The Saving Grace of Spring Rolls: Vietnamese Heritage
As the daughter of a U.S. soldier and a Vietnamese woman who met and married during the Vietnam War, Kim has made Vietnamese heritage and immigration a frequent focus of her writing.
Kim's writing about Vietnamese heritage ranges from the historical to the deeply personal, including essays about her relationship with her mother and journalistic accounts of Vietnamese immigration and heritage, particularly in and around Arlington, Virginia--the first home away from home for the Vietnamese community in the nation's capital. Kim has presented or spoken about this topic to such organizations as WETA-DC (PBS), DCist, the Arlington Historical Society, Leadership Arlington, Arlington Radio, and American University. She has also appeared in public television programs and videos about Vietnamese heritage.
In Spring 2019, Kim was a Virginia Humanities fellow at the Library of Virginia in Richmond, where she researched, wrote, and spoke on this topic in support of a book project, The Saving Grace of Spring Rolls: A Story of Food, Identity, and Longing to Belong. This blog post details some of Kim's research at the library during the fellowship.
Below is a selection of Kim's previous writings and appearances on this topic.
Kim's writing about Vietnamese heritage ranges from the historical to the deeply personal, including essays about her relationship with her mother and journalistic accounts of Vietnamese immigration and heritage, particularly in and around Arlington, Virginia--the first home away from home for the Vietnamese community in the nation's capital. Kim has presented or spoken about this topic to such organizations as WETA-DC (PBS), DCist, the Arlington Historical Society, Leadership Arlington, Arlington Radio, and American University. She has also appeared in public television programs and videos about Vietnamese heritage.
In Spring 2019, Kim was a Virginia Humanities fellow at the Library of Virginia in Richmond, where she researched, wrote, and spoke on this topic in support of a book project, The Saving Grace of Spring Rolls: A Story of Food, Identity, and Longing to Belong. This blog post details some of Kim's research at the library during the fellowship.
Below is a selection of Kim's previous writings and appearances on this topic.
A Letter to My Immigrant Mother,
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From Little Saigon to Eden Center:
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Catapult EssaysKim has published a series of essays in the literary magazine Catapult. One focuses on Kim's journey to accept her body and her mother's, and the rest focus on Vietnamese "Little Saigons" in the Eden Center in Virginia; New Orleans; and the "New South."
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Cooking and Healing in My Mother's KitchenKim's essay on Vietnamese spring rolls and what they represent appears in Al Jazeera's Fork the System series.
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An Interview with Virginia HumanitiesA q-and-a with Kim about her writing appears in Virginia Humanities' magazine, called Views.
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Echoes of Little SaigonKim authored this 28-page booklet about Arlington's "Little Saigon," the first major settlement for Vietnamese refugees in the nation's capital after the war.
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Finding My Mother,
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Culture and Cuisine at the Eden CenterVietcetera published Kim's guide to the best restaurants and markets at the Eden Center, the largest Vietnamese commercial center on the East Coast. A few years back, Virginia Living magazine published Kim's piece on the Eden Center.
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Food and Family in
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When in Doubt,
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