Kitchens of Hope

Kitchens of Hope: Immigrants Share Stories of Resilience and Recipes From Home includes favorite recipes and personal stories of immigrants who are living in Minnesota. It includes recipes for peanut soup and rice bread from Liberian sisters Doris and Cora Parker; walnut cake from Nadya Goncharova of Latvia; marinated tilapia from Ingrid Kubisa of the Democratic Republic of Congo; pirozhki from Margaret McLean of Ukraine; chicken and tomatillo stew from Nadia Najarro Smith of Guatemala; and much more.

One of the editors, Lee Svitak Dean, read an excerpt at the book launch in June: “They packed little but memories as they headed to the United States. For immigrants trying to fit a lifetime into a suitcase, there wasn’t much room. They carried with them thoughts of home. Of family and friends. Of the aroma of cardamom, the tang of fish sauce, the heat of chili peppers, the bite of mustard greens. As they rebuilt their lives in the United States, many in Minnesota, they turned to the familiar comfort foods and traditions that lingered in their hearts, minds, and palates.”

The introduction notes that the book started as an effort to collect the recipes of those who had left their home countries for life in the United States. “As we began to collect the recipes, we realized that the stories behind the cooks were as compelling as the brimming bowls and the overflowing platters of their culinary treasures. These stories offered more than the stark numbers that often define the migration of people from one place to another: the visas and green cards, the countries and populations. That familiar bare-bones approach overlooks the lives of those on the move.”

Proceeds for the book benefit Advocates for Human Rights, a Minneapolis-based nonprofit that provides free help to those seeking asylum, those in immigration detention, unaccompanied children, and others facing human rights issues.

Following is a glimpse at the many stories featured in the book. We are sharing recipes and stories in the Minnesota Women’s Press Creativity & Connections monthly newsletter, which focuses on books, arts, and events.

Deegii Lkhasuren, Mongolia

Growing up in Mongolia, close to the Russian border, Lkhasuren learned English at a young age. Eventually she earned a Fulbright scholarship that sent her to the University of Minnesota for a degree in public policy. She returned to Mongolia with her husband and two young children, where she worked for Save the Children.

After moving back to Minnesota as a single mom, she earned a master’s degree in human rights, focused on civilian protection in conflict-affected areas. Coming from a nomadic people who face harsh winter conditions, her recipe in the book was buuz (pronounced booze), which are steamed dumplings filled with meat, vegetables, and spices.

Loan Huyhn, Vietnam

As a young child in 1975, on the night Saigon fell to communist forces and led to the end of the Vietnam War, Loan Huyhn’s family was fleeing in a Jeep, chased by exploding shells. Eventually they arrived at a U.S. refugee camp in Arkansas, when she was five years old. As an elementary school student, she was excited to hold a scroll of the Declaration of Independence handed out during a Bicentennial celebration — but she was also attacked by schoolmates with anti-immigrant and racist words. Her parents worked 12-hour days. Eventually Loan earned her law degree and moved to Minnesota to work at Advocates for Human Rights.

Loan Huyhn shared a recipe for beef pho. More of her story was featured in the book’s introduction (below).

Published by the University of Minnesota Press, 2025, edited by Linda S. Svitak, Christin Jaye Eaton, and Lee Svitak Dean

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Excerpt from Kitchens of Hope, by Loan Huyhn

I believe in the power of one: each of us individually has the potential to make an indelible difference in the lives of those around us and for many generations. One man, a captain of a ship, made the decision to pick up my family along the beaches of Saigon on April 30,1975, when the city fell to the North Vietnamese troops.

I was five years old. My three siblings; my Ba (father); my Me (mother), who was nine months pregnant with my brother; and I, along with other family members and some of my father’s military troop who loyally stayed with him, had driven along the beaches of Saigon to find a way to escape Vietnam. All the ships were out in the harbor or at sea.

My Ba waved his white T-shirt and begged for one of the nearby ships to come back to get his children, even if they could not take him and my Me. The captain saw us, my parents and their four little children, ages six years old and younger, and he sent a boat to pick us up to transport us to the ship, which was already fully loaded with passengers. This captain’s single decision saved our lives, as my Ba was in counterintelligence for South Vietnam, and there was no doubt he would have been killed if he was unable to escape.

Today, one of my sisters is a James Beard Award–winning journalist, one of my brothers owns a restaurant and bar that employs dozens of people, another sister became a child therapist and helps immigrants, and the baby brother born in the refugee camp of Fort Chaffee, Arkansas, is an alumnus of Harvard University and an award-winning political consultant. For me, I lived my dream of becoming a human rights and immigration lawyer, along with being the mother of two beautiful girls who are first-generation Americans.

I hope our captain knows the ripple effect he initiated — his own power of one.