I grew up in SoCal (Westminster in particular), which is highly vietnamese, and in the context of SoCal, which is VERY Mexican. So, honestly, this aesthetic is very familiar to me. Most of my school friends(mexican and vietnamese) growing up were very into it. My Catholic parish was basically run by the Mexicans and Vietnamese communities. This combination is very common in LA / Southern California.
If you're back down there, the Cheech Marin Center for Chicano Art in Riverside is awesome - Cheech collected Chicano art all throughout his career and worked with the City of Riverside to open a museum to house it. It's a really beautiful collection - truly unique art, and provides a great view into the iconography and history of Chicano culture.
(Bonus points for hitting Tio's Tacos afterwards.)
Cholo culture is not a mainstream culture in Vietnam though, and is very overstated in the article - it's more counterculture and a mix of Cali Kieu who "returned" to Vietnam or people who are cult fans of content like the Fast and Furious franchise ("familia")
Hallyu is the primary mainstream culture having impact in Vietnam. Can't walk a meter without bumping into something Korean.
> particularly among older generations of Vietnamese, who are inclined to associate tattoos with gangs and violence
Younger generations too excluding the Thao Dien or the D3 type. You see plenty of heavily tattooed lecherous older Japanese men in D1, and everyone knows the implications of that.
That's a shame, I was hoping for a pozole blanco/pho mashup. I feel like that should really work. And carnitas on banh mi would be fantastic. The coffee culture would probably also be excellent.
I'm not into Hip-Hop as a cultural thing but I love the way Mona aka "Sad Girl" does her linguistic code-switching, there's something intoxicating about it.
A text search for “cholo” yields no results. I found that kind of surprising. That is the type of aesthetic that seems to have spread the most but I would hope that all these people learn beyond more than gang-life stories. I’m thinking the stories of Rudolfo Anaya, “Corky” Gonzales, Sandra Cisneros, etc.
> The Viet Chicanos are wary of attracting the wrong type of followers as well, who may be in pursuit of a different kind of lifestyle. Despite their fierce appearances, many of the barbers who work at Liem’s shops are soft-spoken and humble and reject any perceptions of violence and crime. They say they want to perpetuate cultural appreciation, rather than appropriation.
It happens to food too. The "traditional" foods are never from just one place and it's always evolving and somewhere along the way someone adds their local cultural twist to something from the outside and it's suddenly so much better.
I cooked a recipe recently that was based on a dish that was made for American GI's in Japan after WWII ended. Okinawan Taco Rice
Now that's the only way I want to eat taco meat ....
agree; haven't been to Dallas, but in Westminster/Garden Grove and San Jose, where latin american communities and Viet immigrant/vietnam communities happen to live in close proximity, the cultural mashups and innovation have been striking in both ways. Some of the most remarkable dishes in one of the most remarkable restaurants in SoCal that I've eaten in the past few years were conceived of and cooked by a Mexican-american chef who grew up surrounded by Vietnamese food in Garden grove
Because they're both very Catholic. My Catholic parish was filled with this exact mixing. Easter Vigil Mass would be said in three languages -- English, Spanish, Vietnamese, complete with Mexican-Vietnamese Catholic hymn mashups (singing versus of the same song in different languages, with each choir taking a verse, one verse would be accompanied by mariachi, and the next by an organ, etc... fun times)>
Readit News
(Bonus points for hitting Tio's Tacos afterwards.)
Dead Comment
Hallyu is the primary mainstream culture having impact in Vietnam. Can't walk a meter without bumping into something Korean.
> particularly among older generations of Vietnamese, who are inclined to associate tattoos with gangs and violence
Younger generations too excluding the Thao Dien or the D3 type. You see plenty of heavily tattooed lecherous older Japanese men in D1, and everyone knows the implications of that.
If you ever want some sort of fusion culture, the only places you can discover that tend to be the US or Canada.
There are some Mexican fusion places in Saigon, but they are extremely overpriced and mid.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r8bMLcCxxAA
I'm not into Hip-Hop as a cultural thing but I love the way Mona aka "Sad Girl" does her linguistic code-switching, there's something intoxicating about it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UrtgYcSXVmA
> The Viet Chicanos are wary of attracting the wrong type of followers as well, who may be in pursuit of a different kind of lifestyle. Despite their fierce appearances, many of the barbers who work at Liem’s shops are soft-spoken and humble and reject any perceptions of violence and crime. They say they want to perpetuate cultural appreciation, rather than appropriation.
I like it.
Dead Comment
I cooked a recipe recently that was based on a dish that was made for American GI's in Japan after WWII ended. Okinawan Taco Rice
Now that's the only way I want to eat taco meat ....