Celebrating the Classic Holidays with a Cultural Twist
Families share their holiday celebrations with ASNC. See how they spiced up traditional meals with unique cultural influences!
This blog post is the second in a series aiming to explore and highlight Asian American culture in San Francisco and the Bay Area by reflecting upon themes related to our ongoing Asian America Now program series. Asian America Now provides an open forum to examine the latest trends, issues, and debates facing the Asian American community today with topics that span arts & culture, business, politics, and society. Check out our past Asian America Now program events at the bottom of our page.
ASNC wanted to explore how dinner tables during the holidays varied among Asian American families in the Bay Area. Featured in this post are some moments shared by two local families who designed their versions of the traditional holiday festivities to incorporate ingredients unique to their culture.
Nguyen Family, Burlingame
Vietnamese-Chinese
From the recipes to the décor, the Nguyen family beautifully incorporated Vietnamese-Chinese influences/elements to their Thanksgiving dinner.
Ornamented with persimmons in the center of the table and the plate settings, the dining table balances the red and orange hues of fall with their symbolic nature of luck and fortune. In the East, the persimmon symbolizes transformation as the fruit’s initial harsh bitterness representing ignorance ripens into the sweetness that signifies wisdom and knowledge.
The turkey was brined with Asian inspired spices and flavors including soy sauce, Szechuan peppers, star anise, and cardamom, retaining the perfect combination of juicy meat and golden crisp skin.
Guests also enjoyed prime rib and papaya salad with Vietnamese salsa- a refreshing blend of nuts, fish sauces, shredded papaya, and dried pork.
The Byun-Kevers Family, San Mateo
Korean-Japanese
For Christmas, the Byun-Kevers family celebrated their Christmas dinner with a traditional Japanese style hotpot, also called Shabu-Shabu, blended with spicy Korean flavors. A common dish in Japan and other parts of Asia, Shabu-Shabu is extremely fitting in the wintertime as guests individually cook their food by dipping slices of raw meat and vegetable in a communal pot of boiling water or broth.
The menu for this Christmas Shabu-Shabu dinner was simple and healthy: thinly sliced rib-eye beef, smooth white tofu, Enoki and Shiitake mushrooms, and leafy vegetables.
The food was paired with white rice, tart Ponzu (right), and creamy peanut sesame (left) sauces for dipping. The meat went best with the peanut sesame and the vegetables with the Ponzu.
The broth was seasoned with seaweed and kelp and a dash of Korean chili paste. At the end of the meal, the family enjoyed the delicious soup from the communal pot that had been already flavored from the meat and veggies that were cooked in it.
We invite you to share your creative Asian style home cooking with us! When uploading photos of your delicious creations, please tag us at AsiaSocietySF on Instagram and Asia Society Northern California on Facebook. Don’t forget to use the hashtag: #AsiaOnMyPlate
Featured past ASNC Asian America Now programs:
Faces of Immigration: Undocumented Asians in America
Giving Gap? Connecting Asian-American Philanthropy and Community Needs
The 2012 Race: Asian Americans and the US Presidential Election