His mother, Lizbeth, had fled the political turmoil of her homeland, Laos, in the early 1980s, eventually settling in Atlanta, where she got a job working in a cake factory.

For the flavors of Greece travel to Lowell’s Athenian Corner, where you can enjoy Greek standards, live belly dancing, and music from the Mediterranean. Laotian food is on the come up in Lowell ...

In Laos, river moss is a common food, he said. For awhile, his family harvested it from rivers in Humboldt County, but concerns about the cleanliness of the water drove them to try spinach instead.

But the owner of Thai Laos Kitchen Restaurant, 1215 Dakota Ave., says his favorite thing to stuff is a chicken wing. "In Thailand, it's common to stuff vegetables or fruits," Sayavong, a native of ...