In Vietnam, an unlikely outpost for Chicano culture
65 comments
·May 27, 2025layman51
A text search for “cholo” yields no results. I found that kind of surprising. That is the type of aesthetic that seems to have spread the most but I would hope that all these people learn beyond more than gang-life stories. I’m thinking the stories of Rudolfo Anaya, “Corky” Gonzales, Sandra Cisneros, etc.
nielsbot
FTA:
> The Viet Chicanos are wary of attracting the wrong type of followers as well, who may be in pursuit of a different kind of lifestyle. Despite their fierce appearances, many of the barbers who work at Liem’s shops are soft-spoken and humble and reject any perceptions of violence and crime. They say they want to perpetuate cultural appreciation, rather than appropriation.
duxup
Culture is so portable now. And people seem happy to adopt new things.
I like it.
Yeul
We're at the point now that you can get better espresso in Amsterdam than Rome! I suppose the disposable income of the average Dutch citizen helps.
justinrubek
Is Rome supposed to be some place t
absurdo
[flagged]
RyJones
The coolest low rider I ever saw was in Tokyo.
duxup
It happens to food too. The "traditional" foods are never from just one place and it's always evolving and somewhere along the way someone adds their local cultural twist to something from the outside and it's suddenly so much better.
I cooked a recipe recently that was based on a dish that was made for American GI's in Japan after WWII ended. Okinawan Taco Rice
Now that's the only way I want to eat taco meat ....
sksksk
The japanese katsu curry was developed when British sailors brought curry powder over from India to Japan
harrall
A lot of food we like was invented fairly recently. Modern pizza was invented in Italy in 1889 for example.
efavdb
Here is a 2000 year old fresco showing what looks like a pizza!
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/jun/27/pompeii-fresco...
skyyler
Ciabatta was invented in 1982, which blows my mind.
dendrite9
On the other hand I'd argue flatbread with something on it is one of the base foods. Whether it came before or after the dumpling/packet family is a fun discussion.
anon291
I grew up in SoCal (Westminster in particular), which is highly vietnamese, and in the context of SoCal, which is VERY Mexican. So, honestly, this aesthetic is very familiar to me. Most of my school friends(mexican and vietnamese) growing up were very into it. My Catholic parish was basically run by the Mexicans and Vietnamese communities. This combination is very common in LA / Southern California.
roughly
If you're back down there, the Cheech Marin Center for Chicano Art in Riverside is awesome - Cheech collected Chicano art all throughout his career and worked with the City of Riverside to open a museum to house it. It's a really beautiful collection - truly unique art, and provides a great view into the iconography and history of Chicano culture.
(Bonus points for hitting Tio's Tacos afterwards.)
sebmellen
San Diego is similar.
catlover76
[dead]
phendrenad2
I wonder how much of this is driven by hispanic immigration to Vietnam. United States folks go there to live cheaply, and surely the same is true of people in hispanic countries looking for a better economic deal.
nsonha
Non existence immigration, even expatriates aren't significant enough.
999900000999
Latin America actually has a very significant Asian population.
Everyone can be Latino, white , indigenous, black, Asian, etc.
kwk1
A neat fact I share in this regard: the country with the most Japanese people besides Japan? Brazil!
mc32
People of Japanese ancestry top out at around 1% of all Brazilians. That’s not a lot or significant portion of the population. If you get to 5 or 7% we can talk about significance. On the other hand they tend to have outsized influence on the country, so you may be projecting that onto pop size.
csomar
Brazil is a gigantic country, though. 1% of 220 million is 2.2 million which is around 2% of Japan total population.
13_9_7_7_5_18
[dead]
xhkkffbf
A significant part of Peru's government, for instance, has Japanese heritage. And that's just one corner.
keybored
Like the wonderful Alberto Fujimori.
mc32
I think that’s overstating it. There are pockets in the largest cities, but that’s about it. Very few Latin Americans would be like, hey let’s go get some Chinese food, outside of the largest cities. It’s not like Canada or the US where even in towns in the middle of nowhere you can find a Chinese joint.
Now, some do call nannies “Chinese”, so presumably, many decades ago, some very poor Chinese took a voyage across the sea to poor countries because China was even more desperately poor. Also some Chinese as well as Philippine folks were brought over to Mexico as slaves and they were all labeled ‘Chinese’ kind of like how chino fabric originated in the Philippines but is called ‘chinos.’
piuantiderp
Look up Chaufa, and yes, you can get Chinese food everywhere...
mc32
Ok but Asians or people with Asian ancestry don’t even add up to 1% of the Mexican population. It’s miniscule. There are probably more middle easterners than Asians living in Mexico.
cornhole
anecdotally, outside of East Asians, I see a good amount of Latinos in pho shops
alephnerd
Cholo culture is not a mainstream culture in Vietnam though, and is very overstated in the article - it's more counterculture and a mix of Cali Kieu who "returned" to Vietnam or people who are cult fans of content like the Fast and Furious franchise ("familia")
Hallyu is the primary mainstream culture having impact in Vietnam. Can't walk a meter without bumping into something Korean.
> particularly among older generations of Vietnamese, who are inclined to associate tattoos with gangs and violence
Younger generations too excluding the Thao Dien or the D3 type. You see plenty of heavily tattooed lecherous older Japanese men in D1, and everyone knows the implications of that.
ch4s3
That's a shame, I was hoping for a pozole blanco/pho mashup. I feel like that should really work. And carnitas on banh mi would be fantastic. The coffee culture would probably also be excellent.
alephnerd
You can get that in Anaheim, Houston, or East SJ.
If you ever want some sort of fusion culture, the only places you can discover that tend to be the US or Canada.
There are some Mexican fusion places in Saigon, but they are extremely overpriced and mid.
null
theturtle32
I've been to different types of (quite excellent!) fusion restaurants in both Peru and Colombia, not to mention multiple cities in Mexico. Good, creative cuisine that draws from multiple cultures is most definitely not limited to primarily a US/Canada thing.
xenihn
Do you know a specific place in either Anaheim or East SJ that has it?
jakupovic
Love it. Have fun, world is just a playground. Enjoy yourself
NY Times did a similar piece in 2019.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r8bMLcCxxAA
I'm not into Hip-Hop as a cultural thing but I love the way Mona aka "Sad Girl" does her linguistic code-switching, there's something intoxicating about it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UrtgYcSXVmA