Hansana's family is from Laos, and both men grew up surrounded by rich food traditions. Those early experiences in their kitchens shaped a passion for cooking long before Tum Yumz ever hit the ...

A still image from "Bayou, Buddha, and Padaek: Southern Louisiana's Lao Foodways" shows a Louisiana Lao family gathered ...

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.

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. In her free time, she ...