At 65, This Cancer Survivor And Noodle Maker Proves It’s Never Too Late To Go For Your Dreams

Decades after immigrating from Vietnam, Dan Minh Vu is finally making the handmade traditional rice noodles he came to the United States to share.

After almost 30 years, decades in factory work and a nearly two-year battle with gastric cancer, an often-fatal disease prevalent in Asian populations, 65-year-old Vietnam native Dan Minh Vu is reinventing himself once again to finally reach his goal: making the fresh rice noodles of his homeland and bringing them to underserved expatriates in the United States. Saigon Fresh Noodles is the first to supply this option in the Atlanta metro area, proving that it’s never too late to follow your dreams back into the kitchen.

In this edition of Voices In Food, as told to Su-Jit Lin, Vu shares his long-delayed journey toward becoming a professional noodle maker, the detours and curveballs along the way, the tenacity and support that goes into something as simple as a bundle of noodles, and how it feels to finally turn half a lifetime of dreaming into reality.