I was told from a young age that the easiest way to connect with your cultural heritage is through food. Many fond memories and cultural traditions are passed down through food. Food is a way to connect people to each other, reliving fond memories of the past. Food can heal old wounds and make people happier. You feel a sense of pride knowing that you are connected to your culture through the use of food. However, there are times when you question your cultural food choices, especially if you didn't grow up with certain dishes. Reading Catfish and Mandala reminded me of my cultural closeness through food. Being bi-ethnic I have learned to cook the food of both my ethnicities, however there have been times when I have found myself acting like a foreigner towards certain dishes. A great example was when I had Chitlin or pork intestines. I had eaten menudo, thanks to my Hispanic mother and this was the first time I had eaten Chitlins, an African American dish through my paternal grandmother. Unlike Menudo, which smells and tastes appetizing to me, Chitlins were a gray, stringy, putrid-smelling dish. Remembering the total dislike I had for that African-American dish reminded me of Pham's experience with Vietnamese food. Even though there are some dishes that people can't stand, most of them choose a dish from their own culture and this helps relieve some of the pain or discomfort. Pham's journey, however, has the opposite effect. It shows us Vietnamese culture through the eyes of an assimilated Vietnamese American trying to get back in touch with his roots. He hopes to connect with his roots especially through interaction through food. In Pham's case, that's exactly what he does, with disastrous results that highlight his inability to... middle of paper... cement a body seeking reassimilation into a culture whose people don't necessarily welcome him. As appealing as the concept of cultural mixing may be when thinking about food, Andrew Pham's body expresses a pluralism that creates enormous difficulties for him as he tries to reintegrate into a culture that repeatedly thwarts his desire to assimilate. (Phillips 49) It has become too Americanized. Pham's desire to become fully Vietnamese finally ended. He came to terms with the fact that he was more American than Vietnamese. Works Cited Phillips, Delores B. “Quieting Noisy Bellies: Moving, Eating and Being in the Vietnam Diaspora.” University of Minnesota Press 73 (2009): 47-87. PrintPham, Andrew X. Catfish and Mandala: a two-wheeled journey through the landscape and memory of Vietnam. New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 1999. Print.