Dim Sum: Bringing My Immigrant Asian Family Together

Every Sunday that I am home (as in, visiting my parents), we go for Dim Sum. What's that I hear you ask?... Imagine some Asian tapas. It's small portions of food usually served in round bamboo steamers.

The Asian community in the North East of England will typically go get Dim Sum with their families on Sundays. And Newcastle is usually the place to go for that if you're within a 40 mile radius.

So why is it important? Dim Sum for me I've come to realise, is like a glue between my 'White person' life and my Asian roots. It's the happy middle of that Venn diagram of the culture I consider home and the culture my parents consider home.

Maintaining this ritual is precious for our family -and I'm sure a lot of Chinese immigrant families- because 1) it's the same thing in Hong Kong and therefore a piece of home-away-from-home for my folks, 2) it's a good place to catch up with other members of the immigrant community and find out how old their kids are now, who's getting married next, who's kids are doctors now etc. And 3) its one of the few 'bonding' activities we have between me and my siblings and my parents. We don't really 'hang out' so dim sum is always the failsafe of relaxed environments outside the house we can all go enjoy ourselves, together.

God bless it.