Step Five in a Dinner with my Family

Jaya Sahihi

One: Foreign tastes

At this stage I fell in love with all these tastes for the first time. This is the step at which I learned how to use my chopsticks, a basic skill without which, I would have had trouble eating. It was a stage full of new discoveries and a desire for finding more.

Two: Falling in love with certain flavours, learning which others to avoid

This stage is the one where I became more accustomed to what landed on my plate. I slowly felt myself easing into these new flavours, growing to love some and keep my distances from others.

Three: Figuring out how to manage what comes in and out of my bowl to the best of my ability

You might think that now that I had my new favourite foods, I could fill my bowl up with them. This was not the case. I found others popping things into my bowl out of nowhere. In some ways, this was good. I tried things that I would never pick up on my own. On the other hand, I had to eat many things I would’ve rather not.  So I learned what to eat at what speeds. I learned how, if I leave a bite of something I don’t like, they won’t refill it for a little while. I learned how to cover certain things with the taste of rice.

Four: Starting to feel full

At this stage I was more a part of the dinner. The new tastes entered my mouth and wasn’t so much of a shock. I began to digest.

Five: feeling very uncomfortably full

This is where I am now. This is the part where it gets hard. The last thing I would want to do is be offensive but this is the part of the meal where (not to be melodramatic but....) I lose my freedom. I truly see that I am still a guest in so many ways, in particular the fact that I can’t say no.  I am uncomfortably full and I begin to feel sick. It may all be delicious food cooked by my father but my stomach is still complaining. I can hear it and I hope my family can’t. Try as I might to hide it, sometimes I want to say NO, ENOUGH.

Six: Becoming hungry once again

This always happens without fail. It might take a little while but eventually I will find myself craving the tastes once again.  

No matter how full I feel at this moment, I know that once I return home I will miss the “tastes” of Viet Nam more than words can describe. That is part of what makes it so difficult. I want to absorb everything around me as much as possible, yet my stomach is bursting. It is not until I am back in America that I will find myself wishing more than anything to be back in the kitchen as my dad sets the table, smelling all the wonderful smells of the meal to come.