The Banana Leaf

With no written history Hmong peoples history and food have been passed down from generation to generation orally. The inspiration for the Banana Leaf comes from the foods Chefs parents cooked for the family growing up. 

The Hmong people originate from what is now known as South China. Regional cultural hostilities around the 1600’s forced a lot of the Hmong to migrate south to Laos, Thailand and Vietnam. They are a people who have faced the challenge of genocide and war for many generations. This makes them resilient and eager people to grow and inspire. Today the Hmong diaspora reaches as far as North America, France, to French Guiana.

The inspiration for the Banana Leaf comes from the foods chefs parents cooked for the family growing up. Hmong food is very homey and soulful. Traditional Hmong food is an assimilation of flavors and dishes adapted from other cultures that the Hmong have encountered. This is very much like the Hmong people themselves.

With no written history their stories have been orally passed down from generation to generation and through the flower cloth embroidery known as Paj Ntaub. You can also see this in the foods that they eat. Everywhere the Hmong have gone they’ve taken a small part of the cultures around them and have added that to their own.