Tsi combined the ideas of people sharing food, learning about immigrants and raising money for good causes. Each get-together features a different immigrant home chef and raise money for a cause of their choice. (This one raised $350 for The International Rescue Committee.) Her idea seems to resonate in these unsettled times. The first event sold out in four days, which may partly be due to the fact that Thoa van Seventer is a beloved yoga instructor. Many of the 30 guests who gathered at her home in Palo Alto were her students and fellow yogis, including Danielle Tsi.

While Thoa’s oldest sister left Viet Nam two years after the communists took over in 1975, she, her younger sisters and mother did not get out until ten years later. In the intervening years, her mother advised: “you better learn something” and arranged for her daughters to take cooking lessons. The guests at the Tapestry Supper lunch enjoyed the benefits of her mother’s forethought.

Shrimp rolls and banh mi sandwich made by Thoa van Seventer. (Anna Mindess)

The dishes Thoa prepared were familiar, but the execution exquisite. They drew high praise from the other Vietnamese guests. The rice paper on the delicate shrimp rolls was perfectly tender, the filling held a surprise bite of fresh pineapple. The varied ingredients in the banh mi sandwich combined in harmony, and the crab and asparagus soup, a traditional dish for weddings, was sublime.

Thoa confides that she is puzzled and saddened by a friend of hers, who is also Vietnamese, but has a completely different attitude to the refugees who are desperately trying to escape persecution right now. The friend states she doesn’t want them here in the U.S. “She says that we should just take care of ourselves and our country and keep everything we can,” Thoa reports. She is dumbstruck by this lack of empathy, knowing full well that the refugees are not coming by choice, but face a stark choice: leave or die.

Anh Hodges also has a story to share. (Anna Mindess)

One of the guests, Anh Hodges, shared with her tablemates her own harrowing story of numerous thwarted attempts to escape Vietnam throughout her childhood. In 1978, four brothers and one sister in her family of 11 children did escape to avoid the Cambodian draft. But when Anh and her other sisters repeatedly tried to leave they were often caught, sometimes beaten, or sent to prison for several months. Her mother would pay money to men who were supposed to help them escape by boat, but took advantage of them and just kept their money.

The family would not give up. After 13 failed attempts, in 1989, they finally made it out by plane. Sponsored by one of her older brothers, Anh stayed in Los Angeles for a year and then came up north. In Vietnam, she had been a high school teacher of English and math. She wanted to continue her studies, but there was no money for that. So she attended beauty school instead, became a hairstylist and eventually owned her own salon in San Jose for 20 years, with 20 employees. A friend at the table tells of Ahn’s contributions: donating the produce from her organic garden to a local school; her volunteering at the local hospital; and other good deeds.

The point of Tapestry Suppers is for people to get to know each other and share their stories. (Anna Mindess)

The host of the next Tapestry Supper, April Chou, left Burma in 1977 at age 15, as an immigrant. She says, “when the military junta took over in 1962, no one had freedom, no one dared to speak up, as often relatives and friends ended up in jail. They shut down all private businesses and food was often rationed. Schools, especially universities, were shut down regularly due to student uprisings. Then came the massacre in 1988. Some of my old friends survived by living in the jungle. It’s sad to see Burma become one of the poorest countries with the lowest GDP despite its rich natural resources.”

April Chou will be the host of the next Tapestry Supper and cook food from her native Burma. (Anna Mindess)

After many years working in high tech, Chou got more involved with Ashtanga yoga and Vipassana mediation, became vegan, switched gears and attended Bauman College’s Natural Chef training program. She is still finalizing the menu for April 23, and says she will probably make crudités and dips, tea leaf salad, coconut rice, and chicken/vegetable curry.

The next Tapestry Supper will be held in Sunnyvale on April 23. Tickets will be available for purchase starting Monday April 10 at 9am. Monthly dinners will follow through the summer, with different chefs. May's dinner will be an Iranian meal and Tsi is exploring possibility of featuring Tanzanian, Indian and Syrian cuisines. She does not yet have a website and advises that the best way to stay informed about future events is to sign up for her newsletter and mailing list.

Thoa van SeventerThoa van Seventer

Tapestry Suppers Serve Up Immigrants’ Stories with Good Food and Company