Hmong Culture - Food, Eating and Cooking

Hmong Culture - Food, Eating and Cooking

Diverse Cultures in America - Soc 240

Upper Iowa University

The Hmong people are originally from rural mountainous areas in Laos and they still inhabit that country to this day. Laos is a country that is located in Southeast Asia. Hmong people are divided into clans or tribes that share the same paternal ancestry. The Hmong people inhabited all parts of Laos but all carried pretty much the same cultures and livelihood with them as many immigrated to the United States in the past few decades (Ohio State University, 2005).

One of the important parts of Hmong culture is their food. The Hmong staple food is white rice. Their diets consist of a variety of vegetables, fish, meat and traditional spices. They eat three meals a day and snacking, as the American people do, is not part of their native culture. Hmong foods are very simple and easy to make, this is due to the fact that the Hmong were limited to the foods they had in their native country of Laos.

Most of a Hmongs daily calories are from carbohydrates and grains. Native vegetables are also consumed in large amounts, like corn and maize, assortments of squash and beans (Cao L. & Noves H. 1996). These foods are a regular part of Hmong meals that are still currently used in the traditional Laos diet. These foods are used because of the limited access to other foods when living in Laos. Over 75% of Hmong families still use the simple diet of their native culture. Hmongs that live in the United States usually consist their meals of the following; breakfast, a light diet of eating a light soup, with rice, pumpkins, vegetables, chicken or pork. For lunch and dinner the following foods are mixed and matched, rice, fried or steamed meat like pork, chicken or beef along with various vegetables (Ohio State University, 2005).

Another very important part of Hmong culture is gardening. In their native Laos, corn, rice, squash, garlic, and various other vegetables and spices were grown to feed the tribes. This same culture of gardening is still used today in America by the Hmong people. Hmong try to grow as much food as possible to supplement their families without having to buy from grocery stores. If there is excess food grown, they are shared with fellow clan members.

Hmong culture relies on many different methods for cooking meals and they are stir frying, boiling, steaming and roasting over an open fire. Vegetable oils and pork fats are the primary fats used in cooking if an oil is needed. Seasoning are also an essential part of cooking, they use soy sauce, hot peppers, ginger, garlic, coconut and lemon grass which are all quite commonly used. The Hmong culture does not usually use salt and pepper, since it was not readily available in Laos. But it is been found in more and more of American Hmong kitchens.

There were many products that Hmong use today in America that were not readily available to them in Laos. Dairy products are one product which was unavailable most of the time in Laos, though at times goat milk was used to supplement diets. Many Hmong continue to not use dairy products because of the moderate percentage of Hmong that are lactose intolerant. The overall fat content in the Hmong diet is very low. The Hmong people eat relatively few sweets and do not participate in cooking these sweet items very often or at all (Kitler P.& Schuer K. 1989).

Sooner or later the inevitable will arise, since we are all are human and curiosity and taste buds are what doomed Adam and Eve, it is what will someday doom the Hmong culture. No matter what your culture or where you are from, if you live in a change of environment, your way of life is sure to change. This is evident in many of the ways as Hmong are becoming more Americanized. Like the English, Irish, Italians and Germans, the Hmong brought their own ingredients and recipes to the American tables, only now to find the recipes collecting dust as many Hmong embrace the American cuisines.

But along with Hmong bringing changes to their eating habits, they also have brought changes to Americans eating habits. With over 75,000 Hmong alone between Wisconsin and Minnesota, many Americans are beginning to embrace Hmong foods. Americans are going to farmers markets to buy native Hmong vegetables and spices to supplement their Hmong recipes. With becoming Americanized Hmong of course will find it harder to carry on their traditional diets and find cooking as they did in Laos, difficult to maintain. As Hmong youth discover the convenience of fast food, obesity is being found to be significant and growing factor among the Hmong population. Not only is obesity a problem but Hmong elders feel the youth have forgotten what they were taught about the native foods and the youth want to learn more about American dishes.

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