Hey everybody, welcome to the Cripes cast.

I'm your host Charlie Barron.

So we've got a really cool episode today.

I'm talking with Chef Yvang.

He's the owner of Union Monk Kitchen in Minnesota.

And he's also about to launch a new restaurant

called Vinai, which is named after the refugee camp

that he lived in before coming to the US.

And that actually speaks to what he is hoping

to accomplish with these restaurants.

His goal is to tell the story of the Monk people through food.

And I think that's especially important in the Midwest

because we've got the largest population

among people outside of Asia living in Minnesota.

But also in many different areas in the Midwest,

but a lot of folks don't know that story.

So here's the story of Yvang's family.

His father fought for the US and Vietnam.

His grandfather died helping the US.

And in exchange for the Monk people helping during this war,

the US promised to take care of the Monk people afterwards.

As you'll hear in this interview, that promise got complicated.

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