Brandon Vu reflects on one of the lessons his mother taught him about eating.
Growing up, I was filled with energy and sometimes, all that energy would get me in trouble.
I would run around the house too quickly or jump on the bed too hard, upsetting my dad. He’d tell me to stand against the wall, raise my arms, and just stay there. While all my siblings laughed at me, our mom would be the one to chew out my father and tell him he was being irrational.
And after she would chew him out, my mom would grab my hand, guide me to the kitchen, and make a plate of braised pork belly over rice, my Vietnamese comfort meal.
My mom was always the person to get me out of sticky situations. In grade school while running during gym class, I accidentally wet myself. I was sent to the office and I remember crouching down, fearing what my mom would say. She was in Sacramento at the time and when the school called her, she immediately drove from Sacramento to Fairfield. When she finally arrived, I couldn’t even look her in the eye.