Touger Vang raises poultry and plants traditional Asian herbs on his six-acre farm in north Greensboro. But what really grows there is his Hmong heritage.
“My father always made us eat together and those are the memories I have now,” says Vang, who works in student services at UNCG’s Bryan School of Business and Economics. “We would just all be together and eating and laughing. I remember one time my mother laughed so hard she snorted all over the food on the table, and my father told her she had to eat it all herself. The whole family would gather together to eat – uncles, aunts, cousins – everybody comes.”
The Vangs are Hmong, an ethnic-linguistic group who migrated from China to Southeast Asia. The U.S. recruited Hmong in the war against the North Vietnamese in the 1960s and 1970s. Vang’s family fled Laos for Thailand when a Communist government took over, lived for a time in a refugee camp, and resettled in the U.S. when he was 10.
“We Hmong were called the Mountain People, because we were forced to migrate to the mountains,” Vang says. “My culture is heavily reliant on agriculture. It’s been a part of our lives as far back as any of us can remember. People go online and research how to garden, but for me it comes naturally from watching my parents and grandparents. I’m trying to preserve the species and herbs my grandparents raised.”
I’m trying to preserve the species and herbs my grandparents raised.
Vang’s farm has become a training ground of sorts, helping younger, Americanized family members get in touch with traditional Hmong culture. Four young men, all Vang’s nephews and cousins, now live with him while they attend UNCG.
“They are truly the first generation living in America,” he says. “They have lost a lot of cultural values, so their parents sent them here to reconnect. It’s important not just to learn it but to do it, to practice it every day and not just read about it and romanticize it.”
Vang raises Muscovy ducks, black-skinned chickens and pigs. He and the young men slaughter, clean and cook what they need for each meal. Nothing goes to waste: They use the liver, gizzards, lungs and blood.
Because Hmong were traditionally poor, they came to use their food economically.
“We are just like anybody,” Vang says. “We just do things a little differently, the way we eat food. To us, food is food. We are all the same – surviving.”
Vang is sometimes bothered by Americans’ negative stereotypes of Asians. For example, he says, he is often asked if Hmong eat dogs.
The answer is no. “For us, the dog is the lowest animal on the totem pole,” he explains. “We believe that they are here to protect us from evil spirits.”
Occasionally, he can’t resist toying with people who persist in asking the “Do you eat dog?” question.
“No,” Vang tells them, a mischievous grin on his face. “Just puppies.”
View a slideshow highlighting Hmong cooking. Click with care: A few photos may be a bit graphic for some tastes.
Photography by David Wilson, University Relations
