Southern Sentiments by and

Southern Sentiments

by and Posted on

“When we don’t know the words to say how we feel, we turn to food to say it for us.” Recipes from the Chinese diaspora in the U.S. South.

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A girl takes a bite from food next to text that says Southern Sentiments
Family photos with text that says Living in the Southern US often means that there are moments of isolation and exclusion. The South is big, the distance between different groups of people is bigger. For many first gen and diasporic Chinese, there was some shape of community, but many children often tried to assimilate into their environment by removing themselves by their Chineseness or face social isolation and race based exclusion. A lot of intergenerational relationships are strained because of verbal communication issues, and it is still difficult for both sides to express themselves through standard forms of communication. When we dont have time to say how we feel, or when we don't know the words to say, we turn to food to say it for us.
Personal reflection on Wonton soup
Ingredients for wonton soup
Zong Zi personal reflection on Dragon Boat Festival
Ingredients for Zongzi
Back page of a girl eating

Read a transcript of “Southern Sentiments” (PDF)

“Southern Sentiments” was originally written in Professor Diane Wong’s Fall 2019 Interdisciplinary Seminar, “Black Power, Yellow Peril: Towards a Politics of Afro-Asian Solidarity.”

 
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