“It all started with my grandmother. She loved to travel.”
In
a small and crowded room, a mother and daughter sat facing a small gathering.
Helene An, the Vietnamese Executive Chef of Crustacean in Beverly Hills sat
erect. Her daughter, Jacqueline An, sat next to her. UCI was celebrating the
30th Anniversary of the Southeast Asian Archive in Langson Library, and
Jacqueline was telling the story of her family restaurant’s origin.
“She
happened to have gone to San Francisco in 1971,” said Jacqueline. “At that time the war was happening against”.
“1969,”
interjected Helene.
“Oh,
she came in 1969 and opened the restaurant in 1971,” said Jacqueline. The crowd
chuckled at the gentle yet proud correction the mother gave to her daughter.
The story had to be told right, from start to finish. After all, it was told to
Helene, then to Jacqueline and her sisters, and probably would eventually be
told to her own children. The story told the very day that changed the An
family’s lives.
*
In
the room, the subtle aroma of garlic wafted through the air. On each table,
there was a display of green and purple Vietnamese perilla leaves, a member of
the mint family. Alongside these leaves were empty plates with an oily residue
of what was left of the garlic noodles Helene and Jacqueline had served
earlier.
Helene,
who prefers to go by Mama, is hailed as the Mother of Fusion; she is known to
combine different cuisines such as French and American into traditional
Vietnamese dishes.
The
An family has won the tastebuds of American tongues since July 1971 with the
opening of their first restaurant, Thanh Long, or Green Dragon. Four more
restaurants then opened following the success: in 1991, San Francisco witnessed
Crustacean, the second restaurant to open. In 1997, Beverly Hills became home
to the second location of Crustacean. In 2009, AnQi opened in Costa Mesa, and
in 2010, Tiato, a garden cafe, had its grand opening in Santa Monica. The 40
years of building a restaurant from scratch and expanding to more than four
restaurants are more than meets the tongue.
When
Jacqueline walks into the kitchen, a clean, crisp, citrusy aroma of lemongrass
reaches her nose and an old Vietnam that can’t be restored to its traditional
antiquity is brought to life. The memories of Vietnam and its noble battle to
become an independent, working country weaves into the beginning of Mama’s own
odyssey to become a chef has been recorded in their anticipated cookbook, Ăn: to Eat Recipes and Stories from a
Vietnamese Family Kitchen.
The
cookbook immerses its readers in the history of Vietnam. It starts right at the
beginning, at 12,000 B.C., where prehistoric nomads settled in the Hong River
valley to hundreds of years later with the many battles against dynasties in
order get their land back. The readers are introduced to narratives that depict
a chronological timeline. Prominent stories of Vietnamese history involve
inspiring women who shaped history. The cookbook itself, goes even further into
the An family’s journey and struggles with the communist rule, to the
displacement of their family, all the way to the horrific effects of the
Vietnam War to the present: a restaurateur in the U.S.
Vietnam’s
history has influenced and shaped what Mama’s restaurant represents today: a
taste of Vietnamese antiquity and influence. Not only is the traditional
Vietnamese-fused cuisine representative of its historic timeline, but it is
also a legacy that has been passed down to the An family. A rich history of
adversity, poverty, riches, success and the thriving, empowering women who took
the initiative to run a business in order to survive and give the best to their
family.
Mama
came from an aristocratic family and as the youngest child, she was spoiled on
her family’s plantation. Three family chefs- Chinese, French, and Vietnamese –
were the cultural influence of Mama’s childhood and her idea to fuse
traditional cuisine.
As
an 11-year-old in 1955, Mama had to move from North Vietnam to South Saigon
after the communists took over and they lost everything they had owned. At a
young age, Mama was taught by her mother to take care of not only herself, but
also her ill father. Education was the only thing her parents believed could
help her succeed. Mama got a proper education and was inspired to help her
country in politics. She was just as ambitious and patriotic as her father who
was a governor before the communist rule, though she was a part of a
patriarchal society. Her parents arranged a marriage for her at the age of 20.
She married Danny An and met her enterprising mother-in-law, Diana An. Mama was
even more empowered to work hard and achieve greater feats regardless of her
sex and circumstances thanks to her mother and Diana.
With
a passion to work and a head full of modern sensibilities, Diana bought an
Italian cafe in the U.S. She loved to travel, and as conditions in Vietnam was getting
worse due to the war, she decided to get her Visa and move to the States.
There, she opened the first ever An restaurant, Thanh Long.
Through
their struggles and difficult circumstances, Mama decided to move to the U.S.
and give her daughters a better life there. She had learned how to cook, thanks
to her mother-in-law and to the chefs she observed in her kitchen once an upon
a time. She took after Diana, running and expanding the family restaurants.
Nothing can bring back the flourishing and peaceful times of Vietnam before the
war, but Mama’s cooking creates a bridge between modern fused Vietnam and the
antiquity of Indochina. Diana and Mama’s cooking led Mama’s five daughters to
contribute, and eventually lead the restaurants.
Jacqueline
wants everyone to know about Vietnam, not only about the tragedies that fell
upon the green and peaceful country, but also the resilience brought forth by
its people and the emphasis on the strength of women fighting for their country
and their families.
She
wants a permanent, tangible book to “capture the amazing legacy that [her] grandmother
and mother had built.”
**
The
cookbook lets its readers peek into the restaurant’s specialties and their home
kitchen, with the An family’s signature recipes in addition to dishes created
for the James Beard House, a foundation that honors, recognizes, and celebrates
chefs and other leaders that are impacting America’s food culture.
These
simple, yet delicate dishes have been passed down from generation to generation
with stories from their ancestors, their origin, their culture, their history,
and their identity.
“Cooking
and food became a bridge that allowed me to appreciate and take pride in being
Vietnamese American. I want the same for my children,” said Jacqueline.
There
is only one recipe that is not included in the cookbook, and that is the famous
garlic noodles that Mama invented, the only inheritance and legacy that she is
passing down to her daughters. This dish is the one that put the An Family’s
restaurants on the map; it’s the most famous and popular dish on their menus.
“I
don’t have money. I want to make sure that if you want to work, you can use
that recipe to make money from that,” said Mama.
But
most importantly, this recipe with stories of old Vietnam, struggles,
adversity, humility, and success will keep their history alive for the next
generation.
By New University