In a roundabout way, late chef-writer Anthony Bourdain helped bring The Lunch Lady to Vancouver. Article content

The No Reservations host featured the original Lunch Lady, Nguyen Thi Thanh, on an episode of his show, highlighting the street-corner food stall in Ho Chi Minh City where she served up steaming bowls of Vietnamese soup. Article content Article content

“I think Anthony saw — or ‘Uncle Tony’ — saw something a lot of other people don’t get to see,” says Vancouver Chef Benedict Lim. “He just felt there was an amazing energy about her, her community, what she represented.”

Bourdain’s episode took many people to Thanh’s humble food stall, including local entrepreneur Michael Tran.

“After watching an episode of No Reservations, he was motivated to go back home to Vietnam, to h

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