One in five people in Portland are food insecure, according to the Oregon Food Bank. It’s a statistic Darrell Yuen knows well. He spent years fighting hunger, including a stint at the Oregon Food Bank. But in 2016, he called it quits and decided he would fight hunger by starting a restaurant instead.

The result is Musubi, a small restaurant in Southeast Portland that serves Hawaii snack food.

Darrell contributes a portion of every purchase to combat hunger and he sees his role not as a restaurateur but as a social entrepreneur. In this episode, we talk about how restaurants owners can give back to communities and how Darrell sees his restaurant as a way for him to embrace his Hawaiian identity.  

Produced by Juan Ramirez. Music by AF the Naysayer and Blue Dot Sessions.

LINKS DU JOUR

• Musubi

• Connect with Darrell Yuen on Twitter.

• Jenna Yokoyama’s powerful piece on Japanese internment camps.

• Pacific Underground podcast