If I said I was from New York City Chinatown, where you see a large amount of Asian population would celebrate every celebration together, would you know where I’m from?
Where I’m from, we eat vegetable, meats, tofu, wonton, dumpling and seafood from a small boiled soup pot at the center of the table that is surrounded by all different kind of foods called Hot Pot.
Where I’m from, the taste of food from is a mouth full of a sweet taste. The soup base have changed from plain to sweet after the variable of food nutrition have soaked into the soup making the food sweeter than it already is.
Where I’m from, the smell of the hot pot is senseless. It is full of streams rising up from the boiled soup waiting to be evaporated.
Where I’m from, hot pot is family celebration dinner where we have a dozen of families and friends gathering around a hot streamed pot. We chat, cook, and eat around this small pot to share the joy around us.
Where I’m from, hot pot is the easiest thing to make. We leave the food in the boiled hot pot to sit for a good minute then take it out ready to eat. It may be the easily to make but not the easiest to prepare. We prepare for the soup and whole lots of washing of vegetable, meat and everything.
Poem “Where I’m From, We Eat” inspired by the poem “Where I’m from” by Willie Perdomo.
