Food contributes significantly to the cultural experience and identity of Asian Americans. Despite food holding daily importance in everyone’s lives, for the Asian American community, its story is anything but simple. Growing up in an Indian household, I experienced a sometimes confusing mix of traditional Indian food and American food. I have memories of holidays like Thanksgiving, where my elders would cook roti and daal, and it would smell of turmeric, masala, cardamom, and curry powder, while my cousins would bring trays of mashed potatoes, mac ‘n cheese, and turkey. For me, food is a means of demonstrating love. Feeding and nourishing your family and community is ingrained in my culture, and it seems like a method of coping with the struggles of assimilation. I always thought it was a consistency, a given, that even if we are losing our identity, we always have food. But for my family, and many Asian Americans, that has not always been the case.
My parents’ diets have significantly changed throughout their lives. They grew up eating vegetarian, home-cooked Indian meals, but as they adjusted and assimilated to America, they began to incorporate meat and fast food into their diets. During my lifetime, I have never struggled with food insecurity, but my parents did upon immigration to the United States in their late childhoods. Especially in the predominantly White areas where they settled, there was little access to the grains, vegetables and spices that made up their daily meals in India. Fresh foods were overall more expensive and weren’t the reasonable options to purchase during grocery store runs. My dad has told me of how his school lunches would often consist of white bread occasionally containing a filling such as cheap lunch meat, or leftover Indian food, which prompted teasing and bullying. Sustenance became a topic of shame, reflecting and reminding of poverty, of a new country, and of their inability to take care of themselves – a broken food system hidden within the immigrant struggle.
Food insecurity continues to be a major public health issue in the United States and is more prevalent among minority, poor and immigrant communities. Despite the model minority myth, which defines the Asian American community as affluent and high achieving, this is not the case within our diverse and expansive diaspora. Asian Americans come from more than 20 countries, speaking countless languages and carrying unique cultural traditions. Oftentimes, these different subcategories of the Asian American community are grouped together and individual experiences are erased. Not every Asian American subgroup has the same resources or experiences. Our community is not homogeneous. Society assumes that due to the perceived wealth status of Asian Americans, we do not struggle with health issues. This is internalized within our community, creating shame and fear of admitting burdens; Asians are less likely to seek out aid or report their struggles, impacting their quality and receipt of care. In a national survey published by the National Library of Medicine, Asian Americans were less likely to receive counseling and less likely to report positive interactions with their doctors than white participants. Compared to other racial and ethnic groups, Asian Americans are least likely to report having a personal doctor. In fact, 19.4% of Asian adults compared to 12.9% of whites report being without a usual source of health care.
Lack of research regarding food access in our communities has led to an underreporting of this issue. But food sustains our communities and is more than just a requirement of survival. It creates connections and gives us threads of our histories to hold onto.
Factors that contribute to food insecurity are language spoken at home, knowledge/accessibility to food aid, and immigration status. Though there is a limited amount of research available, speaking English or speaking a foreign language corresponds to hunger in homes. Data collected by KFF summarizes that 16% of Asian people reported that no one in the household aged 14 and older spoke English well, compared to only 1% of white people. Overall, Asians tend to have households that speak languages other than English. The study concluded that the highest prevalence of food insecurity was found among the Vietnamese subgroup (16.42%) and lowest among the Japanese subgroup (2.28%). Similarly, the Vietnamese subgroup had the highest prevalence of speaking only a foreign language at home (52.36%) whereas among the Japanese it was the lowest (4.95%). Furthermore, among the Chinese subgroup, speaking a language other than English at home was associated with 7.24 times higher prevalence of being food insecure, as compared to speaking English only. The connection is disheartening. Is assimilation required for households to have equal access to food?
Asian people have the highest number of non-citizens at 26%. In general, non-citizen immigrants are more likely to be uninsured than citizens and face increased barriers to accessing health care and food. Citizenship is a determinant for services necessary to survive. The ability of an immigrant to adapt and adjust is one of the biggest factors of food insecurity. Those who struggle to adapt fare worse in terms of receiving routine care and screening services, home ownership, crowded housing, food deserts, and childhood experiences with racism. These factors are associated with poor mental health, poor diet, and poor physical and cognitive development. And for those who attempt to assimilate, displacement and alienation from heritage culture is associated with worse physical and mental health among Asian Americans. A study in California by the California Health Interview Survey realized that Asian immigrants would not turn to a food assistance program for help and often considered them as a last option, often due to “limitations of culturally appropriate food items and culturally-associated stigma as such opportunities are often considered “handouts”’.
I believe that a lack of research and attention on this topic impedes on the ability of Asian Americans to live healthy sustainable lives in the United States. This is an opportunity to create public health efforts with collaboration between healthcare organizations and Asian American communities to address this hidden issue, especially because food symbolizes our pride and identity.