Chef Ann Ahmed takes restaurant staff on culinary journey to her home country of Laos

NINA MOINI: When you go to one of chef Ann Ahmed's restaurants, you're immersed in Southeast Asian cuisine. Chef Ann is from Laos, and her three restaurants in the Twin Cities reflect her roots. Now she's helping her employees understand the culture and cuisine she grew up with by guiding them on a trip to Laos. And Chef Anne just returned and joins me now. Thanks for being here, Chef.

ANN AHMED: Yes hi. Thanks for having me, Nina.

NINA MOINI: We're also very happy to have Mani [? Lutgonsi, ?] who's a server at Khaluna restaurant and went on the trip as well. Hey, Mani, thanks for being here.

MANI: Thanks for having me.

NINA MOINI: Wow, what an amazing experience this sounds like, Chef. Why did you want to give your employees this opportunity to go to Laos with you?

ANN AHMED: Well, we've been building the [INAUDIBLE] hospitality Lao ambassador program for a very long time because I didn't want it to be a vacation or a one-off reward. I wanted it to be a leadership program, a way to invest in the people who carry our culture every single day inside our restaurants.

And if you're going to serve Lao food and tell Lao stories, we have a responsibility to do it with humility and accuracy. There are things that you can't learn from a recipe or a YouTube video. You learn it by being there in the markets with farmers and artisans, understanding the rituals and generosity, and then tasting the food, how it's meant to be felt.

And then I intentionally chose these ambassadors from each of my restaurants. So when they return, it doesn't live only within me. They become cultural instead. My ambassadors become cultural carriers. They train others. They share contexts. And they help keep our standards rooted in respect.

And honestly, in this industry that burns people out, this is the one way I tell my team that they matter, their growth matters, and we're building something that's bigger than service. It's community.

NINA MOINI: Mani, why did you want to go?

MANI: Well, I am also a Laotian American, so first generation raised by my grandma. And my first language was actually Laotian. Almost failed kindergarten because I didn't how to speak a word of English when I went to school. And as I was growing up in America, over time, I began to lose that language.

And I felt this was a great way to get back to my roots and just discover who I am as a person and what that meant to me to be Laotian. So this was a very meaningful trip. And just tasting the food, meeting the people, seeing the land, it was a very spiritual connection for me.

NINA MOINI: That's beautiful. Chef Ann, how were you able to narrow down where and what you even wanted to share with your staff? Because I'm sure there's so much to choose from.

ANN AHMED: Yes. And I've been taking many of these trips back consistently since 2020. And every time I go back, I peel off another layer of Laos that I discovered and form connections and bond with. And it was really hard to condense this to only a one-week trip for the staff. It was people. But the people that I introduced my staff to were connections that I've made through the years and had an impact on me. And I knew that it would have an impact on my team as well.

NINA MOINI: And Chef, do you like to do more fusion dishes or how do you take an experience like this into the food that you often serve?

ANN AHMED: I identify myself as a Laotian Minnesotan American, so the first two things are important, being Lao and being Minnesotan. And so, yeah, there is a lot of infusion. There's a lot of what makes sense to me and what my palate is. And that's growing up here in Minnesota.

And that's why every time I go back home to Laos, it's my birth country, but it's also something I'm discovering and learning. And I take bits and pieces of that and then bits and pieces of who I am in Minnesota, and that becomes the dish that I create on my menu.

NINA MOINI: Mani, how did you feel at the end of the trip when you were getting ready to come back?

MANI: Oh, man, it was an amazing experience. And I just-- I don't know. It was very hard. It's very hard to put into words just because with where I came from and being born here in America and then going back and seeing where my parents and everything, where they came from, it was a very grounding moment.

And I came back looking at life a little bit differently. How do I best take care of everybody that's around me in life? Understanding that there's heritage behind everyone and respecting that behind everybody and just treating people the right way. So, I mean, I just came back with a lot of love for everyone.

NINA MOINI: I feel that. I really do. Chef Ann, you left on this pre-planned trip, obviously at a difficult time for Minneapolis, the restaurant industry. And you shared with our producers that before you left, you had a bit of guilt leaving. Hearing what Mani just said and him coming back with all of this love, was it hard to leave? But I bet you're glad you went.

ANN AHMED: Yes, it was very hard for all of us, because just within days before we left, things-- Minneapolis was going through a very hard time. And I'm still emotional talking about it.

NINA MOINI: It's OK. It's OK. Mani, do you want to add anything just about how it felt to go and then to come back?

MANI: Yeah. I'm with Chef Ann. It is very difficult to be on this amazing trip, but at the same time, just knowing everything that's going back on at home. And at the same time, I had to realize that, hey, look, there really isn't anything I can do. It's out of my hands in terms of what I can do at this very moment.

The best thing I can do is just see how I can come back and then try to help in my own way to heal the community that I belong to and just to show grace and care to just everybody around. And hopefully that shines wherever I go and the people that I meet, and especially with taking care of people within our restaurant and everybody around the community.

NINA MOINI: Ann, I really feel it. My parents are from Iran. I've never been able to visit because of turmoil and things. And I think if you have a chance to go see where your parents are from and get in touch with that, take it. And that's amazing. Chef Ann, what are you looking for, as we look into the future here, for this program and the leadership and the cultural awareness that you're building and the experiences that you're building? What are you hoping to grow from this?

ANN AHMED: Just awareness of our community and our differences. But yet there's just so much love that we can have for one another. And food is huge in healing and storytelling. And I just hope that the goodness in that still remains.

NINA MOINI: Thank you both so much for your time and sharing with us about your efforts and your trip. And wishing you well. Thank you.

ANN AHMED: Thank you for having us.

MANI: Thank you.

NINA MOINI: Absolutely. That was Chef Ann Ahmed from Khaluna and Manti [? Lutongsi. ?] Thanks to both of them.