On being Asian-American during the COVID-19 pandemic
Co-founder, Philippe, and his parents and 2 younger sisters.
It would be impossible for us to claim we’re all about good living, love, or being the best you can be, and then go silent when uncomfortable things and injustices take place. This past year has become an inflection point for so many things. Political upheaval, social injustice, healthcare, our economy, and all of this just scratches the surface.
We were out in the streets with you, fighting, marching, and donating to bring honor, respect, and justice to Black Lives. And we still are. We hope you haven’t stopped marching and donating either. But during the past year, something else has been taking place that hits deeply home for us.
Attacks on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPIs) coinciding w/ the COVID-19 Pandemic have reached dramatic proportions. According to Stop AAPI Hate, from March to December of 2020, over 2,800 instances of attacks have been documented – both physical and verbal. And these are just the ones that have been reported. Even some of our small-numbered staff have either been witness to this, or had it happen to them as well. As a co-founder of asian descent, my younger sister and I have both witnessed anti- Asian racism. I’ve personally had plenty of people cover their faces or turn around in opposite directions of us in grocery stores and on the streets of New York. My close friends with small children have been accosted and cursed at on the subways telling their families to go back to China, even though we were all born here. I feel more so for my parents and our older generations- in our culture we deeply respect our elders so to see them so vulnerable and attacked is just so disheartening.
Being Vietnamese, I grew up eating and making fermented foods like Dua Cai Chua (fermented mustard greens), pickled bean sprouts, and now of course, kombucha fermented drinks. While every culture has some version of food fermentation, it was the Eastern world that truly carried the torch of this technique.
While we’re thrilled that things like kombucha and miso are more popular than they ever have been, their shelf space is dominated by huge Western corporations in order to make them more palatable for more consumers, all while the cultures and traditions that created them are now consistently under attack.
You definitely should never feel bad about your love for kombucha, kimchi, miso, tofu, tapai, or any of the other never-ending fermented Eastern-created culinary masterpieces that have gained such a wonderful following. They’re good for you, and filled with innumerable probiotics, amino acids, vitamins and minerals. By all means, eat up and raise your fizzy glass.
But kombucha and tofu are from China. Kimchi is Korean. Pho is Vietnamese. Adobo is from the Philippines. And if you’d like to lift up Asian communities as well, you can start by recognizing this. If you enjoy them, make sure you’re getting them from places that honor this, and standing up for these voices as well.
Better yet, you can even take part in the traditions with us, and learn how to make some of these things yourself, in your own family’s kitchen. They’re a lot easier than you think. One of the most revered ways to come together in nearly every culture, is to sit down and share a traditional, healthy meal, that nourishes the body and soul of all that take part.
We hope that one day we can all come, equally, to the table. Until that day comes, we will keep fighting for it and joining the voices that are under attack, whether they live similar lives, or have a similar skin tone and culture, or not.
In addition to being more aware of where your support is going, please, stand up, speak up, and if you see something, say something, and do something.
If you like sushi, or pho, or teriyaki tofu, support actual Asian businesses and the people that make it. Thank them, smile, come back. Learn a cool kimchi recipe.
If you want to show your support further, below are wonderful places you can donate to, and causes to help support, that are committed to lifting others up, and stopping hate where it stands:
And if you want to try your hand at bringing fermented Asian culture into your own kitchen, you can follow me at whiskeyandbooch.com as I lead you through some of my favorite things in my childhood kitchen.