How Orange County’s Little Saigon creative chefs revolutionised Vietnamese food
A new generation of Vietnamese Americans are proud of their heritage but say their food is an improvement on the original, but the bigger portions and sedentary lifestyle in the US may not be so healthy
Since its inception in the years following the Vietnam war, the near 200,000 strong Vietnamese enclave known as Little Saigon has become an indomitable force, remoulding Southern California’s Orange County in its own image, especially when it comes to food.
Today, this community – the largest group of Vietnamese people outside Vietnam – is one of the most dynamic culinary destinations in the country, home to flavours that can’t be found anywhere else in the world.
First- and second-generation immigrants run restaurants serving the best traditional regional Vietnamese cooking anywhere in the world. But, increasingly, it is a new generation of creative, internationally-minded chefs who are turning out the most exciting dishes, even rehabilitating that one-time culinary dirty word: fusion.
Though, as is often the case, the older generation of traditionalists and the young rebel cooks do not always see eye-to-eye, one thing that most Vietnamese residents of Little Saigon agree on is that the food made in their adopted home is better than anything being served in Vietnam itself.
“I just got back from Vietnam and here is so much better than the food there,” says chef Kristen Nguyen, the founder of local hotspot Garlic and Chives. “There’s just no way they can be up to par with us.”
Vietnam cannot compete with California’s unmatched bounty of fresh produce, or its residents’ comparatively deep pockets. In the kitchen, the next generation of chefs and restaurateurs are bringing a more global, modern sensibility to their food, while in the dining room young people are proud of their Vietnamese heritage, eagerly supporting new restaurants and new modes of cooking, and literally putting their money where their mouths are.