The Vietnamese journey
In 1979, after fleeing Vietnam, my mother’s family was placed in New Orleans East, where the Roman Catholic church sponsored a big Vietnamese community. Unlike other areas in the U.S. wherein Vietnamese refugees were spread across different neighborhoods to encourage assimilation, in New Orleans, the Vietnamese immigrants occupied donated homes in the same neighborhood. This allowed the Vietnamese to create their own community and preserve their culture.
When one family in the community learned a new trade, they would teach other families so that everyone had an opportunity to make a living in this new country. Besides fishing, shucking oysters (which is what my grandma did), or building crab traps (like my uncles and grandpa), Viet people started to work and own corner stores (what we call convenience stores). Most corner stores sold hot food, and Black cooks taught my family how to make the food of New Orleans — gumbo, po’boys, and red beans and rice. When my aunt opened her own corner store, she made those same dishes and taught other Vietnamese people how to make them as well. New Orleans has such strong culinary traditions that Vietnamese people really respect and do not want to change. After all, we were the guests in this community and wanted to serve the people.
I think a big part of why Vietnamese people gravitated toward New Orleans, besides the work they can do, is because it reminds them of being back home in Vietnam. When you are in the French Quarter in downtown New Orleans, in the hot humidity, it is exactly what it feels like in the French Quarters in Ha Noi or Saigon. There are so many similarities in the culture that I can understand why my grandparents found comfort in this city. The coffee culture, the beignets, the people who speak French, and even the beloved catfish. Oh, and the love for rice. Gotta have rice.