Cultural Foodways: Hmong Tradition
August 21, 6 p.m.
Hickory Soup Kitchen
110 2nd St. Pl. SE, Hickory, NC
Please note that this event will take place at Hickory Soup Kitchen and will NOT be held at the Hart Square site
Join us for a rich cultural foodways experience rooted in Hmong tradition. Hmong cuisine is deeply tied to heritage, storytelling, and community, blending fresh ingredients with techniques passed down through generations. In this class, Hmong Chef Elizabeth Thao will share her expertise as she demonstrates the preparation of several traditional dishes, explaining their significance and the special techniques that bring them to life.
Participants will watch as she prepares each course, learning about the flavors, symbolism, and history behind Hmong food. The meal will be served during the class, offering a taste of Hmong hospitality, and students will take home all the ingredients and recipe cards needed to recreate these dishes in their own kitchens.
Come discover the heart of Hmong food culture where meals are more than sustenance, they are a way of preserving tradition and bringing people together.
In collaboration with Hickory Soup Kitchen and the Hmong Chef, Elizabeth Thao
Menu
About Elizabeth Thao
Elizabeth is very active in her Hmong-American community and has thus learned to embrace her cultural background and values. She is a board member of Arts Culture Catawba and a team lead for the annual Hmong Heritage Run 5k, which raises funds for cultural preservation in the local Hmong community of Catawba County. She has also been intimately involved with the North Carolina Hmong Women Association. Elizabeth and her husband owned a Hmong restaurant in Hickory, North Carolina, where they shared cultural foodways and traditions from their shared heritage with everyone. She sees food as a form of art and even studied art at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, where she earned her design and visual communications degree. She loves working with elders in her community who practice traditional agriculture and grow indigenous vegetables, rice, and herbs from Laos and Vietnam.
About Hickory Soup Kitchen
As the only soup kitchen in Hickory, NC, Hickory Soup Kitchen serves food daily and provides safe shower facilities, take-home groceries, and much more.
In 2023, they averaged more than 150 people coming through the doors each day, totaling over 80,000 plates last year. The facility provides private shower stalls similar to those at your local gym. About 15 people use the facilities each day between 8 am and 10 am Monday through Friday. We also provide towels, soap, and other hygiene products for men and women.
For families who need a little extra help, they offer free groceries once each month. Contents may vary by season and what has been donated, but they try to include fresh produce, fruit, and meats along with easy-to-store items like bread, staples and canned goods. The pantry is open 8:30 am until 11:30 am Monday through Friday.
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