Minnesota chef Yia Vang has been on an accelerated entrepreneurial path since founding Union Hmong Kitchen, his nationally acclaimed restaurant that focuses on Hmong-culture-centered cuisine, in Minneapolis in 2016. His commitment to dynamic flavors and beautifully colorful dishes has earned him four James Beard Foundation nominations and features in print and television — think The New York Times, National Geographic, Bon Appetit, Netflix’s Iron Chef, CNN’s United Shades of America, and more.
Vang has hosted cooking TV shows such as the Outdoor Channel’s Feral, Food Network’s Stoked, and the Twin Cities PBS series Relish — which won a James Beard media award in the category of Lifestyle Visual Media in June. His podcast, Hmonglish, digs into Hmong identity and culture, as well as his family’s heritage, which is also the central theme of a book project that’s in the works.
He launched Vinai, his second restaurant concept, in Northeast Minneapolis in 2024, cementing his dishes as a fixture of the local dining scene and beyond; it earned a spot that same year on The New York Times’ 50 Best Restaurants in America list. More recently, Vinai was named one of the Best New Restaurants in the World by Conde Nast Traveler and one of Time’s World’s Greatest Places of 2025.
For Vang, one thread interconnects all his accomplishments: honoring his parents’ legacy and his heritage.
Vinai’s namesake, for instance, comes from a Thai refugee camp where he was born and where his parents and six siblings lived temporarily before immigrating to Wisconsin. The restaurant serves as a testament to his parents’ sacrifices for their family.
“Yes, spreading Hmong culture and food is a big part of my mission, but at the core of it is my mom and dad,” says Vang. “I think about their life, the war they went through, and everything they did to get me and my siblings to the United States.
“I get to tell the story of my mom and dad and our traditions through grilling meat and putting food on the table for people,” he adds. “That alignment through food and my parents’ life — I hope that sparks a conversation.”
Shifting Focus
Vang leans fully into this mission, and as a busy chef and entrepreneur, things like taking care of his health have sometimes fallen by the wayside. In 2012, he was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, and although he’s worked with medical professionals over the last decade to manage the condition, he didn’t start critically and holistically taking care of his health until he was forced to.
Earlier in 2024, Vang suffered a muscular tear on the inside of his left leg that ultimately led to an infection and a surgery that required removing part of his leg in March. It’s made walking and overall mobility a bit more difficult — a tough obstacle for a chef who’s always on his feet.
While the cause of Vang’s muscular tear is unknown, having diabetes put him at significant risk factor for all kinds of complications, including infection due to a weakened immune system; it likely contributed to the severity of his condition. “When you’re young and in your 20s, you just think you’re unstoppable and can eat and drink whatever you want — it eventually started to catch up to me,” Vang says. “There’s a sense of shame and guilt around acknowledging that and that’s human.”
After the surgery, a friend who’s a doctor gave him a gentle yet firm wake-up call. “He said, ‘If you want to keep your family’s legacy alive, the story will be told through you. And if you’re not alive, then what happens?’”
When Experience Life magazine reached out to Vang in the fall of 2024 to collaborate with him on its March/April 2025 cover feature, he saw an opportunity to also partner with Life Time (which publishes Experience Life) and focus on his personal health goals. He started by working with the team at Life Time’s MIORA Performance and Longevity, which proactively addresses health concerns and supports optimal long-term health. The relationship expanded when he began working with a Dynamic Personal Trainer.
“When I started looking at my parents’ legacy, I realized nobody can tell their story better than their kids,” says Vang. “If I’m not taking care of my body, then I don’t think I’m honoring them. Sometimes, finding something bigger than yourself can be the best motivation.”
Come As You Are
Since October 2024, Vang has been showing up nearly every Monday and Wednesday at 9 a.m. to Life Time Target Center in Minneapolis, Minn. He meets with his trainer, Zack Quaderer, and they work on functional movements with an emphasis on big muscle groups and the core for stability.
Vang’s goal is to have a workout plan programmed with movements that are transferrable to his restaurant’s kitchen. “Going up and down the stairs and carrying a 50-to-100-pound bag of rice, carrying boxes without getting injured, or standing on my feet for 10 to 12 hours a day — we build a training regimen based on that.”
Vang looks forward to his twice-a-week workouts and often gets his days going a few hours before 9 a.m., so he’s warmed up and ready to hit the ground running when he meets up with Quaderer.
But he was admittedly uncertain when he began the journey of working with Quaderer. “I’ll be honest, I was really hesitant,” Vang says. “In our first session we took body pictures to track progress, and I felt very vulnerable. It’s a time where you must set your ego aside.”
This act of vulnerability turned out to strengthen his relationship with his trainer. “When I started working with Zack, I went in and said, ‘These are the things that I have trouble with and challenge me.’ And he understood and interpreted that and came back with a plan,” says Vang. “What I love about working with Zack was that when we first met, he was like, ‘I want the Yia now, and we’re going to go from there.’”
That support from Quaderer reminds Vang of the collaborative environment at Vinai, where everyone in the kitchen is cross trained so they’re ready at a moment’s notice to help one another. “I don’t know how far I could push myself without our team,” he says.
And with Quaderer during training, “there are moments where I don’t know if I can do another rep,” he says. “But having Zack there saying, ‘I got you, man, I’m right behind you’ — it motivates me. With Zack, I don’t know how many times I’ve completed two or three more reps when I would’ve stopped long ago if I was on my own. I love being around people who know their craft and learning from them.”
Stronger In and Out of the Kitchen
Since working with Quaderer, Vang feels stronger and has more energy throughout the day. “One of the things that was getting real tough for me was waking up in the morning and feeling like I got hit by a bus,” he says. “And I wanted to be able to keep my day going and not crash by two o’clock.”
Both nutrition and recovery have been big parts of the picture for Vang. Operating in the restaurant world, Vang is used to the results-driven cadence of the industry where all the time, energy, and effort funnel down to what is served on a customer’s plate.
The ironic juxtaposition of the field, says Vang, is that it’s common for personal care for what goes on a chef’s own plate to go out the window. After a long day in a hot kitchen, nutritional meals were often swapped out for something quicker and easier. “It’s like a nurse or medical professional who smokes on their break,” he quips.
Vang has been working closely with Quaderer, dietitians, and diabetic educators on improving his nutrition. “One of the greatest things that my diabetic educator said to me was that it’s not about perfection, it’s about progress,” he says. “And sometimes progress is simply starting with a banana in the morning, and that’s OK.”
Prior to working with Quaderer, Vang would arrive home after a long day at the restaurant and zone out with the television. Now, he takes the time to properly stretch his muscles — for instance, using a lacrosse ball to roll out the muscles in his feet after standing over a grill all day — and actively recover post-shift. “Stretching at the end of the night before going to bed is very important,” he says. “I’ve learned as you get older, it’s not about being sore, it’s about the recovery.”
Vang also is more conscious of integrating movement while he’s working. “If I’m taking a lot of calls during the day, I will take them outside and walk a big loop around the block,” he says.
Quaderer has also encouraged Vang to implement accessible and sustainable movement outside the club, especially during the summer, which is a big travel season for Vang. “It’d be easy to say, ‘I’m too busy to do any of this stuff,’ but Zack showed me movements I could do in a hotel room or at the airport,” he says. “Zack met me where I was at and showed me that I didn’t need to stop being busy in order to prioritize my health.”
A Grounded Mission
Since starting on this health journey more than six months ago, many of Vang’s preconceived notions have been disrupted. “It’s not as intimidating as I thought it was,” he says, “and starting a training program isn’t just a luxury thing for affluent people.”
Perhaps one of the most tangible benefits of improving his fitness has been Vang’s mental clarity. “Getting active has helped keep my mind clear,” he says. “It’s changed my attitude because when I have more energy, I’m less grumpy and pessimistic.”
This has strengthened Vang’s ability to lead the teams in his restaurants. “A leader’s energy can have a trickle-down effect,” he says. “I have the privilege of telling my team every day that we get to use our hands to make something that can serve others and bring them into our world.”
Vang’s team has also taken notice of his lifestyle change. “Most of the people at our restaurant love making fun of me because they go, ‘Well, you’re a fitness influencer now,’” he laughs. “And I say, ‘Hey, this is going to give me longevity in the things that I want to do.’ I want to stay healthy, and I want to stay vibrant because I got to keep telling my parents’ story.”
