Food and identity

Other of the amazing qualities food has its making our imagination fly away. In the second part of Bich Minh book “Stealing Buddha’s Dinner” she tells how she envisaged food through books she read, commercials she saw or different games she played during her childhood. Her favorite parts in books were those related with food: “I lingered over my favorite parts – descriptions of Turkish Delight, fried chicken, hamburgers with onions, thick hot chocolate” (Minh 151). She was able to imagine food’s texture, flavor, smell, even its taste. All her fictional friend liked to eat. Bich preferred to imagine all these things when she was alone, in this way no one will interfere with her thoughts. She also played pretending being a waitress and she had her own menu and food’s description. This episode remind me that times when we are really hungry, or bored, or stress out and the only thing that can make us feel better is imaging homemade food, or our favorite dish or simply mom’s best dessert. During these moments, our imagination can recreate very well the food we desire so much!

One really interesting thing in this book is how the author talks about food commercials, advertisements and mass consumption. I identified myself with Bich in this aspect. When I was little, each time I saw Ronal McDonald, or Captain Crunch or Chetoo’s tiger, I thought the food they were eating was the best. They had such a big influence on me that I related this type food with coolness. When I went to the supermarket with my mom I cried because I wanted snacks and candy, even if I didn’t like them so much. However, I wanted to have what I watched in TV.  

I really enjoyed the part when Bich talks about food and religion. She prayed, so can Buddha give her a chocolate cake and Rosa buys her many sweets as she liked. The biggest miracle God can make her was giving her food. One of her big and most ironic memories is when Bich celebrated Christmas and Thanksgiving, even they weren’t Christians. She can remember that mixed cultures celebration with tamales, tortillas, ham and turkey.

Personally, I think that one of the reasons why Bich craved so much junk food was because she didn’t have easily access to eat it. Her stepmother Rosa was always complaining about American food and never bought it. Actually, I believe she only like this food as a resentment feeling against Rosa, she refuses to be like her or the rest of her family. Years later, when she was an adult, she went back to the restaurant she loved –Ponderosa- and she felt unsatisfied. She lamented the false hope of all those “vats” of food (Minh 220).

This memoir shows us how food can be part of our identity. Bich fought all her childhood and adolescence to be accepted between two cultures. She was always surrounded with white literature, commercials and people; that were her dilemmas. Bich only wanted to make herself into the whitest girl possible, but “in wanting to belong everywhere I ended up belonging nowhere at all” (Minh176).