in my feels: visiting a Lao restaurant
a few weeks ago, my sisters and i had the opportunity to visit a brick & mortar Lao restaurant in downtown Greensboro, NC, called Lao Restaurant + Bar.
when we arrived at Lao Restaurant + Bar, we excitedly took pictures of the store front, the front waiting area with its huge mural of the map of Laos, and the decor.
as we sat, we talked about how beautiful the bright white space and Lao themed decor was. we joked about taking the rice threshing baskets hanging on the wall with us. we looked at the menu of Lao themed cocktails and familiar Lao foods. we ordered things our mothers had made us before.
pho
pun pa
khao piek
mee ka thi
khao poon
thum mak hoong
we enjoyed our food and drinks and the owner even came out to speak with us about where we eat Lao food in Charlotte. after we finished eating, we took another photo opportunity at the front waiting area, giggling about how touristy we were being.
we had a great time, and we were super excited! and why? what was so cool about being able to eat Lao food, our food in a restaurant?
for Laotian Americans (and other members of the Laotian diaspora) visiting a Lao restaurant is a significant experience that is about food, and so much more. that is about not just food, but so much more.
it is such a rare experience to find a Lao restaurant. for so long, we were told that our food was too weird to be marketable in restaurants. our food is flavorful, complex, and multifaceted in so many ways that non-Lao people couldn't handle.
Lao food is
fishy
fermented
phet
noua
sweet
citrusy
fresh
stanky
bitter
crunchy
chewy
smooth
gelatinous
herby
back in the day, many of our parents and grandparents opened restaurants as means of survival. we did what we could to bring in the money, and opening a restaurant that smelled like padaek was to much of a risk. so, people opened more mainstream cuisine spots like Chinese or Thai, places that were more familiar to the American palate. Lao food was reserved for places we knew we could find our village. Lao food was sold out of food trucks, from the back of Lao markets, from our own kitchens, to other Lao folks. and ain't nothing wrong with that. we did what we needed to do to make a buck and to share our food with each other.
but now, we are beginning to understand that we too deserve the space, physically and socially, to share our food. we deserve the magazine quality photos, the food blogger IG posts, and raving Yelp reviews of our beautifully dark and green gang nor mai, our multi-textured and herbal or lam.
there's just something so significant about restaurant space. it's not that it's better in any way than the alternative spaces that we've been cookin up Lao food in America for the last 40 years. but it's a space that we have not always had access to. Lao chefs and entrepreneurs fought for those spaces. fought back against the idea that Lao businesses would never be successful or that Lao food would never appeal to the mainstream.
as Laotian Americans, we rarely find ourselves represented in mainstream media or culture. and growing up as a Southern Laotian American myself, i rarely ever met people who knew what Laos even was. people around me had never heard of Laos, knew where it was, or had any idea what our culture, customs, and foods were like.
finding a Lao restaurant is a little bit like seeing that representation. we have pride in where we are from, and what our culture teaches us. we know we are capable of great and amazing things, and we love seeing each other out there doing it! and sometimes, it's nice to see non-Lao people understand what we Love about our culture too.
finding a Lao restaurant is like that feeling you get when you see Lao food on a travel food show, hear of a Laotian American athlete, or see a Laotian American politician on the news. it's like that feeling of meeting a Lao person in an unexpected place and asking about their village, their parents, and what the Lao community is like where they live. it's that feeling of pride, excitement, and Lao connection 😊
Lao food is becoming more well known, thanks to the people who weren't afraid to bring our stankiness to the mainstream. and partially, i like to think it's due to the millenials who move out and miss the food that their parents made for them growing up. so we make our own space, and recreate our comfort foods. we're learning that there's no need to change ourselves to fit certain palates and trends. we will always be spicy, sour, smelly, and people will just learn to love it.
big props to the Lao restaurants that have made it to brick & mortar, to the Lao food trucks hustlin out there, to the Lao chefs cooking it up in the back of Lao stores, catering from their home kitchens, selling their sauces and seasonings.
and Lao food spots, know that you'll always have a customer base among young Lao Americans like me, who's mom is the bombest chef, but can't cook Lao food for herself 😝
when we arrived at Lao Restaurant + Bar, we excitedly took pictures of the store front, the front waiting area with its huge mural of the map of Laos, and the decor.
as we sat, we talked about how beautiful the bright white space and Lao themed decor was. we joked about taking the rice threshing baskets hanging on the wall with us. we looked at the menu of Lao themed cocktails and familiar Lao foods. we ordered things our mothers had made us before.
pho
pun pa
khao piek
mee ka thi
khao poon
thum mak hoong
we enjoyed our food and drinks and the owner even came out to speak with us about where we eat Lao food in Charlotte. after we finished eating, we took another photo opportunity at the front waiting area, giggling about how touristy we were being.
we had a great time, and we were super excited! and why? what was so cool about being able to eat Lao food, our food in a restaurant?
🌿🌿🌿
for Laotian Americans (and other members of the Laotian diaspora) visiting a Lao restaurant is a significant experience that is about food, and so much more. that is about not just food, but so much more.
it is such a rare experience to find a Lao restaurant. for so long, we were told that our food was too weird to be marketable in restaurants. our food is flavorful, complex, and multifaceted in so many ways that non-Lao people couldn't handle.
Lao food is
fishy
fermented
phet
noua
sweet
citrusy
fresh
stanky
bitter
crunchy
chewy
smooth
gelatinous
herby
back in the day, many of our parents and grandparents opened restaurants as means of survival. we did what we could to bring in the money, and opening a restaurant that smelled like padaek was to much of a risk. so, people opened more mainstream cuisine spots like Chinese or Thai, places that were more familiar to the American palate. Lao food was reserved for places we knew we could find our village. Lao food was sold out of food trucks, from the back of Lao markets, from our own kitchens, to other Lao folks. and ain't nothing wrong with that. we did what we needed to do to make a buck and to share our food with each other.
but now, we are beginning to understand that we too deserve the space, physically and socially, to share our food. we deserve the magazine quality photos, the food blogger IG posts, and raving Yelp reviews of our beautifully dark and green gang nor mai, our multi-textured and herbal or lam.
there's just something so significant about restaurant space. it's not that it's better in any way than the alternative spaces that we've been cookin up Lao food in America for the last 40 years. but it's a space that we have not always had access to. Lao chefs and entrepreneurs fought for those spaces. fought back against the idea that Lao businesses would never be successful or that Lao food would never appeal to the mainstream.
🌿🌿🌿
as Laotian Americans, we rarely find ourselves represented in mainstream media or culture. and growing up as a Southern Laotian American myself, i rarely ever met people who knew what Laos even was. people around me had never heard of Laos, knew where it was, or had any idea what our culture, customs, and foods were like.
finding a Lao restaurant is a little bit like seeing that representation. we have pride in where we are from, and what our culture teaches us. we know we are capable of great and amazing things, and we love seeing each other out there doing it! and sometimes, it's nice to see non-Lao people understand what we Love about our culture too.
finding a Lao restaurant is like that feeling you get when you see Lao food on a travel food show, hear of a Laotian American athlete, or see a Laotian American politician on the news. it's like that feeling of meeting a Lao person in an unexpected place and asking about their village, their parents, and what the Lao community is like where they live. it's that feeling of pride, excitement, and Lao connection 😊
🌿🌿🌿
Lao food is becoming more well known, thanks to the people who weren't afraid to bring our stankiness to the mainstream. and partially, i like to think it's due to the millenials who move out and miss the food that their parents made for them growing up. so we make our own space, and recreate our comfort foods. we're learning that there's no need to change ourselves to fit certain palates and trends. we will always be spicy, sour, smelly, and people will just learn to love it.
big props to the Lao restaurants that have made it to brick & mortar, to the Lao food trucks hustlin out there, to the Lao chefs cooking it up in the back of Lao stores, catering from their home kitchens, selling their sauces and seasonings.
and Lao food spots, know that you'll always have a customer base among young Lao Americans like me, who's mom is the bombest chef, but can't cook Lao food for herself 😝
🇱🇦🇱🇦🇱🇦
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