breed and Co., Costco) and in many states across the US. Dr. Foo has been active in Austin business community, international and philanthropic community, Greater Austin Asian Chamber of Commerce, ACC International Business Council, promoted culinary educations in Chef Schools and nearby high schools, promoted Asian American Resource Center, and engaged in many charitable causes. She received many awards from the Austin community over the past 30 years including the “Asian American Community Leadership Award” from the University of Texas.

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