This year marks the 50th anniversary since my family, like many other Vietnamese families, left their war-torn country to seek a new home here in the United States. After the fall of Saigon on April 30, 1975, the US opened its doors, offering refuge to those displaced by the war. Initially settling in major cities like Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Houston, a smaller group settled in the Gulf Coast areas, where my family began to form tight-knit communities and rebuild their lives from the ground up. What we didn’t know then was that we would not only reshape our own lives but also play a part in transforming America’s culinary landscape. Looking back now, I’m amazed at how far Vietnamese food has come in this country—what was once a…
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Louisiana Cookin' (Digital) - 1 Issue, March/April 2025