The first time I had Lao food, I fell hard for a dish I then obsessed over for years. I’d think about it on the subway, while cooking dinner, folding laundry, during a run. I’d recall its flavors and ...

On a sunny and humid July morning, just outside Luang Prabang, the cultural capital of Laos, ancient rice terraces stretch out like a green blanket to the horizon. It is not yet 9 am but a handful of ...