Transcript of Interview with Seng Luangrath Asian American Voices in the Making of Washington, D.C.’S Cultural Landscape DC Oral History Collaborative
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1 Transcript of Interview with Seng Luangrath Asian American Voices in the Making of Washington, D.C.’s Cultural Landscape DC Oral History Collaborative Narrator: Seng Luangrath Date of Interview: September 25, 2018 Location: Thip Khao (3462 14th St NW, Washington, DC 20010) Interviewer: Crystal HyunJung Rie Audio Specialist: Dave Walker Biographical Information: Seng was born in Vientiane, Laos on 06/02/1969. As a child, she learned to cook Lao food by helping her grandmother preparing meals for the family. At the age of 12, she escaped Laos with her mother and some of her siblings. Her family lived in three different refugee camps: two in northern Thailand and one in the Philippines. While she was living in a refugee camp in Nakhon Phanom, she learned to cook various Lao regional cuisines. Her family first arrived in Berkeley, California where she spent her teenage years and got her education in finance. After she got married in 1998, she moved to northern Virginia following her husband. She worked as a bank teller and accountant while her husband was working in manufacturing, restaurant, and flooring business. After their construction business for military housing did not work out, they took over a Thai restaurant, Bangkok Golden (now Padaek) in Seven Corners. She originally served Thai and had secret Lao dishes, but she was able to serve both cuisines after getting a positive review from a Washington Post food critic. With encouragement from her customers and D.C. chef community, she later opened a Lao restaurant, Thip Khao, in D.C. with her son, Bobby Pradachith. These mother-son chefs are now leading Lao Food Movement that promotes Lao cuisine and culture but also encourages ethnic minorities to be proud of their own identities and cultures. Description: Seng Luangrath discusses her childhood in Vientiane, Laos; life in refugee camps in Thailand and the Philippines; and relocation to Berkeley, California. Luangrath discusses her marriage arranged by her mother, moving to Virginia and establishing a life with her new husband, and her professional life before becoming a chef. Luangrath also discusses her culinary career, opening a restaurant with her son, and the impact the D.C. community of chefs have had on her career. Finally, Luangrath discusses the Lao Food Movement. S: Seng Luangrath C: Crystal HyunJung Rie D: Dave Walker [00:01:05] C: We are gonna do an oral history interview with chef Seng Luangrath. Today is September 25th, 2018. We are at her restaurant Thip Khao in Washington D.C. My name is Crystal Rie, and we have an audio specialist Dave Walker, and we have a Washington Post reporter Tara 2 Bahrampour. We are gonna document her (Seng Luangrath) experience of coming to the States and opening her restaurant in Washington DC. When and where were you born? S: I was born in Vientiane, Laos, which is capital in Laos in 1969. C: What's your birthday? S: My birthday is June 2nd, 1969. C: Can you tell us about Vientiane? S: Vientiane is a capital of Laos. It's a big city, basically that's where I grew up. It's diverse city, a lot of people from all over Laos, pretty much in the big city, just like any country. What was it like? Back when I lived there, it was still not as much developed as nowadays. I grew up in a, with a big household where my grandfather was a farmer, and my grandmother was housewife. C: What kind of farming did your grandfather do? S: My grandfather, he farmed, mostly rice, so his daily job is working in the rice paddy, growing rice for the families, and store in a big barn, in the backyard. He also had a garden where he grow a lot of vegetable and herbs, and different garden which is further out of town that he grow a lot of fruits, mango, pineapple, you know, all kinds of different tropical fruits. C: Did he work by himself? S: Mainly he was working by himself as far as I remember. But my uncle and aunt helped him when they are not in school. I remember, he was mainly by himself or he hired somebody to help him. On weekends, I will see my aunt and uncle, will help him out on weekends. C: Can you tell us a little bit about your family members? Who was in your family? S: The family members? I remember, um, we grew up in a big family, so my grandmother, my grandfather, my mom, my dad wasn't around, my dad was traveling, he was in the royal army force, so he travelled all the time, you know, for training and stuff. My aunts and my uncle. So the house, my grandmother, pretty much everyone living there were 12 of her childrens and four of us, her grand childrens. C: Do you remember how many total were there? S: uhh, I remember it was four of us and my mom, so I would say about maybe almost 20? Yeah, because my aunt and uncle also married, I don't remember if they had kids back then, it's just, pretty much my mom, she was first kid that had children, yeah. 3 [00:04:57] C: So it was your mom, your siblings? S: Yeah, it was 12, not 12, 11 children cause one died. So 11 children, which is 11, my grandfather, 12, 13, my grandmother, and us, four of us, so 17, and then my aunt and uncle also, a few of them got married, so we all live in the one big household. C: Wow, that's really big. S: [laughs] I remember my grandmother and my grandfather really worked hard to, you know, to save, we were living in a small, small house, they worked really hard to save money, you know, by selling fruits from the farms and rice, stuff like that. So they were able to save some money to build a big house. I remember when they were building that big house. The house is still there. C: Oh, really? S: [laughs] I was surprised that the house still there, yeah. C: Do they still live in the house? S: No, no one live in the house right now. The house I left, my grandmother passed away and I think she sold the house, or it was taken over, someone took over the house. Yeah, but surprisingly, a lot of houses in the area, old houses in the area torn down, and a lot of new houses build up. I was very surprised that that house still there. And I still saw old, I still remember the old windows and doors still there, but I was too nervous to go inside [laughs] C: Why? S: Cause someone lives there, so I don't feel comfortable. and I remember that house, the kitchen was outside of the house. It was on the side of the house. It wasn't inside, yeah. C: Can you describe the kitchen? S: The kitchen is pretty small. It was outside of the house. Umm, it was open fire kitchen, so it was just covered with bamboo and some woods that they can collect it. It has like two open fire with metal stand. We used a lot of charcoal and woods that my grandfather will collect and bring it home. And I remember, you know, whole bunch of jars, like clay jars, clay container all over the wall area, which is holding the fish sauce, the fermented fish. [laughs] C: Do you have any memories of your childhood? S: Yes, I do have good memories, especially about food. I was very shy girl. I mean, when I was a child, I was very, I was one of the very shy kid. My grandmother would not make me to 4 anything but staying at home, umm, because she would not make me, I mean, she won't ask me to outside the house to buy her anything. So sometimes, we will need certain ingredients, so she will ask my younger sister. I was a girl that, pretty much stay at home, you know, help with her. Whatever she needs help with. So my childhood was really not typical childhood, basically, so I'm pretty much like a home girl. I was always at home. I always surrounding with older people. Umm, so I didn't have a lot of friends [laughs] as far as I remember. Umm, if I go hang out, it will be my sister and her friends. And I remember, one day, my sister was causing a fight with another girl, and I decided I'm not going there with her anymore. So I'm kind of like the, it's kind of like a calm, quiet girl, yeah. C: So you are the oldest? S: I'm the oldest. I'm the oldest girl. Umm, I have older brother. So it was four of us. I have an older brother, me, my younger sister, and my youngest brother. C: Do you know why your grandma kept you at home and sent the other girl out? S: Because I was too shy. I didn't speak up. So my grandmother also, umm, my great grandmother and my grandmother also sold vegetables like we grow. So what they do on some days is they would pick up, you know, watercress, morning glory, or the herbs from the garden, plants, and then they will pack in bags, wrap in bamboo, or banana leave, put in a basket, and tell one of us, I mean, usually like one of us, and I never go.