Celebrating Tet Fest in New Orleans!

When we decided to move from Los Angeles to New Orleans, we knew that there would be less diversity. Even though New Orleans is one of the most diverse cities in the country, especially with its rich history, it is hard to compare any city in this country to Los Angeles or New York. We were, however, quite surprised when we discovered that there was a massive Vietnamese population here.

 

Before the move, we had consumed a countless amount of banh mi and pho, which are two very popular dishes. We loved the cuisine, but didn’t know much about the culture, especially compared to other Asian and Southeast Asian cultures. We learned that the combination of the seafood industry in the gulf, along with the French influence, humid climate and Catholic roots were all strong factors that drew the Vietnamese people here after the war. We also learned that the Vietnamese have their own celebration for the Lunar New Year, which is believed to have come from when the Chinese invaded Vietnam over 1,000 years ago. 

Obviously, we wanted to join in their celebration. We drove out into what felt like the middle of nowhere, to the Mary Queen of Vietnam Church, and we were shocked to find that people were parking up to a quarter mile away from the venue. When we got out of the car, after parking in front of a jaw-dropping mansion, we could smell the food and hear the music even though it was nowhere in sight. After finally locking our eyes on the entrance, we knew that we were in for a treat.

We’re one episode away from finishing a Netflix series called Street Food. So far, we absolutely love it and once we’re finished, we’ll talk about it here on the blog. Street Food has made us miss traveling and living in Los Angeles more than ever, but for the first time in a long time, it felt like we were in a big city. (We don’t consider New Orleans a big city.) This massive parking lot was filled with people, music, food, games and most importantly, energy. 

We should’ve uploaded a video so you could hear the music, and also, that a company invents smell-o-vision because the scent in the air was remarkable. Hopefully the pictures in this post give you an idea how much fun it was, especially the one of Alana in a state of total happiness while eating a FRESH pandan waffle. (Pandan is a plant in southeast Asia and they use the fragrant leaves for seasoning, especially in sweeter applications such as mixing with coconut milk.) I had some delicious bao. There was a beauty pageant, a live band and gambling. Most importantly, we got to see a great culture, that is far too often discriminated against here, in a complete state of comfort. 

There are Tet Fest Celebrations in many places, including Los Angeles. We recommend you check it out next year, or even go grab pho or a banh mi to celebrate! If by chance, you want to join us next year, we have a few extra seats in the car. You’d just need to buy us each a waffle! Stay hungry and fit!