Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Yia Vang. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Yia, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’d love to have you retell us the story behind how you came up with the idea for your business, I think our audience would really enjoy hearing the backstory.
I didn’t really come up with the idea. It naturally found me. As a cook I believe that every dish has a narrative and if you follow that narrative long enough and close enough you get to the people behind the food. Once you’re there it’s not about food it’s actually about people. Food is a catalyst into cultivating relationships. When I applied that ethos to my own life I ended up at the table of my mother and father. As I thought about the foods we ate growing up I became drawn to their story. Because at the end of the day their story is my story. I am who I am because they are who they are. Every morsel of my being is predicated on their story.
There is no logic in what we’re doing. But I truly believe that Mom and Dad’s legacy can be used as a spark to change the way we cook, eat and run restaurants. A company can be built on the backs of hard working refugees who wanted the American dream for their children. Knowing that all their hard work might only give their children a chance…just one chance to make it.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers
As recently seen on Good Morning America, James Beard nominated and EATERS “Chef of the Year,” Yia Vang has had one of his busiest years to date with his multiple projects including competing as a challenger on Netflix’s “Iron Chef: Quest for an Iron Legend,” hosting Food Network’s “Stoked,” and most recently premiered his new thrilling cooking and culture series “Feral” now airing and streaming through the Outdoors Channel.
“Feral” highlights the wilderness adventure, thrill of the chase and exploration of less-traditional hunted species with a fun host and engaging guests that are in search of unique and wonderful food prepared by Vang There are thousands of invasive and feral animal species around the world – and surprisingly, many of them are delicious. From pythons, iguanas to wild pigs, common carp to lionfish, adventure-loving, culinary arts explorer Yia Vang is ready to chase, harvest, cook and eat all the crazy creatures that have overstayed their welcome. Please use the following link to view the trailer for the new series Feral: Season One Feral Trailer
TV personality, and highly decorated chef Yia Vang is currently the owner/chef of the James Beard-nominated restaurant Union Hmong Kitchen located in Graze Food Hall in North Loop Minneapolis specializing in Hmong cuisine. The stateless, nomadic community’s history reveals itself in its spicy, smoky, mouth-walloping cuisine, marrying influences from Thailand, Laos, Vietnam and Southern China. Union Hmong Kitchen started out years ago as a pop-up in his friend’s backyard where he was charging $5/plate. Its popularity led him to buy a trailer to sell his food and eventually a location at North Loop’s food hall. Though Minnesota is home to the largest diaspora of Hmong people living outside Asia, no brick-and-mortar restaurant has been exclusively dedicated to Hmong cuisine until Yia launched a Kickstarter campaign for Vinai, the Twin Cities’ first brick-and-mortar restaurant devoted to “the past, present, and future of Hmong cooking.” Vinai is named after one of the largest refugee camps in Thailand where Yia was born and where 90% of Hmong people ended up prior to moving to the Midwest after the Vietnam War. The ingredients will be sourced from Minnesota’s Hmong farmers and the restaurant will be filled with plants – a nod to Mama Vang’s green thumb. In the backyard will be a communal wood-fired grill – a fancier version of what Yia remembers tending alongside his dad at big family gatherings. His vision for Vinai is to create a home for his Hmong food that celebrates his parents’ legacy and tells his family story through food. The restaurant is slated to open in 2023 in Northern Minneapolis.
Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?
I had to unlearn how to view what it means to have courage. I’ve always thought that courage was the absents of fear but what I’ve learned is courage is not the absents of fear but it is the absents of self (a quote from Erwin McManus). My father and mother lived their life in a way that wasn’t about their own comfort. They choose to go through the pain of the refugee camp and my father fought a war to get us to America. All of these action took courage. They were afraid and they didn’t know what each day help for them…but not matter what happened they always had us on their mind. They knew that courage isn’t about fear but it’s about the love of another.
Do you have any stories of times when you almost missed payroll or any other near death experiences for your business?
In the myst of the pandemic we were low on the week of payroll. I was about to call it quits because we didn’t have any money to pay our staff. The PPP loan came right at the 11th hour (literally 24 hrs) right before payroll was ran. We were able to make our payments and move forward.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.unionhmongkitchen.com
- Instagram: @yiavang70
- Facebook: @yiavang
- Linkedin: yia. vang
- Twitter: @chefyiavang
Image Credits
headshots: Lauren Cutshall