Nguyens American Experience Through Her Passion of Food
Bich Minh Nguyen’s “Stealing Buddha’s Dinner” is a memoir that revolves around herself as a Vietnamese immigrant / refugee in search for her identity. She goes through these experiences while trying to find out about who she is. The book is set at the 1975 to the late 1990’s, Michigan. From candies, fruits, junk food, fast food, and a lot more, Nguyen finds herself describing her American experience through the wonders of food.
From fruit to candy and junk food, she finds a passion for American food because she hungers for an American identity. In the beginning, Nguyen discovers the many different kinds of exotic foods that she falls in love with. The Heidengas, their sponsors, invited …show more content…
Rosa was a Mexican-American woman who her father met in a Vietnamese party on New Year’s eve, she became Nguyen's Latino step-mother. This event in Nguyen's life must have been a little confusing for her American identity because now she is learning about another culture. This is where she discovers that the United States is home to many culture like the Mexican one that Rosa will impart on her and will be a big part of her life. Nguyen starts to gain knowledge of Mexican culture from the food that Rosa cooks for her. Rosa introduced them to birthdays Nguyen said, “The first birthday cake I ever saw was from the Meijer bakery. It was oblong, covered in rosettes and pink and white frosting.” (23). The fact that she remembers this so vividly makes me believe that she associates this memory with Rosa introducing them to the concept that is birthdays. As Nguyen gains knowledge about other cultures, she is also learning about diversity which is involved in the American …show more content…
Before she doubted Buddha’s meaning, Nguyen was pondering about Buddhas simplicity, how he eats only fruit, how he became enlightened that he gave away his worldly possessions. Moments before stealing the plum she recalled how Anh and her was scared about how Buddha’s eyes might fly open, shooting out beams of light. After she have stolen the plum she ran out of the room and headed for the front door. She then climbed the plum tree across their house there she ate the plum that she had stolen from Buddha’s altar. (195). I see this as her final breaking point to forgetting who she is as a Vietnamese. As Nguyen was about to head back to America from her visit to Vietnam she looked back to what her experience growing up in the United States was like. Feeling out of place because she looked different, feeling different because of her family’s culture, only to realize that she didn’t have to forget who she was as a Vietnamese to be American. Always being torn between being American or Vietnamese, slowly learning about what American people eat that she even forgets about Noi's traditional specialties. She lost her own identity, she became someone who is neither American nor
Bich Minh Nguyen’s “Stealing Buddha’s Dinner” is a memoir that revolves around herself as a Vietnamese immigrant / refugee in search for her identity. She goes through these experiences while trying to find out about who she is. The book is set at the 1975 to the late 1990’s, Michigan. From candies, fruits, junk food, fast food, and a lot more, Nguyen finds herself describing her American experience through the wonders of food.
From fruit to candy and junk food, she finds a passion for American food because she hungers for an American identity. In the beginning, Nguyen discovers the many different kinds of exotic foods that she falls in love with. The Heidengas, their sponsors, invited …show more content…
Rosa was a Mexican-American woman who her father met in a Vietnamese party on New Year’s eve, she became Nguyen's Latino step-mother. This event in Nguyen's life must have been a little confusing for her American identity because now she is learning about another culture. This is where she discovers that the United States is home to many culture like the Mexican one that Rosa will impart on her and will be a big part of her life. Nguyen starts to gain knowledge of Mexican culture from the food that Rosa cooks for her. Rosa introduced them to birthdays Nguyen said, “The first birthday cake I ever saw was from the Meijer bakery. It was oblong, covered in rosettes and pink and white frosting.” (23). The fact that she remembers this so vividly makes me believe that she associates this memory with Rosa introducing them to the concept that is birthdays. As Nguyen gains knowledge about other cultures, she is also learning about diversity which is involved in the American …show more content…
Before she doubted Buddha’s meaning, Nguyen was pondering about Buddhas simplicity, how he eats only fruit, how he became enlightened that he gave away his worldly possessions. Moments before stealing the plum she recalled how Anh and her was scared about how Buddha’s eyes might fly open, shooting out beams of light. After she have stolen the plum she ran out of the room and headed for the front door. She then climbed the plum tree across their house there she ate the plum that she had stolen from Buddha’s altar. (195). I see this as her final breaking point to forgetting who she is as a Vietnamese. As Nguyen was about to head back to America from her visit to Vietnam she looked back to what her experience growing up in the United States was like. Feeling out of place because she looked different, feeling different because of her family’s culture, only to realize that she didn’t have to forget who she was as a Vietnamese to be American. Always being torn between being American or Vietnamese, slowly learning about what American people eat that she even forgets about Noi's traditional specialties. She lost her own identity, she became someone who is neither American nor