Beyond Banh Mi: Vietnamese Entrepreneurship in New Orleans from the fall of Saigon Through Hurricane Katrina, 1975–2011

This poster argues that Vietnamese New Orleanians are a completely unique group of people, divorced from a limiting definition of American, Vietnamese, or even Vietnamese-American. This thesis will examine Vietnamese New Orleanian innovation, inequity, and community establishment in New Orleans through the lens of their culinary history in America. I argue that food is the direct through-line in the Vietnamese New Orleanian experience fleeing Vietnam, establishing a community in New Orleans, and finding various avenues to introduce and rework a unique Vietnamese New Orleanian food culture. In order to truly observe and understand the first-generation Vietnamese-New Orleanian experience, one must examine their livelihoods through fishing and shrimping, backyard gardens, Saturday markets, food based businesses such as restaurants and food shops, and the community that was built within the Mary Queen of Vietnam Catholic Church. Through this there is also an exploration into the racism that is inherent in New Orleans, the lack of support from the government, and different American responses regarding the Vietnam War and the subsequent refugees that resettled in America, localized to New Orleans. Culture is not clear cut; it is not static or something that can be easily described. However, if you view the Vietnamese-New Orleanian experience through the timeline of their food culture, you can observe a narrative of how this community has grown, advocated, and worked together to form community projects and grassroots movements that define New Orleans history as a whole. This thesis draws from secondary sources on New Orleans geography, American culinary history, various studies done on the residents of New Orleans East, and the primary sources of photographs by Mark Sindler and the Viet Chronicle Oral History Project.