Leaving Behind My Culture

Written by Ashley Kim

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As a child, I was always self-conscious of what I brought to school for lunch. I quickly learned what my family ate at home was drastically different from what my peers knew. While most kids were bringing lunchables or sandwiches that set the standard of a"normal" lunch, my cultural dishes from home left me feeling alienated. It was not until later that I discovered many of my Asian friends also painfully related to the way I felt: leave your own culture behind in order to assimilate to American culture at school. I remember Korean dishes that my mom worked hard to make for me being thrown in the trash because my classmates pointed out how my kimchi jjigae was “smelly.”

While most kids were bringing lunchables or sandwiches that set the standard of a"normal" lunch, my cultural dishes from home left me feeling alienated.

Overtime, I began to embrace my cultural heritage and reflected on the sentimental memories I had. I want to share with you the cultural dishes I grew up with because I know I am not alone.

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김치찌개 (kimchi stew)

This spicy stew dish is made from tofu, pork, and seafood. It is a common Korean cuisine topped with onion and Korean chili pepper for added flavor and spice. My grandmother often made Kimchi stew for me as a child, it is a very familiar aroma that I have known since childhood. This is our family’s personal favorite Korean meal and this dish was often served at a small Korean church I attended as a child.

김밥 (gimbap)

This dish is made from cooked rice, fish, beef, yellow radish, and with sesame oil. This sweet and tangy dish is wrapped around a flat sheet of seaweed. I grew up with the scent and remember always eating this at my friends’ house as a little girl. Cutting the vegetables and cooking the rice is a lengthy process. Thinking back to those times, I appreciate the effort put into this dish for those that made it for me.

냉면 (naengmyeon)

Also known as Korean cold noodles, this dish is made from long and thinly cut noodles from starch and flour, or buckwheat. Topped with an egg and sliced cucumbers, it is usually filled with ice as many Koreans eat cold noodles during the summer for a refreshing feeling. My family has always personally ordered cold noodles at restaurants after eating our meals in place of dessert.

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Thanks to living with my grandmother, her meals that she cooked for me growing up helped me to not only learn but to love my cultural dishes that I had at home. Like many others reading this, I felt for a long time that what I brought for lunch at school would not be accepted by my peers. It was strange to me how my school lunches were often viewed as either “exotic” or “gross” when they were simply part of my culture. While many consider these dishes to be foreign, there are still many others like me that view these meals as part of our everyday life.

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Written by Ashley Kim

Designed by Mia Ouyang

Dear Asian Youth SCV

2021

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