This was originally posted on blogger. Pad thai seems to be the only thing that can bring my family together.

Well, almost. Me, my brother, and my dad got it from Banana Tree, a Thai place. But my mom got the pad thai from an Indian place right next-door. Geographically close, yet symbolically different.

So we all eat pad thai. Together, in the same room, but also apart. Some of our legs are crossed, some are put down. Some of us sit at the kitchen table, some on the couch. Most of us are on our phones (of course). Certainly not together holding hands and saying grace and making polite conversation.

Why? American food isn’t good, flavorful, or spicy enough for my parents. East Asian isn’t either – they just can’t get behind the whole tofu thing. And my brother having Indian food? That’s out of the question. They are simply incompatible with each other. So a lot of the time when we eat “together”, it’s pad thai.

Then there’s the whole vegan thing. Vegan cheese? Un-American. Eating anything but chicken(‘s) wings with your hands? Un-American. Dosa with coconut chutney? Delicious, but un-American.

My brother is American through and through. That’s why he’s going there today. Vroom. Off he goes, on a plane to the Nation’s capital and away from here. He is set on this.

Me? I have a mixed relationship with America. I live there (normally, at least, when there’s no virus). I study there, if I study at all. And I was born there (no parenthesis there). I can probably name more things wrong with America than things that are right. Maybe that’s un-American. In another sense, it could be like tough love.

And my parents, too, have this mixed relationship. They lived there for a while, and called it home before moving to the UK. They have American accents, for the most part. But my family isn’t American like the ones that have a home there, go there for summer holidays, or visit grandparents for Thanksgiving or Christmas. No, those times are reminders that we’re not fully American. That part of our lives is still in India, whether we like it or not.

“Ladies and gentlemen, my name is *** and I’m your chief flight attendant. On behalf of the entire crew, welcome aboard British Airways flight ***, a non-stop service from London, UK to Washington DC.”

2 comments captured from original post on Blogger

**Unknown said on 2020-05-29** thanks for linking me! My family have a similar situation with only being able to eat Vietnamese food together. **dermkinn said on 2020-09-28** Thank you because you have been willing to share information with us. We will always appreciate all you have done here because I know you are very concerned with us. best thai food restaurant near me