S1: Welcome in San Diego. It's Jade Hindman on today's show , it's the year of the Fire Horse. We'll explore the meaning and traditions of Lunar New Year. This is KPBS Midday Edition , connecting our communities through conversation. Today marks the beginning of Lunar New Year. Across the world , more than a billion people will bring in the year of the Fire horse with good food and good company. In Vietnamese culture , Lunar New Year is known as Tet. There are many ways to celebrate Tet locally , including the San Diego Tet Festival , which kicks off this Friday. The Vietnamese American Youth Alliance , or Vail , puts on the festival , and they've done they've actually now done it for over 20 years and I'm joined now by Terry Liu. She is a board director and chair. He is sorry. He is a board director and chair of Partnerships at Vala. Hi. Welcome to you , Tre. Hi.
S2: Hi. How's it going ? Thank you so much for having me. Good.
S1: Good. I'm glad we've got those those headphones working. Now , I know we were having a little trouble earlier. Also with us is Van Nguyen. She is the 2025 Miss Vietnam San Diego pageant. Queen van. Welcome to you , too.
S3: Hi , Jane. Good morning. Thank you for having me here today.
S1: Good morning and good afternoon to because it just turned. That's right. That's the afternoon. Um , question for you both. Um , first happy Tet and today we are welcoming the year of the Fire Horse.
S2: Fire horse I mean it. The fire horse is a symbol of strong leadership and independence. And so I've been busy hopping on from item to item , issue to issue , trying to make sure that all of the that festival runs smoothly. So if I had to summon up in the word busy , busy.
S1: Okay , but what about personally though.
S2: Feeling good because this year there's been a lot going on in the festival. This year is in our second year at Liberty Station , and it feels good to have something that's solid.
S1: Yeah , yeah.
S3: Last or this previous weekend I was back in Orange County celebrating that with my family. And I'm very pumped and excited to celebrate the Lunar New Year continuing in San Diego this upcoming weekend at that festival.
S1: Oh , excellent. Well , tree , before we get into this year's festival , I want to talk a bit more about the history behind Ted.
S2: There's plenty of history. The festival serves as a bridge , and it's a bridge between different cultures. But more importantly , it's also a bridge between generations. It is a way for the youth to connect with the older generations , and for the older generation to share their culture with this youth. And so it's very important that we give the we keep this bridge alive. And we've done so by having so many different elements of the festival revolve around Vietnamese culture , but also Vietnamese businesses , Vietnamese artists , and anything that we can do to share our culture with both the youth and other generations and with the San Diego audience at large.
S1:
S2: I mean , when we first started , we were a tiny little thing I remember , and it it's gone back and forth. We were at Qualcomm for a short period of time. And then from Qualcomm we were at Balboa Park and then Balboa Park to Mira mesa Park , and then Mira mesa Park decided we're going to shut down and not tell anybody until the last second. So we scramble to move it over to Liberty Station. And we've been there for the last two years. Yeah.
S1: Yeah. So it's it's had to be resilient for sure. Absolutely.
S2: Absolutely. Resilient is a great word. Yeah.
S1: Yeah. Well , Van Tet is one opportunity for Vietnamese Americans , especially younger people , to further connect with their heritage.
S3: It's , to be honest , my favorite holiday of all. I love to , you know , do all the preparations like cleaning your house , like decorating my home , my parents home with like , lanterns and food. We love to make bunting together and bunt that. And just like very traditional Vietnamese dishes that we don't normally make on a month to month basis , like having to prep all of those together with your family and having that bonding experience. It's something I love to do for that. And another thing I also love to do is to dress up in alleys and celebrate. Um , there's so many local alley shops back in Orange County that are opening up , and me and my mom and my best friends who we love to go shop and find new traditional wear and just be able to go to like , temples or anywhere , you know , like in nature and take pictures together. It's so cute. And I think like being able to do all of these activities allow me to express my culture to the communities around me. Yeah.
S1: Yeah. That's excellent. You know , van. Each year , the festival hosts the Miss Vietnam San Diego pageant. You were crowned last year. Congrats on that , I should say.
S3: It allowed me a platform to be in tune with my culture and really discover the Vietnamese community here in San Diego. As I previously mentioned , I'm from Orange County , and I came down here to San Diego for school at UCSD , and at the first time , I wasn't very aware of the Vietnamese culture or the Vietnamese community here since I was like new. But ever since I got involved with Vietnam , I've had so many opportunities to meet other Vietnamese individuals in my area who are very proud of their culture and have so much pride in it , and being able to connect with those people. Allow me to be able to express my love for Vietnamese culture to all the other people in San Diego , and other than that , being a part of Miss Vietnam allowed me and the rest of the Royal Court girlies to work on our Royal Court project this year , also known as Project Sang , where we bridged the gap of learning about steam with for kids with disabilities. So it was something that I've always wanted to do and allowed me to have the platform and the resources to execute that project. Wow.
S1: Wow. Well , you mentioned the steam project , and I know that you do a lot of community service as part of the Miss Vietnam Royal Court.
S3: I keep saying there's so many moments , but there really is. I would say one part that is very fulfilling for me is seeing all the kids , um , like , be able to have so much fun during our workshops. Um , there was just one particular moment that me and the girls talked about. Um , and there was a girl that , um , she came back from our first workshop when we were hosting the second workshop , and there was a volunteer , one of my friends , Um , one of the other. Oh , sorry. One of the royal courts. Um , friends , like , came to volunteer at all of our workshops. And this girl that came out , she remembered , and she wanted to come back to continuously interact with her and , like , complete our project goals. And this was just so rewarding that to see the kids wanting to come back to the next workshop and the next workshop , and they're telling their parents that they're so eager to come back and participate and just be involved. I feel like that was a very rewarding experience for us , and really showed me in that moment how impactful our project was for the kids who were a part of it.
S1: Oh , great. Well , Terry , let's talk about what's new at this year. Mental health is an important focus of this year's festival , especially youth mental health. Um , talk about why.
S2: And so being part of the Vietnamese community , There's a lot of stigma around mental health. It's a cultural divide where mental health isn't real. It's not something that the older generation considers valid. And so I was diagnosed with ADHD. I'm currently now treated and medicated , but it was just an off thing where one of my counselors during law school said , hey , you should go checked out , get checked out. And so I did. I ticked all the boxes and I started on medication , turned my life around 180 , 100%. I went from a , you know , mid 2.0 GPA student to top 11% in my law school , which is kind of insane when you think about how much harder law school is. But I remember walking down the streets to Ralph and talking to my parents and getting ready to tell them and to kind of come out of the closet , so to speak. And so I told them , hey , look , the reason why I've turned my life around and that things have been so different is because I was diagnosed and treated for ADHD. And I remember my dad looking at me and saying , oh , we know. Mhm. What do you mean you know. Right. And they said you were diagnosed as a kid. Your mom just didn't want to put you on meds and didn't want to do like any treatment plans because again it's not real. And so I wanted to bring that kind of issue to the forefront. I wanted to make sure that other kids never went through what I went through because it was hard. It was difficult. Yeah. Our youth needs to have the resources to be able to do better , and to be able to succeed without all of those barriers in place. And so we were able to secure a pretty sizable grant from San Diego Foundation to promote this mental health initiative. And to that effect , we've been hosting a series of workshops that are youth focused and much like our Miss Vietnam San Diego pageant , Royal Court. We like to give the youth a voice. We don't tell them what their initiative should be. We let them decide and then we give them the resources to affect it. And so the Royal Court this year was amazing. They they chose this topic. They chose to do it on this. And then they develop the partnership with autism , try to put it into effect. And similarly we are allowing our youth to have a voice. We're giving about $16,000 in scholarships that will be presented at the festival to youth leaders , who will then go on to present their own workshops. We will give them the resources , the locations we have , locations set for them. UCSD , Sdsu are two workshop locations. We have one with Keio Athletics , where they just lost a 19 year old to suicide this last year. And so suicide prevention is the the name of the game there. And so we want to just not only spread that awareness , but give the youth the opportunity to make that change themselves as leaders.
S1: Wow underscores how important what you're doing is. And you've done a lot to help young people feel more connected to their community and give back. Lion dancing is also a really important tradition that's celebrated at that each year. You also did lion dancing in your youth.
S2: Uh. It was. It's boring. I didn't know what the purpose of it was. I didn't want to go to , you know , classes on my Saturday and waste my Saturday. But then the only thing that brought me back again and again and again was the fact that I got to go afterwards to essentially what was like Vietnamese Boy Scouts , which had a lion dance group attached to it. And so it was fun. It built camaraderie. It gave you a sense of purpose , of belonging , and it made sure that you did it in a way that was that exposed you to our culture. So it was unique. It wasn't anything you can find anywhere else. And I loved it. And so the group that I originally joined with , Van Kipp , Van Kipp , died. That group eventually died out because we didn't have the resources. We didn't have the leadership , and it merged into one of the largest groups that I now am a board director for , which is Legendary Lion Dance. And the reason why I jumped onto legendary to , you know , land as sponsors , make sure that we were financially secure is because I wanted to make sure legendary never went the way of my old group. I wanted to make sure it survived.
S1:
S2: And so when you have these big scary lions and so when you have the , for instance , eye dotting ceremony , it's about waking up the lion and that lion , you feed it red envelopes in order to ensure prosperity and good luck. And the red lion scares away the evil spirits. It has to be both strong and beautiful at the same time.
S1: All right , um , here's a question for the both of you.
S3: I hope that , you know , the people who haven't gotten the chance to explore the San Diego , that festival has the opportunity to check it out this year and see what it has to offer. And I really hope that the girls who are being a part of this year's cohort for Miss Vietnam San Diego will have the amazing opportunity to show their confidence on stage and represent all the hard work that they have been putting through. I am so proud of everyone , including my Royal Court girlies that have been with me this past year in our Royal Court term , and I'm just really excited for everyone to get the chance to celebrate all together this upcoming weekend.
S1: All right Tre.
S2: The we've gotten a lot of tourists and we have gotten a lot of people from different cultures that experience Vietnam for the first time ever. We have our cultural village in the middle of the festival that is a slice of Saigon , a slice of Vietnam within San Diego. So my hope and my dream is to make sure that we share our culture with everybody else. It's not just Vietnamese people that should be there. It should be black , it should be Asian , it should be Chinese , it should be loud , and it should be , you know , white doesn't matter who you are , where you come from. Please come to the festival. Listen to what we have to present and see what we have to show you. Excellent.
S1: Excellent. I've been speaking with Terry Liu , board director and chair of partnerships at the Vietnamese American Youth Alliance , and Van Nguyen , 2025 Miss Vietnam San Diego. The San Diego Tet Festival will kick off Friday , February 20th at NTC Park in Liberty Station. It will run through Sunday , February 22nd and you can find more details on KPBS. Tre van. Thank you so much.
S3: Thank you. Thank you so much.
S1: Up next , the food traditions of Lunar New Year when KPBS Midday Edition returns. Welcome back to KPBS midday Edition. I'm Jade Hindman. Today we join more than a billion people across the world in celebrating Lunar New Year. It's a time filled with new beginnings , family reunions , and a whole lot of great food. And you're in luck , because my next two guests are here to teach us all about the culinary traditions of Lunar New Year , and they've even brought some dishes along with them. It smells great in here. Kim fan owned several San Diego restaurants , including Crab Hut and King Fisher. She's also the executive chef and owner behind the Vietnamese pop up Fogo. Kim , welcome.
S4: Thank you for having me. Um , I just want to make it clear out there that I just love to cook. I'm not a chef , okay ? I have a lot of respect for that title , and I don't think I've earned it yet.
S1: I don't know. Okay , well , the the food , we'll let the food decide right now. All right. Alan Chan is also with us. He owns the Jasmine Food restaurant in the convoy district. It's one of the largest and oldest Chinese restaurants in San Diego. Alan , welcome to you as well.
S5: Thank you very much , Amit. Yes.
S1: Yes. So glad to have you here. So , Kim , I'm going to start with you , you know , happy New Year. First of all , to both of you , I want to start by asking you about what you have in store today and this week.
S4: Um , uh , like the other sample that I brought here today.
S1: Um , which look. Absolutely.
S3: Absolutely. Delicious.
S1: Delicious.
S4: I have some cold plates. Uh , usually we start out with some cold plate for guests to mingling around. We have some kheer meat here. It's a little bit sour and a little bit spicy. If you put more like the black pepper in it. Mhm. And there's ham hock um Vietnamese uh head cheese. Mhm. And every New year chicken is a very um main dishes in our celebration. Yeah. And uh , here I brought uh , chicken fell from my new papa for a gaggle. Um , and we have.
S1: We got all kind of stuff. Well , wait a minute. Hold on. Let me let me get to all that. Let me get to all that. Hold on now , Alan , before we get too far gone with the food. Tell me about about yourself. I mean , how are you celebrating ? Um.
S5: I came from Hong Kong as a foreign student , and I supported myself through college , working in San Francisco , Chinatown , top restaurants. So I learned the business over there. And I always had the idea that someday , maybe I will have my own restaurant. So when I moved to San Diego to open my own clinic and then met another restaurant owner nearby and was impressed by him , and I casually said that someday if you're going to open that restaurant , look me up. So he did. Two years later and so we started the largest Asian dim sum restaurant , dim Sum Seafood restaurant in San Diego. It's a Kennedy style restaurant. And then so during Chinese year , that's the biggest and busiest time of the year. So we prepare all kinds of New Year dishes and then we have celebrations inviting the community. Um , lucky line performances and other performances at adjustment to celebrate the new Year with all the folks in San Diego and and travelers also. Wow.
S1: Wow. Okay. Well , I mean , so when you think about Lunar New Year and all the great dishes that come with it. What first comes to mind for you ? What's your favorite dish ? Kim.
S4: My favorite dish has to be tequila , which is a , uh , braised pork belly with , uh , chicken. And , um , you eat that with , um , pickles ? Steamed rice. Um , is is a very comforting dish for me.
S1: Oh , that sounds so good.
S5: Actually , a couple of them is kind of my recipe that I grew up with. Um , one is the honey , one a shrimp. And that which actually is the most popular dish. Adjustment. And a customer actually said that something they would die for. Okay. Yeah. And then the other one is a garlic whole fish. Let's hear you're going to taste that. And the third one is something I grew up with since I was in Shanghai. I was born in Shanghai , and , um , actually , I watched people make that , um , the dough from long grain rice into rice cake. So this is a sauteed rice cake or new rice cake that we have that during , uh , Chinese New Year time. And actually , my sister said that this dish that I cook , they think that is better than the Shanghainese restaurant. So they asked me to share with their customers. So I taught the chefs how to make it and that. So that's a dish that you must have during the Chinese New Year. We talk about the meanings later. Okay.
S1: Okay. Okay.
S5: Okay.
S1: Well , just out of curiosity , I mean , which of these , you know , dishes is the most difficult to prepare ? I mean , that fish looks pretty elaborate. Um , you know , just looking at it.
S5: Want a shrimp ? Aha ! You have to do the right so that the shrimp are crunchy and tasty. And also it comes with a honey glaze a walnut. And those. It takes a lot of time to prepare you to be able to taste that.
S1: I'm in for a treat today. Yeah. All right.
S4: Um , because how do you make it clear and clean , but then , um , packed with flavor. A lot of times when it's packed with flavor , it's a little bit cloudy because you have to put a lot of bones in it. So yeah , yeah , the stock can look a little bit dense. So , um , making broth for me is one of the most challenging things.
S1: It is , but it's so good right when you get it right.
S5: Um , the auspicious phrase for that is um , in Chinese Mandarin Hua chi fukui , which means flower blossoms and wealth arrives. All right. Yeah. Um , so Chinese like to use those kind of phrases to represent different dishes for , especially for New Year , as a good luck phrase for the friends and relatives. Right. And then , um , for this one , the the shrimp one , because shrimp when it's cooked is kind of pinkish reddish. Mhm. Okay. And the tail when it opens up it's kind of like a paddle. So that's why I'm going to use the flower. Okay. Phrase two to represent this dish. All right. Um and then the second one Is the Shanghai rice cake. Okay. Um , in in Mandarin is in Yangzhou , which is yearly cake. Okay. Gao has the same pronunciation as rising up or high. Okay. So Chinese uses a lot of the , um , homophones. Yeah , yeah. Uh , words with a different meaning , but same pronunciation. So use that to represent that dish is Nanyang Gaussian. Okay. Is continuous promotion in school or at work or career ? All right. Right. Okay , so it was a well wishing phrase for everybody. And you're doing well in school and at work.
S1: I love that. Yeah. Okay.
S5: Oh , in the third one. Third one is this fish dish here is garlic. Whole fish. Um , that phrase for that is Yan Yan. Yan yan means yearly. Okay ? You have leftovers. So abundance of wealth , continuous abundance of wealth. Good fortune. Okay. To represent that action. All right. Um , the dessert I have here is , um , sesame ball. Okay. Can you. You had that when you grew up , right ? Yeah , yeah. Sesame ball is a golden sesame ball. Yeah , it symbolizes a gold ball. Okay. Um , and the phrase for that is Tai Yuan. When is rolling ? Aha. Okay. Chai means the source of wealth or money. Okay. It's flowing your way. All right , all right , so those are all popular New Year dishes or dim sum items for the people who come to jasmine. Or in the Chinese tradition.
S1: I receive all of that. Kim , what about you ? What do these dishes mean to you ? Um.
S4: For us is , um , grown up in a small village. We work very hard. And for New Year , um , our tradition is that we want to have a long break. And so before , prior to new Year , we prep everything. We we cook all the food , uh , just leave for three days , or some households , even for a whole week. So we have a lot of pickle , a lot of , um , head cheese that could last , um , a lot of sticky rice that has been steamed for over 12 hours. So it could last you a long time. And this is my take on it is , um , back then , uh , in Vietnam , we don't have refrigerator , so these food can last without refrigerator. And , um , so because of all of these , food are rich , we always have something clean , like a chicken soup to , uh , cleanse our palate at the end. So there's always something very hearty. And then there's always a cleanse , a cleansing soup. Okay.
S1: Okay. How are each of you celebrating and honoring Lunar New Year at your respective restaurants ? Kim.
S4: Um , at Crab Hut , we we don't really do much. We actually have Mardi Gras today. Okay.
S1: Okay.
S4: All right.
S1: Uh , it's a celebration of some sort. Yes.
S4: Yes. At kingfisher , we have lion dance. Every year , we have lion dance , and we have a red envelope to our guests to give to the lion. Um , and we also give our red envelope to all of our team member during New Year's for good luck.
S1: Very nice , very nice.
S5: And , and then nowadays , during Chinese New Year. We. The first one we had is the charity fundraiser with the San Diego United Lions Club. The charter president. So we have Lucky line performance. We have singing. We actually like last Friday , we have a fashion show of New Year Chinese costumes. Um , and then we have local young talents to do fantastic singing. And during the weekend , normally during the weekend following the Chinese New Year , then we have Lucky Line performances. Okay , um , that people were enjoying and they got excited and feeding the lines with red packets with their lucky money to receive good luck from the performance and from the lucky lines. And this year we are also very excited to be able to invite it. San Diego Buddhist Association okay and their Taiko drum team. So we will have four shows during the next two weekends they will perform the Tycho Drum Show. Tycho drum. The drum music , musical instrument and performance are very popular in Asia in different countries. But Tycho , the name is actually came from Japan. Okay. Lunar New Year is not just Chinese New Year. Okay. It's part of a Chinese regular Chinese New Year. And the Lunar New Year is based on the agricultural calendar. Yeah. So , like Kim was saying that after the harvest , after doing the home cleaning , house cleaning. Yes , everybody can relax and the mothers and sisters will help doing all cooking , all the good dishes. Okay. That will last for 2 or 3 days at least. And then visit , um , visit the relatives , pay respect to the seniors. Okay. That's part of the Asian culture as we okay. We emphasize on preserving and promoting our Asian culture the best our Asian culture And share with their community. Okay. To incorporate that into the great American culture. And that's what we are doing with you. All right. The people coming to the restaurants. Okay. Do it together.
S1: All right. Well , that is wonderful. And , Kim , I mean. Well , we have just a couple of minutes left here. I want to talk more about the family traditions that that Alan was mentioning. Because you're a mom of two.
S4: But every year , our celebration doesn't always land on Lunar New Year. Like this year we did , um , our celebration at home on Sunday. Um , but , um , we want to make sure the kids understand the tradition. They were the long dresses , and , um , they agreed the elder and wished them held , uh , you know , in Prosperity for the coming year. And they received the red envelope. And I always have them like the dessert table for them to understand , like each different type of dessert , that they don't understand why we always have that because for them , they're they're used to , you know , the dessert that they have here , like the candies from here. Mhm. Um , so they get to see um , why is it important to have like all of these different , these are sometimes they think it's mommy this is too chewy. Why do you have it on the table. But these are ginger candy. You know , it's it's good for for for your health. Like , after like you like it's right. It's tea or , you know.
S1: Yeah , there's a reason there. Well , Alan , you're a grandfather. So in the last few seconds , we've got. Tell me about celebrating Lunar New Year with your family.
S5: Um , because we had the restaurant we open every day of the year , so it was hard to follow. Exactly. Okay , so , like , we cannot have a family dinner reunion dinner on New Year's Eve , but we make it up. Okay. Another time. But , um , New year is the best time for children because they get to have a new dress and new shoes and then. Okay , um , the day of the of the new year , they go out and greet their parents and grandparents and pay respect to them and the ancestors. Okay. Um. And receive wrapped packages and gifts. Okay. It was the best time for the children and adults , too. Okay. Time to get to see the children and grandchildren and to be together. Um , that's the best part of this New year tradition. Lunar New Year tradition. To be with the family. Okay , whatever. In whatever way we can , both in the restaurant. We know that.
S1: I understand that. Wow. Well , I cannot wait to try all of this food. I know I'm in for a treat. And all of the folks who have been roaming up and down the hallway outside of the studio. They're in for a treat as well. Oh goodness. I've been speaking with Kim Fan. She owned San Diego restaurants Crab Hut and Kingfisher along with the pop up. Fuck , I go , Kim , thank you so much.
S4: Thank you for having me.
S1: And also Alan Chan. He owns the Jasmine Seafood restaurant in convoy. Alan. Thank you.
S5: Thank you so much for having me here. To be able to share the Asian culture with everybody in San Diego.
S1: Thank you. Yeah. That's our show for today.
S6: I'm your host , Jade Hindman. Thanks for tuning in to Midday Edition. Be sure to have a great day on purpose , everyone.
