OPINION
Page 6 n THE ASIAN REPORTER
December 21, 2015
Volume 25 Number 24
December 21, 2015
ISSN: 1094-9453
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MY TURN
n Dmae Roberts
Holiday fusion
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S
imilar to many people, Christmas has been a
secular holiday for me that mainly centers on
giving gifts. One of my earliest photos is of
my brother and I tearing up wrapping paper with
delight, with miles of the stuff strewn about the
floor, while our parents looked on with slightly
concerned expressions. Our family had just arrived
in America after living in Japan for several years.
We were visiting my grandparents in Oklahoma
and I ate American food for the first time. After we
settled in Oregon, my mom tried to mix Asian dishes
with what was considered traditional American
fare. During the holidays, my mom always made
turkey and stuffing, but we also had rice and
stir-fried vegetables. My dad would bake a pie and
she’d prepare red mung bean soup with mochi balls.
Many Asian and Pacific Islander families blend
different cuisines and cultural traditions for holiday
gatherings. I recently asked some friends and
colleagues about their experiences fusing holiday
traditions; below are a few of the comments and
stories I received.
Simon Tam, founder of the Portland-based Asian
dance-rock band The Slants, said about his early
memories of holiday fusion: “We always had
Chinese food, but we also watched the original Star
Wars trilogy throughout the day. We often had
Kung Pao Turkey, but our most consistent meal was
hot pot, which was definitely created as a slow meal
meant to be shared. I haven’t spent the holidays
with my family/parents in about 15 years, though.
Maybe one day, we will again. Perhaps we’ll go
watch The Force Awakens!”
Sarika Mehta, who hosts the Intersections show
on KBOO radio, said she is often taken aback when
assumptions are made about the way her family
celebrates the holidays. Some people are surprised
that her family celebrates Christmas at all, Mehta
said, adding that when it happens, she gently
reminds them that she and her family are Ameri-
can. “Once, in high school, a friend gave Christmas
cards to everyone in our group except me,” she ex-
plained. “She thought she might offend me by giving
me one. She didn’t know we celebrate Christmas,
and I was more offended to not receive one.”
“As a kid, Christmas was depressing because we
barely had anything. As an adult, I find more joy in
buying stuff for my family,” said Chanly Bob, a
Unix/Linux systems administrator for Portland
General Electric. As a refugee, he and his family
struggled when they came to Portland. “We come
from a country with strong Buddhist influence, but
yet we happily celebrate Thanksgiving and
Christmas because it brings families together. It
makes us forget about ourselves and think about
others. Giving back and paying it forward is very
important for us. The food is a combination of
authentic Khmer cuisine (such as samlow majooh, a
Khmer hot and sour soup). Our mom, gramma, and
aunties usually cook dishes you would not find at
restaurants, along with ones you would find on
American tables.”
My sister-in-law, Peggy Cai, learned to fuse
holiday traditions as a white American when she
married her first-generation Chinese-American
husband Zhihong. She said that on Christmas Eve,
her husband wants to eat “stir-fried crab,” one of his
favorite Chinese dishes. “This started quite by
accident,” she explained. “One year we were unable
to get to my parent’s house for Christmas due to an
ice storm. All Safeway had was Dungeness crab and
from that year on, we have made that our tradition,
adding a little bit of Chinese culture into our
holiday.” Cai also mentioned that once the
interracial couple had kids, they continued to fuse
more traditions: At Christmas, the children receive
red envelopes in their Christmas stockings, and for
New Year, they eat spaghetti, following the Chinese
tradition of long noodles symbolizing long life.
Luann Algoso, a community engagement
manager at the Asian Pacific American Network of
Oregon, said her family’s Christmas dinners were
always blended with American and Filipino dishes.
“My family celebrates on Christmas Eve with a
Noche Buena,” said Algoso. “So we have a big meal
of Filipino dishes ranging from lumpia and pancit to
lechon. American dishes include items such as fruit
salad and ham, but it’s funny, because rarely
anyone ever eats those dishes. I feel bad for my mom
and aunts who would bring those items year after
year, I think because they appeared to make the
dinner more American.”
My husband and I have created our own
traditions. He bakes vegetarian Christmas lasagna
and Tofurky. For dessert, he makes rum-ball
cookies (which he made on one of our first dates) and
figgy pudding (like his mother made for him). I
make an antipasto salad and insist on champagne.
This year, I think I’d like to add eggrolls to the
meal. I used to stir-fry vegetables, but it feels like
everyday food to me. Heck, maybe I should learn to
make red bean soup with mochi balls!
Though our holiday meal is more of a neutral
blending of borrowed traditions, we have made it
our own. Perhaps all families have a choice now to
combine or create new traditions as America
becomes more and more culturally blended. Here’s
wishing you a happy time with your holiday fusion!
Opinions expressed in this newspaper are those of the authors and not necessarily those of this publication.