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Asian Cuisine

Explore the History of Asian Restaurants in Minnesota

About Me

About

Hi, my name is Lindsay Nguyen.

Disclaimer: This is a creative non-fiction site where the history of Asian Restaurants in Minnesota are factual, but the character Lindsay Nguyen is fictional.

 

Thank you for coming to my food page! My name is Lindsay and here is a little bit about me. I am 19 years old and I was born in Vietnam was adopted into an amazing family that lives in Minnesota. All of my life, I had not known very much about my culture and in general, many other Asian cultures. What better way to study culture if not through food? That is how I got inspired to create this website. I am going to explore many Asian restaurants in Minnesota and showing the different dishes each country holds dearly and how that connects with their culture. Come join me on exploring what this amazing state has to offer.

Person Using Laptop

Lets start off with some history 

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Asian food was first introduced in the United States during the mid-1800's when Chinese immigrants from Canton had started settling in California. In 1883, brothers Woo Yee Sing and Woo Du Sing had opened up the first Chinese restaurant in Minnesota on Market Street in Minneapolis known has the Canton Café. In 1882, the United States had passed the Chinese Exclusion Act which had restricted Chinese immigration in the United States and that lead to the restaurant encountering anti-immigration pressure, enough so, that it ended up closing. Even though they faced discrimination, they persevered through it and reopened as Yuen Faung Low, better known as "John's Place." It eventually closed in 1967.

Thai Food

The popularity of Thai food began in Minnesota in the 70's when Supenn Harrison came from Thailand to the University of Minnesota to attend graduate school. Supenn had been known for making her Sue's Egg Rolls and giving them to her co-workers. With the support and encouragement of her co-workers, in 1976, Supenn opened up a small booth at the Minnesota State Fair where she sold her famous egg rolls. The booth stayed opened every year for 25 years. In 1979, she had opened a hamburger restaurant on Lake Street, soon after realizing she was not making enough, she changed the restaurant name to Siam Café, which was the first Thai restaurant in Minnesota. Supenn opened the first Sawatdee Thai Restaurant in 1983 located on Market House in St, Paul's Lowertown.  area. Now there are Sawatdee Thai Restaurant locations nationwide.  ​ Thai food is made up of many flavors like lemon grass, fish sauce, basil and curries. This was very different for the time because not many people were used to such intense flavors. This is how Supenn had gained so much popularity - because her restaurant offered many flavors that you could not get from anywhere other than Thailand itself. 

Japanese Food

Even though Chinese food had become popular in Minnesota in the 20th century, there were still no Japanese restaurants in Minnesota yet. This had surprised Reiko Umetani Weston, a Japanese immigrant who moved to Minnesota in the 1950's. She came to Minnesota to study mathematics and psychology at the University of Minnesota - Twin Cities. She eventually followed a different path and was on a mission to fill the void of Japanese cuisines in Minnesota with her parents. She and her parents had opened up the first Japanese Restaurant in 1959 called Fuji-Ya, meaning "second to none." She also had an idea of reconnecting Minneapolis and the Minnesota River and in 1961 she did just that. She had built her restaurant in between two abandoned sawmills along the Minnesota River. Her restaurant was known for its food, décor and traditional dining experience that required Minnesotans to take off their shoes. Her famous dishes include teppanyaki, sushi and dim-sum. She also introduced sushi to Minnesota

Fancy Sushi Dish

Vietnamese Food

Vietnamese cuisine

The first Vietnamese Restaurant was named Little Mekong and was made in 1976. It was named after its owner who came to St. Paul from Vietnam in 1975. The original restaurant name was Kim Long. ​ Kim Long was a fourth generation restaurant owner and a fighter pilot in the Vietnamese Airforce. He was known for his efforts to bring more immigrant businesses to University Avenue. He also worked with a group of neighborhood residents to try to get rid of the drugs and prostitution that was going on at the time. 

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