Help Fund the Lao Lao Food Truck!

Our family’s story begins and ends in the kitchen. Our mother spent much of her childhood in her family’s kitchen with my grandmother. Together, they crafted meals for her five younger siblings. After arriving in the United States, my father, like many refugees before him and many after him, took a job in a kitchen. Ever since, despite always keeping a fulltime job, our father continues to find himself in the kitchen – the smells and tastes of home drawing him back in.

Our family is passionate about Lao food because every dish is a piece of the home our parents
in search of opportunity in the U.S. Drawing from memories of her family’s kitchen, my mother has crafted recipes that spark a journey to the first place our family called home, Laos. It is with grateful and humble hearts that our family now hopes to bring a taste of Laos to the place we now call home and to the community we now call ours.

We launched our GoFundMe page at our first pop-up at Heirlooms, to help begin the journey toward a new family kitchen: Lao Lao Food Truck. Our family is searching for the perfect truck to bring Lao food to a corner near you, and we invite you to join us as try to reach our goal of raising $20,000.

Our menu is inspired by the art of thum, meaning to smash or combine. Using a khok and saak (mortar and pestle), we combine different elements of home into one complete and gratifying dish. You’ll have the opportunity to taste a traditional papaya thum, similar in flavor to papaya salad, with the option of cucumber, long bean, or seasonal favorites like green mango. You’ll also have the option of Mae’s (mom’s) House Salad, which include my mother’s favorites like vermicelli noodles, Thai eggplant, and sometimes fermented crab claws. Mae’s House Salad will be served with savory beef jerky, perfectly fired chicken wings, crispy pork belly, or a side of sticky rice and pork rinds.

In the coming months, we’ll be bringing our food to you, as we host pop-ups around the city. If you would like to collaborate with us, email us at [email redacted]. We look forward to seeing you in the kitchen.