All posts tagged: minnesotan

Meet Sabrina + Eric: The couple behind Minnesota’s Soul Lao food truck

Published by littlelaosontheprairie

In Lao, the literal translation of setting your heart on something is to thung jai het. Embodying this saying in their everyday mantra in food, family and life is Soul Lao‘s wife and husband duo (now trio) Sabrina Boualaphanh and Eric Phothisanh, along with their biggest fan—their toddler, Willow. In the beginning of their cooking journey, the couple moved from Minnesota to the west coast, searching for purpose and identity. They traveled to Laos and Thailand in 2015 to learn how to cook Thai food, going to and from different cooking schools in Bangkok and Chiang Mai. The two made everything from scratch using fresh ingredients bought at the market that day. Photisanh and Boualaphanh said that trip was eye-opening, both personally and for their careers. The couple decided to return to Minnesota in 2017 to share their food and culture with the community. Soul Lao started with local pop-ups to introduce Lao comfort food to Minnesotans. A year later, their following on social media turned into a full-blown food truck that can now be seen around the …

The Lao Minnesotan Voice and Vote In 2012

Published by Bryan Thao Worra

Like the old Lionel Ritchie song, Lao Minnesotans could go all night long debating what worked and what didn’t with the elections, what surprised us and what we had confirmed. It’s been a long time since we’ve had such a nail-biter of an election, with so many opportunities and so many risks for our community in play. There are many areas where Lao Americans need to understand our potential for impact and where we we have room to grow. Where’s the outreach? Neither DFL nor GOP candidates made much election-specific outreach to Lao Minnesotans this year. Once we do decide on a candidate, we often vote repeatedly for clear friends of the community. We met almost no one new this year. There were very few overtures made to address our specific concerns on key issues for Lao Americans in any language. Little was done by party operatives to help our community get out the vote or provide voter assistance.  That may have cost a few key races, particularly in St. Cloud. Where were the Lao …