persevering through hardship

This post features an interview with Antony who shares his experience as a first generation immigrant from Cambodia.

seeking safety

Around 1975, Cambodia was undergoing a civil war and was under the control of Khmer Rouge. The group turned the country into a dictatorship and forced its citizens to peform hard labor. Antony's family was involved in a cruel regime that no one would want to engage in; him and his family weren't given any food and were forced to do grueling work. Under this leadership, people lost everything they had, experienced terrible suffering, and many unfortunately lost their lives.

Much like others during that time, Antony and his family endured a great deal of suffering; they feared that their lives were in danger every second. People were killed simply because they were rich or educated. Fortunately, him and his family were able to overcome those obstacles, but still had to find a way to survive through the war. After Cambodia was taken over by Vietnam, they fled to Thailand where they arrived at a refugee camp and slowly found a way to immigrate to America.

finding shelter

Although Antony had left the cruelty in Cambodia behind, he continued to face hardships. The camp that he stayed in was unsanitary, had just enough food to survive, and he had to stay in a hut with his family. Luckily, UNHCR provided support and helped them survive until they were able to immigrate to another country. They felt lucky that they were able to immigrate to the U.S. in 1989.

navigating a new country and its challenges

It was challenging to live in America due to the language barriers and because society was so different compared to where he grew up. In Cambodia, everyone is treated like family, but in the U.S., he felt isolated; Antony shares, "people didn't treat me like other American people". He was looked down upon and mocked for the way he looked and spoke, but eventually learned how to adapt to it.

a dish from home

A dish that reminds Antony of his culture and childhood is a noodle soup dish called Nom Banh Chok. It's a Cambodian rice noodle soup accompanied by sauce that has many different spices such as tumeric, kaffir leaf, lemongrass, and other Southeast Asian spices. It's infused with caramelized palm sugar, put into the soup, and cooked with fish. Then, condiments are incorporated into the soup and lime is put on top. It's a popular and prized dish in Cambodia. It was a dish that Anton would have often in the morning growing up and would bring back memories and happy times when he'd enjoy it.

keeping the culture alive

In order to strengthen his and his family's connection to their culture, Antony makes an effort to celebrate Cambodian New Year by bringing his family to the temple and eating Cambodian food. He also attends family gatherings where he cooks traditional food and donates food or money to the temple in order to keep the culture alive.

Although America is known for being a melting pot of cultures, it's rare for Antony to see much Cambodian representation. Cambodian food may not be as popular as Thai food, but he's happy to see it gaining some popularity with the help of Yelp. He says that "it has its own niche that's slowly getting there" but feels like there's more that needs to be done to raise awareness about it.

culture through the generations

As time goes on, Antony feels that cultures are getting lost with each generation. Today, younger generations tend to gravitate towards popular trends and forget to appreciate their roots and where they come from. In order to bring back the culture, he suggests boosting the morale so that more people are encouraged to connect with their ancestry.

Because people grow up here instead of the places where their traditions come from, it's difficult to adjust to and understand the importance of their culture. They like American food more than cultural food and aren't very familiar with different languages.

Antony plans to pass down his culture by bringing his family to Cambodian events and culturally significant places like the temple. He also makes an effort to accustom them to traditional flavors by cooking Cambodian dishes. He hopes that one day, he'll be able to bring them to his home country so that "once they see it, they will appreciate their culture more".