105 episodes
Why an S and not a V? Jon, Dennis
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- Society & Culture
"Why an S and not a V?" is a look at Vietnamese history, culture and food from the perspective of a Vietnamese person born out in the wider world. There's all these things my parents never told me because they were busy working and living, now I found some time to catch up on it.This is a metamorphosis of the original Post Cerebral Infarction and Your Internet Uncle podcasts, where I tried to remember things to help me learn about my roots.
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Enter the (Year of the) Dragon
Chúc mừng năm mới! Kung Hei Fat Choi (gōng xǐ fā cái)! We break in the new year wondering why nations wouldn't pick dragons as their astrological critter. Dennis critiques Vietnamese traditional food offerings of the period and I try not to bump the microphone.
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2023 Trips
In October 2023, was in LA with Beardsley and we stopped at Little Saigon in Westminster, California and then a few weeks later I went to Saigon proper to visit Jen and my family. Just some notes from the two trips.
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Lemongrass
We talk about lemongrass, Dennis' favourite herb and its origin and its uses. There are a lot.
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Tony
It got weird going from being the hidden middle child to being the oldest. I am the oldest biological child of my parents. Like Catelyn Stark, my mom hated this adopted child, though he did earn some of it. It gets complicated when you're uprooted from the home you know, ripped away from your bio mom and siblings and get taken to a frozen land. I wasn't sure what he was up to of late, but the old man met up with him in Nam.
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Viet Fellas
I never fulfilled the Viet stereotype in Canada, but I surprisingly met a number of people who did.
PS - I was told viet folks will move to edmonton, calgary, saskatoon, etc. from vancouver / toronto, to escape heat from the police there -
Songs of the South (Vietnam)
It is weird on what Vietnamese will like from outside the nation. For example, in 2023, Jen tells me the popular foreign beer of choice is...Budweiser. For Vietnamese expats (Viet Kieu), Bud was popular in the 80s and 90s. Music wise, Hotel California seems to have made a lasting impression on older Vietnamese, including making me hate the song because it was played ad nauseum during the parties my dad went to in the 80s and 90s. While drinking Bud.
Also, Vietnamese have a special talent in making upbeat depressing songs into ads and dance remixes...