Beautiful, as always, Will. Funny thing, having grown up in Montgomery County, where we had a considerable Korean-American community, as you note, still exists. We also had a large SE Asian community, so I was a pre-teen being taken by the family to eat Thai food long before it became better known. Choo Chee Vegetables was an early favorite dish, and Bethesda was the epicenter. There was no greater pride among the MoCo Upper-Middle class than to discover a “hole in the wall” Thai restaurant, or for the truly avant-garde, Vietnamese “hole in the wall.” Then, when these run down, proverbial diamonds in the rough would graduate to a 2.0 version of themselves, if you will, on Rockville Pike, those sophisticated enough to have been familiar with the first iteration could be said to have earned bragging rights.
Thanks for this stroll down memory lane! Next, Will, I’m going to call you and explain the whole narrative all over again… except this time regarding the evolution of Ethiopian food in Adams-Morgan.
Wow, this piece has everything! Heartwarming, funny, bittersweet, historical, and also timely. Migration, immigration, assimilation, brings out the noblest elements of human spirit, at the same time as it can engender hatred snd cruelty in others.
One of the most bittersweet and also triumphant aspects is how immigrants marry into, are born into, and adopt and are proud of their new culture, while also being rejected by it at times. An extreme example was Japanese internment during ww2, while Japanese ameircan soldiers were among the bravest battalions on Europe's fronts.
All true, Bob. It never seems to go well for immigrants when their new country goes to war with their old one.....I just hope that India and the U.S. never get into a scrap:).
Also, I may have to subtitle my blog to "America has its problems.....but we're better than the Russians!":).
Beautiful, as always, Will. Funny thing, having grown up in Montgomery County, where we had a considerable Korean-American community, as you note, still exists. We also had a large SE Asian community, so I was a pre-teen being taken by the family to eat Thai food long before it became better known. Choo Chee Vegetables was an early favorite dish, and Bethesda was the epicenter. There was no greater pride among the MoCo Upper-Middle class than to discover a “hole in the wall” Thai restaurant, or for the truly avant-garde, Vietnamese “hole in the wall.” Then, when these run down, proverbial diamonds in the rough would graduate to a 2.0 version of themselves, if you will, on Rockville Pike, those sophisticated enough to have been familiar with the first iteration could be said to have earned bragging rights.
Thanks for this stroll down memory lane! Next, Will, I’m going to call you and explain the whole narrative all over again… except this time regarding the evolution of Ethiopian food in Adams-Morgan.
Thanks Andy! Looking forward to our call:)
Wow, this piece has everything! Heartwarming, funny, bittersweet, historical, and also timely. Migration, immigration, assimilation, brings out the noblest elements of human spirit, at the same time as it can engender hatred snd cruelty in others.
One of the most bittersweet and also triumphant aspects is how immigrants marry into, are born into, and adopt and are proud of their new culture, while also being rejected by it at times. An extreme example was Japanese internment during ww2, while Japanese ameircan soldiers were among the bravest battalions on Europe's fronts.
Beautiful stuff!
All true, Bob. It never seems to go well for immigrants when their new country goes to war with their old one.....I just hope that India and the U.S. never get into a scrap:).
Also, I may have to subtitle my blog to "America has its problems.....but we're better than the Russians!":).
I keep telling my wife i’m bound to be drafted by one side or another but she never looks worried…eye rolls…