Breaking bread through cultural exchange. Some local Asian American café owners say they’ve seen more people embracing authentically familiar flavors they’ve grown up with.

At BouNom Café and Bakery in Avon, owner Khamla Vorasane brings out French pastries, which are made with a twist.

“It has a little bit of that French Asian infusion, where you get that classic French pastry, but sometimes we’ll throw in a bit of Asian influence on our pastries,” she said.

A Network that celebrates and supports the role of independent cafes.

Growing up as a refugee in a small Texas town, the only Asian in her school, Khamla Vorasane says that she has dealt with Asian stereotypes her entire life. But following the March 2021 shooting at an Atlanta spa, she found herself reflecting on the anti-Asian discrimination that led to this horrific act.

Hartford bakery owner Khamla Vorasane has started a $6,000 scholarship fund for University of Connecticut (UConn) students taking classes in Asian and Asian American studies.

Laotian-born Khamla Vorasane’s parents endured great hardship to bring their family to the United States.

Her father was a military man and supported the Americans in the Vietnam War. After the war, he was sent to prison, and his wife and five children went into hiding until his release, when the family fled and eventually ended up in America.

A Laotian-owned French bakery in Connecticut has started a college scholarship for students taking Asian American studies and pursuing careers in public school education.

AVON, CT — The Connecticut Restaurant Association announced Thursday award winners and nominees for the 2021 CRAzies Awards Gala presented by Sysco, LLC, including a bakery from Avon.

On a Sunday this past March, Chan pulled on her apron at 3 a.m. in the kitchen of BouNom Bakery. Five days earlier, six Asian women had been shot in Atlanta. Chan was baking extra goodies, knowing that she and her sister Khamla, Laotian political asylum

refugees from Texas, would donate the day’s profits from their French-Southern bakery to fight a rising tide of hate crimes in the Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) community.

AVON, CT — The latest trip to a Hidden Gem takes us to a stylish bakery in Avon whose creations are as unique as the owners.

Welcome to BouNom Bakery. BouNom is tucked into the lower level of 136 Simsbury Road. It’s the creation of two sisters who love to travel the world and, from those travels, have brought together 'the very best of French-inspired baking.'

The bakery is named for their beloved parents, immigrants from Laos. The croissants are painstakingly handcrafted, evoking memories of their jaunts to Paris. Fluffy buttermilk biscuits studded with cheese, jalapeños and ham nod to their upbringing in Texas.

Anti-Asian hate crimes have spiked across the country this past year.

On Thursday, one community rallied together to condemn attacks against Asian Americans.

Dozens of neighbors and some state leaders attended the rally in Simsbury. They held signs that said, “Stop Asian Hate.”

BouNom Bakery in Avon has been open for more than a year, serving authentic French pastries made from scratch. The community support has been strong. Recently, the owners of the bakery have found a second passion, to go alongside whipping up croissants, madeleines, canelés, palmiers, financiers and pain aux raisins: doing what they can to raise awareness of anti-Asian hate crimes.

Khamla Vorasane and Chan Graham understand all too well what it’s like to feel like 'the other.'

As the daughters of immigrants from Laos, they were some of the only Asian people in their Texas town. Khamla remembers other students mocking her lunches — lovingly packed by her mother — and saying the food smelled bad. A college classmate asked if her eyes were slanted because her ancestors worked in fields, squinting at the sun.

A bakery in Avon is stepping up to end violence against Asian and Pacific Islander Americans.

A busy Sunday for BouNom Bakery, a place to grab food, like homemade croissants, but today, customers also enjoyed a sample that could lead to social change

Thanksgiving was a little sweeter this year for the residents of CRT’s homeless shelters in Hartford and East Hartford thanks to the generosity of #BouNom Bakery in Avon, Connecticut. They provided 100 personal-sized pumpkin pies for the shelter residents which were baked and delivered

In Avon, two sisters who run a brand new bakery are trying to be charitable in this season of Thanksgiving. They’re donating some sweet treats to several community organizations trying to help the less fortunate ahead of the holiday.

*This was shot before the pandemic* Melissa Cole went to check out BouNom Bakery in Avon. They are still open and they say business is booming even though it’s currently take out only

Facing the first Mother’s Day without their mom, Khamla Vorasane and Chan Graham-Vorasane decided to do something sweet in her honor.

The sisters, who opened BouNom Bakery in Avon in February, named their French-inspired bakery after their late parents, who came to the United States as refugees from Laos. Their mother, Nom, died of cancer in September, and their father, Bounlieng, 'Bou,' passed away two years ago.

With the help of BouNom Bakery in Avon, CT, Community Renewal Team (CRT) was able to make Mother’s Day a little brighter for several mothers, grandmothers, and other seniors living at three of CRT’s facilities by delivering care packages with pastries, and a hand-written card from BouNom affixed to each box. The team was able to deliver 86 boxes in total.