Ahmed said she understood why the man thought that Asian food should be cheap. But she doesn’t think he understands why, or how, it became that way.

“When you think about Asian food and the history of how we got here, it’s a lot of assimilation, a lot of adaptation,” she said. “30 years ago people weren’t into Asian food. That’s why we priced it so low, so that somebody not within your race will buy it. Then you look at someone within your demographics, and they’re in the same struggle you are. They just got here. They probably got a job as a janitor, or at the flower factory. Does that justify you charging a lot?”

Several panelists moved to the United States from their birth countries as young children. Vang of Union Kitchen is Hmong, born in Thailand and raised in northern Wisconsin. Nguyen described the Hmong as “stateless people, people with no flag, brave people who lived off the land.” More than 50,000 Hmong people live in the Twin Cities.

With a pop-up kitchen, catering company and food truck, Vang distinguishes Hmong food by making it both distinct and accessible.