For many people, food is a point-of-entry to discover different cultures.
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For many people, food is a point-of-entry to discover different cultures.
“The distinct flavours that different cultures envelope in their food is the essence of an initial introduction to a new culture,” Renee Chan, the founder of True Nosh, says. “Kaffir limes remind me of Thailand, cilantro I think of Mexico, miso my mind heads to Japan, saffron takes me to Spain.
“I cannot help but associate food to its culture.”
According to Anson Leung of HK BBQ Master in Richmond, the two are permanently intertwined.
“Food and culture are integral to each other and I strongly believe that one cannot exist without the other,” Leung says. “Our ancestors foraged to find fresh local ingredients to create dishes that exemplifies these flavours. In time, the procedures used to cultivate these flavours have been passed on as traditions intrinsic.
“The way each culture cooks is reflective of history.”
In the Lower Mainland, diners are especially lucky to be exposed to a plethora of cultural cuisines that ensure that exploration and discovery don’t require a trip outside one’s immediate neighbourhood.
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“Most people travel around the world to explore and get to know different cultures, but here in Vancouver, we don’t really have to travel outside to experience it,” Racel Lomotan, owner of the local e-bakery Leavenly Goods that offers Filipino specialties alongside croissants, cookies and more, says. “Instead, we eat out and try different dishes from a different country of origin.”
May is Asian Heritage Month, which renders it a perfect time to celebrate vibrant Asian cultures — and the associated culinary flavours — that are present in B.C. It’s a chance to explore the flavourful dishes, and the people who create them.
“There is a story in almost every dish,” Tai Luong Nguyen, owner of the French-Vietnamese restaurant Linh Café in Vancouver, says.
“Even each region in Vietnam has different takes on similar dishes. Take for example our popular Bun Bo Hue. The ‘Hue’ denotes its origin city. The hearty beef broth is prepared with plenty of lemon grass and then seasoned with shrimp paste, sugar and chili oil. A round, slippery rice noodle with a bit of chewiness to it is used for the dish, which is then topped off with a variety of meats and served with lime and herbs.
“The result is a nice balance of spicy, sour, sweet, and salty, all in one bowl.”
In most instances, recipes are handed down from generation to generation; the ingredient measurements and lists reading like an assemblage of sacred substances that, when mixed together, create a savoury story of both unique and shared heritage.
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“Food is a type of history,” Lomotan says. “And we want to preserve that as much as we want to preserve our culture.”
It’s a task that none of the food-purveyors we spoke to take lightly.
“It is important to preserve these traditional recipes because it is closely tied with my identity as a Chinese-born Canadian. It is through food that I remain connected to my roots as Hong Kong is very far away from here,” Leung says. “Prior to my family’s immigration, my father was working as a chef in many restaurants in Hong Kong. Since my father is also my teacher in the kitchen, our communication and most of my memories of my father are usually tied to food.”
The importance of new generations successfully gleaning the recipes of the past isn’t lost on Leung who admits that, as an only child, he’s felt that the full weight of helping his parents prepare for each Chinese holiday has always fallen on his shoulders.
“Not only do I accompany to ethnic grocers for ingredients, but I also help out in the kitchen,” Leung explains. “These dinners usually are shared with all my extended family members and close family friends, so it would be a lot for my parents to cook especially when they are getting older.”
Rather than a burden, Leung looks at the participation as an important step to ensure his family’s food traditions are properly preserved.
“I hope one day I can replicate my mom’s recipe for these traditional dishes for my future family and share with my future kids the meaning behind each dish,” Leung says. “Since I also manage my family’s traditional Hong Kong-style barbecue shop, I am also fortunate enough to continue my father’s legacy and to spread visibility to this highly specialized cuisine to Vancouver.”
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Sitting down for family meals that celebrate authentic cultural dishes, Nguyen says, is another key cornerstone to ensuring the recipes of each generation survive.
“It is the pride of our ethnicity,” Nguyen says. “Cooking traditional recipes, the food we grow up eating, and serving it in our restaurant for others to enjoy is how we celebrate our culture.”
In order to celebrate and preserve each cultural cuisine, Justin Cheung, the chef-owner of Potluck Hawker Eatery in Vancouver, says it’s essential to embrace traditional techniques and ingredients as much as possible.
Even when incorporating them into new evolutions of familiar cuisine.
“It’s not fusion, but just cooking with the soul, heart and sensibility of deeply rooted history,” Cheung says. “It’s not always a popular opinion, although it can lead to great conversation and shared experiences between cultures or even regions.”
As a Malaysian-Chinese Canadian, Cheung says the views on certain dishes vary from person to person, even throughout his own upbringing.
“The idea that Asian food is Chinese food is completely inaccurate just as much as Chinese food is Chinese food,” Cheung says. “Authenticity, as well, is what you grow up eating and that connection to a nostalgic moment.”
When it comes to food, the balance of old versus new can be a delicate one.
“The more we deviate from what’s important or that special herb that makes a certain dish taste the way it does, the more we lose our identity. It is more important than ever that we continue to stay true and focus on the little details, so we can continue to share our family stories,” Cheung says. “As important as it is to preserve techniques, we must also move forward in discovering new ways to enjoy dishes as well.”
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Cheung says the current global climate — what with its restaurant restrictions and limitations on dining — has prompted many chefs to “pivot” their traditional dishes, evolving them into something that’s a better bite for the times.
“Creating familiar, classic flavours, taking a dish and turning it into a hand-held for instance, like our salted egg yolk fried chicken sandwich,” Cheung explains of the new approach to old favourites. “It is a way to not only be innovative, while honouring a recipe, but also being current.”
For Chan, the opportunity to innovate using traditional Asian ingredients and western cooking techniques has been a cornerstone of the True Nosh brand.
“I love that I can continuously create new dishes with traditional techniques that have been tried and true,” Chan says. “My new XOXO Sauce is definitely a product that I proudly created with my love of Guangdong-style food, but with seafood being a concern of global depletion and sustainability, I wanted people to enjoy the same flavours and textures with using all plant-based ingredients. So I used what I learned from the chefs making the traditional XO in Hong Kong, and created a vegan version with no added sugar.”
Innovation, while also honouring the deep-set culinary roots, can serve as an important unifier. At least, Chan says, that’s the goal.
“It’s about keeping memories alive and eating good food to bridge the gap between cultures,” Chan says. “And open understanding of why things are different, in each region of the world.”
