Vietnamese food in America

                                      (Ben is in front of the Pho shop in California.)

Besides my family and friends that I miss the most, I would say I really miss Vietnamese food. Talking about Vietnamese food, I bet most of you think about Pho (the Vietnamese traditional noodle soup). Pho is very common breakfast in Vietnam and one of my favorite dishes. If you stay at any location in Hanoi, you can find a Pho shop within 10 minutes on a motorbike.  Other than Pho, I don’t think many people know about how the food is various in Vietnam. Vietnamese food is different from each part of the country. Northern food is a bit more like Chinese food (a lot of stir-fried and steamed) and going down to the Center and the South of Vietnam, the food getting spicier and sweeter. In Vietnam, since I am from the North, I am used to and prefer Northern style.

Before moving to the States, I did not worry at all about the food here because I have pretty strong stomach. Unfortunately, on the first two days being in America, my stomach bothered me a lot. Then Ben’s mom bought me a bag of rice. Again, I want to say I am very lucky to have such a great mother-in-law.  It was definitely the BEST rice I have ever had. Then we tried to cook some other dishes of Vietnamese food at home.

When we were in California, our friend Mai from Vietnam asked us to go to one of her favorite Pho shop downtown LA. Ben and I were very excited to try the first Pho in the US, especially it is recommended by our friend who is from the North of Vietnam! So we went very early in the morning to the place where the Pho shop is. I was so happy to see the first restaurant with Vietnamese sign. I kept pointing at all other signs of restaurants nearby in Vietnamese. The Pho we had actually was just ok for me. It was pretty much the same as Pho style in Sai Gon (Southern style), except I don’t think they use the fresh noodle in California. So it was not as good as we have in Hanoi. After breakfast, I was still very excited about trying other kinds of Vietnamese food around. And we ended up by having lunch at another Vietnamese Restaurant. After all, I think Vietnamese food in America is probably from the South of Vietnam, because most of Vietnamese people staying in America are from the South. Now I hope I can find more ingredients from which I can cook my real Vietnamese food at home.

What is American food?

 (Can Vietnamese eat this every day?)

On one of our very first dates, I asked Ben: “What is  American food? Do you eat rice there?”

And he said: “We have many kinds of food in America and we don’t often eat rice”. Then I was surprised and said: “How come you can live without rice? I don’t think I can survive in America because I eat rice every day in Vietnam”. Now when I am in America, I would say American typical food are hot dogs, hamburgers, sandwiches which I can not eat every day. So my first feeling of American food is: I don’t like the food here! Also, most of the food here is processed food. Everything is already prepared in bags or cans. I think the food industry here must be very developed. I don’t know about the ingredients that they use for prepared food, but for Vietnamese, most of the can food is made from not so good sources. This thinking makes me not so interested in preserved food. I definitely miss Vietnamese food a lot. I miss the food that we make fresh for every meal with a lot of vegetable dishes.

On the contrast, I like eating food in America that is not American food. I think Italian food, especially pizza that I had in New Jersey is so delicious. Now I love Japanese and Mexican food in LA. You might wonder have I tried Vietnamese food in America. It will be the next blog that I want to talk about.

First impressions in America

Ben and I have been talking about whether or not I should start a blog. We got to America a couple of months ago. At first, I did not really know how to start a blog because I did not have that much experience in America. Then, after meeting new people, going to new places, I just have more feelings about being in America, so I decided to start my own blog named: Photastic USA! Through my blog, I would like to share my thoughts and feelings about America as a new immigrant.

Let me start with my first impressions upon landing in America. Coming form Vietnam where the traffic is scary for most foreigners, I was really amazed by how clean and organized all the roads are in America. In Vietnam, I am a master at driving a motorbike on the road where all kinds of vehicles can go on every part of the road, even on the side walk. When we drove to New Jersey to Ben's parents' house, I was really surprised by the greenness of Livingston. There are a lot of tall trees and green grass everywhere, which we mostly can see in National Parks in Vietnam. I could not believe that this is a town! I even told Ben that this is like being in a “resort”. In my head, America is really a beautiful country. Actually, the word America is translated into Vietnamese in two ways: Mỹ (Beautiful) or Hoa Kỳ(Country of flags and flower). When we went to Wildwood Crest one month ago, I saw that everywhere in the suburbs is green. The cleanliness of the beach is also one of the new experience for me. I am always sad about how dirty most of the beaches in Vietnam are. I think we Vietnamese need to learn many things to keep our beaches clean such as having garbage cans and bathroom stands along the beach. Moreover, the beauty of America is very different from each place I’ve been to. I love Santa Monica, California which is a gorgeous beach city for me. I loved riding bicycles along the beach, enjoying the ocean breeze and sun. I also loved hiking in California where I saw the colorful "horizon"...but which everyone said is really the smog of the city.

(We were welcome by Ben's parents at the Airport)

I want to talk about my second impression about people here. This is the first country that I feel not being as a “foreigner”. My family in Vietnam had been asking me how do people look at me in America: Do they look at me like an alien? Do they look down at me when I said I am from a poor and developing country? Do they think that I am dumb when I have to ask them for the second time if I don’t understand them at the first time? And my answer for those questions is no, because every one is different from each other here. All the people that I met are very friendly and nice people. Especially my in-laws family, they are so warmly welcome me to their home. They do everything to make me feel like I am being home. If you go to my parents-in-law’s house, you will feel like you are seeing a Vietnamese house with a lot of Vietnamese stuff: water puppets, Vietnamese hat and paintings. Then all of Ben’s friends and family members are so nice to me. They all want me to try a lot of American food and traditions. I have had my first hamburgers and hot dogs on the first day I stayed in America, I have had my first food truck experience  in LA, I have had my first French toast for breakfast. I just feel so lucky to have such great friends and family when I move to a new country.