Juliet Kono "Sashimi", Li-Young Lee poems

The first question that arose in my mind while reading "Sashimi" was who the "you" the speaker addressed was. I can tell it is someone who is skeptical about the speaker's culture and food ways because they think that eating sashimi is "primitive." This is the first thing the speaker says and after stating this she goes into describing the preparation of sashimi and eating of it. From the language and detail she uses you can tell that the speaker is trying to convey the message that eating sashimi is not primitive at all but a luxury and a delicacy instead. I thought that the "you" could either be a specific person or she could be addressing the majority; a group that is mostly ignorant towards Asian culture and food ways and views eating raw fish as primitive. By thinking that a culture's food is primitive you make the jump to assume that the entire culture is primitive and somehow lesser than your own culture without really knowing any details about that culture. So maybe the "you" in the poem is the American white majority which has a tendency to view cultures with different practices as primitive. When she says "soon you will come to appreciate the years behind my palate" I thought that she meant that soon the majority would come to appreciate sushi and see it as a delicacy and not a primitive food, something that the speaker's culture has known for a long time. She also says that she is patient for the day when this will happen, which leads me to believe that even though she is judged for her culture and her cultural practices she does not dwell on other's opinions because she loves sashimi and is proud of her Asian culture and knows that eventually the majority will understand and accept this.

Li-Young Lee's poems seemed kind of nostalgic to me because the speaker talked a lot about peaches and persimmons and his father and his childhood. The poems focus on the sweetness of the fruit and in "The Weight of Sweetness" the speaker is a child picking peaches with his father. The bags of peaches are heavy to the child and this is the "weight of sweetness" that gives the poem its title. I also think the "weight" refers to the hard labor of harvesting peaches as such a young child. The poem also mentions the "weight of memory" which gives the poem its nostalgic tone because this memory is a powerful one to the speaker and it is one he shared with his father, who I assume died. Because of this he cherishes the memories he has with his father, even though they bring him joy and sadness at the same time. It is kind of like the peaches because they are sweet, but harvesting them is difficult because of the weight of the bags and the labor that goes into picking them.

"Things Chinese" by Adrienne Su

This poem was pretty confusing to read but I think I figured out some of it. The speaker is Chinese, but sees America as a land where people can "make-over" their identity. She sees this as a way to get rid of her Chineseness and become the quintessential American. She starts off getting rid of her grandparents, because they are too Chinese. One pair of them refuses to give up their Chinese culture, and the other pair is marked by their amazing ability to cook Chinese food. Both of these factors set them apart from the general population in America. She was able to exempt parts of her education because she could already speak fluent Chinese. She talks about how she "wiped out their earliest years" in regards to her parents and how she made them into "1950s Georgians." Just like in "Stealing Budda's Dinner" she is trying to hide her native culture so she can fit in with the majority and be the "American" she thinks she should be. She says that "everywhere she went there was circumstance, all of it strangely tainted by my very presence." This is the closing of the poem and it implies that no matter what she does to erase her Chinese background she cannot escape it.

"Stealing Buddha's Dinner" continued

Well I've spent the last few days hiking without cell service or internet access but now I am safe and sound surrounded by the comfort of wifi. Over the past few days I finished "Stealing Buddha's Dinner" and I enjoyed the book very much. It is a perfect read in my opinion for anyone that has ever felt out of place or like an outsider. In the beginning Bich feels like an outsider in America because she does not look like the rest of the white kids, and as she grows older she feels like an outsider among other Vietnamese kids because she can't speak the language and she is unfamiliar with the culture. I liked how Bich resonated with the Joad family from "The Grapes of Wrath" for a few reasons. First of all, its one of my favorite books ever, and secondly, I think it is a very good comparison to draw because the Joad family was searching for security and a sense of home, just as Bich had been doing her whole life. I was surprised that she met her mother in the book because this was something I had not excepted since her mother was hardly mentioned in the book. I also loved how the end of the novel turned its attention towards Rosa and the relationship she had with Bich. For the majority of the novel Bich does not speak very highly of Rosa and does not recognize how hard she works for the kids, but after Bich notices the name Ponderosa she begins to think of her step mother in a new light. She realizes all the sacrifices Rosa has made for them and what a good mother she has been to her and her siblings. Even Bich's real mother is thankful that she was able to grow up with a mother as good as Rosa. I thought Bich's situation was very interesting throughout the entire novel. A native born Vietnamese girl raised in America by a Mexican mother. Bich definitely has a lot of multiculturalism in her life and for awhile she fought it and tried to hide the parts of her that made her different, but she learns to accept and embrace her identity as a whole.

"Stealing Buddha's Dinner"

I think it is interesting how Bich wants to blend in and be as "American" as possible, even if it means denying and being ashamed of her Vietnamese heritage. Because she moves to the States at such a young age to escape the horror of Communism, she does not identify with Vietnam but with the America she grew up in. She is constantly trying to be seen as "normal" and she even romanticized American's processed cuisine. I thought it was funny that her father loved Burger King and it became a speciality in the eyes of his daughters. Although, Bich preferred McDonalds to Burger King because it was the quintessential American food. She even goes so far as to say that she wants to be a "real person" like the white kids she goes to school with. She sees food as a way to express your culture and background and she is ashamed of her cultural cuisine because it marks her as different from the majority. She talks about how all she ever wanted was to be invisible because she was forced to grow up in a place where she was constantly identified as different and foreign, even though she was as "American" as the rest of the children growing up around her.

Takaki "Roots"

I thought it was interesting how Takaki mentions that the Japanese that were placed in internment camps were "stigmatized" for years and felt "shame" because of the experience. This was difficult for me to grasp because I see the U.S. internment camps as an atrocity to humanity and a huge mistake on the part of our government. For me to think about this event as something the victims feel shame for is hard to grasp. I suppose their shame comes from the fact that their loyalty to their country was in question and possibly after months of being told they were disloyal they began to believe it? Its also strange to think that the victims do not want to share their stories with the younger generation that is trying to understand their ethnic history and identity in the United States. I think it is important that we do not forget about the suffering of the victims in the internment camps because if we do not remember there could be the chance in the future that history could repeat itself. I have also never thought about the origin of the word "Oriental" until reading this piece. The word orient means east, so Oriental is referring to a place that is in the east. But east of what? East of Western society and "white" society. It is all about perspective and we have categorized an entire group of people under this single word that makes them seem exotic and foreign to the Western world, the world that we deem as "normal."

Maya Angelou excerpts and Lisa Heldke "Recipes for Colonialism"

The excerpts from Maya Angelou's cookbook made me hungry to the point of nausea. These stories show the role that food can play in human relations. In one of the stories, Maya's cooking lands her a job as a writer. It also brought up certain stereotypes. Maya is expected to be a good cook because she is African American and she is expected to be a Southern cook at that. In the story Phil and the other guests are shocked that she does not serve grits at the brunch, which is a dish everyone can agree is stereotypical Southern. Even though she does not cook grits her cooking allows Phil to reconnect with his Alabama childhood and make him feel at home and at ease. This shows the power of a good meal and how it can transport you back to a different time and place. "Recipes for Colonialism" was very interesting to me. I have always been someone who loved to eat "exotic" foods, but I never thought about the cultural colonialism that Lisa Heldke brings up. I always thought of my experiences with Thai, Indian, or Vietnamese cuisine as simply that: great meals. I grew up eating either thai or vietnamese at least three times a week with my mother who is also an avid fan of these types of food. I never thought about this action as exploiting a certain culture; I always saw it as enjoying a different culture's cuisine that just so happened to be my favorite kind of food. I never liked typical "American" foods as a kid; I refused to eat hamburgers, hotdogs, pizza, cake, ice cream, etc. I suppose certain cookbooks turn certain cultural cuisines into exotic fantasy meals for Americans, but I have never felt this way about oriental cooking or any other kind of ethnic or foreign cooking. I just see unfamiliar foods as a way to enjoy a delicious, flavorful meal that is way better than anything you can get at McDonalds.

Gwendolyn Brooks, "The Bean Eaters"

I think the first stanza is about an old, impoverished couple that usually eat beans together during dinner. The second stanza talks about how they have lived good lives, and although they are no longer at the peaks of these lives they still go through the day to day motions they are supposed to in order to keep going. The final stanza talks about how they like to remember the old times and all the good and bad things that have happened, the "twinklings and twinges." Eating the beans reminds them of the past and it is a way for them to share memories. This poem feels kind of nostalgic but I feel comforted by the fact that they are able to have and share these memories.