02x08 - On the Tip of my Kreung - Lowell, MA

[bunniefuu]

This is a Cambodian classical dance

re-imagined here in America.

It tells the ancient Hindu tale
of the Demon King Ravana,

but shows him in a new light.

The art of reimagining your world

is an act of strength and audacity.

And in the case
of Cambodian refugees here,

it's also an act of survival.

Welcome to Lowell, Massachusetts,

home to one of the largest
Cambodian communities in America,

where lobster rolls and baked beans

are usurped by katiew and lok lak.

- Should we try it?
- Yeah.

We should try it.

And the food is just
one part of the story.

We've come a long way.

- Yeah, seems like it.
- Yeah, a long way.

What's happening in Lowell

is an extraordinary story.

A small population
of refugees and survivors

who, in a single generation,

radically transformed
a historic American city

and raised it to greater relevance.

They tried to bury us.

They didn't know we were seeds.

How did the Cambodian community

get to where they are
in such a short time,

when they arrived with nothing
but the clothes on their backs

and the recipes in their heads.

Perhaps their story
is a lesson for us all.

I came to America when I was four.

I'm an immigrant and I'm not alone.

I've spent my life writing about food
and tasting the world.

Now, I wanna explore who we are
through the food we eat.

My game is strong.

What exactly is American food,

and what makes us American?

I'm Padma Lakshmi.
Come with me as we Taste the Nation.

This is Pailin Park,

a lively gathering place
with sports, games,

the old guys, and the young folks.

And by the grill is where you'll find me

with a couple of new friends,
Samantha Bo and Johnson Prak.

Oh, there it is.

- That looks good.
- Little burnt to it.

Oh, yes. Look at that char.
That's beautiful.

When the weather gets warmer,

you're havin' barbecues
and outdoor events,

you gotta have the Cambodian beef stick.

Can I try one?

- Yeah, definitely.
- Yes, yes, yes.

I could sit here
and eat this all day long.

It's really delicious.

It might seem simple,

but what makes this beef stick special

is the magical paste
it marinates in, krueng,

a bright, aromatic flavor b*mb,

and is the foundation
of many Cambodian dishes.

What's your favorite Cambodian dish?

Lort cha with fried egg on top.

- Ooh.
- What about you?

Uh, lok lak with fried egg on top.

My favorite Khmer dish
has got to be salaw machu krueng.

It's heaven, to me, in a bowl.

Kuy teav is my favorite here.

Especially, kuy teav Phnom Penh,
is traditional kuy teav for Cambodia.

Ya-hon. It's, basically,
a Cambodian-style hot pot.

Uh, samlor kako.

Cambodian food, traditional food.
It's all about krueng.

Every family kind of have
their own recipe of how to make krueng.

- Mm-hm.
- So, to tweak it here and there.

And then, if you asking them,

they will probably tell you
that their family recipe is the best.

- But your family is, is the best, right?
- Yeah, we at number one.

I'm lookin' around
and it's wall-to-wall Cambodians, right?

Was it like that when you were little?

Oh, yeah. I mean,
like, growin' up, it wasn't like this.

It was a little rough back then.
It was a lot of gangs.

You had to be, like, from a certain group
to, like, be able to come here.

- Really?
- I was part of a street g*ng,

- uh, myself. Yeah.
- You were? What was that like?

It was, it was, it was
growin' up in Lowell, you know?

It was losses, you know?
A lot of losses we all took.

But... that is not Lowell anymore.
We've come a long way.

And what happened? How did it change?

Seems to be influx of funding
that focused on bringing more business...

- Mm-hm.
- ...um, into this area

'cause the city saw that Cambodia Town,
as this district it's called,

it makes Lowell what it is.

Cambodia Town is a mile stretch,

and it's lined
with Khmer-owned businesses.

But a few decades ago,
this was mostly vacant storefronts.

Lowell, Massachusetts,
was once a booming town,

feeding the prosperity of America
during the Industrial Revolution.

But after the Depression,

decades of decay and poverty followed,

leading to a drug and g*ng
epidemic in the '80s.

Many were moving out.

At the same time,
thousands of Cambodian refugees arrived

to try and rebuild their lives.

They worked in factories,
opened restaurants and businesses,

birthing what is now
known as Cambodia Town.

Everybody has told me to come here.

- Aw, thank you.
- Every single person.

Sam and Denise Lee
also arrived as refugees.

In 2008, they opened Simply Khmer.

Today, it's beloved
by people of all ethnicities,

and it's where I'm getting
my crash course in krueng.

My first introduction to Cambodian cooking

is amok trey,
fish in a flavorful coconut base.

It's also considered the national dish.

Why is this such a popular dish?

From someone
who not familiar with Khmer food,

it's not too strong, it's not too salty.

It's not bitter 'cause our food
is very burst in flavor.

So, it's like a very
approachable dish...

- Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
- ...to introduce Cambodian flavors?

And at the heart of this dish, krueng.

So, what is in your krueng?

We have the, uh, galangal,

lemongrass, garlic,
finger root, this fresh turmeric.

This right here is powdered turmeric.

The secret to making
the perfect krueng is how it's built.

Each fresh ingredient is essential,
combined with dogged persistence.

All you do is pound.

- And pound and pound.
- And, and that's you now.

- You own it.
- I own it. Okay.

What's remarkable
about Simply Khmer's krueng

is that it was developed
from Sam and Denise's childhood memories.

So, you were five when you came here...

- Yeah.
- ...to America?

What do you remember of the food?

I landed in Wichita, Kansas,
and grew up there.

There was not a lot of Cambodian family.

My mom, she cook what she can.

Always try to make everything
that is Khmer in an American way.

Then when we moved here,
that's when I really learned food,

when I married him.

What, what did I cook for you
the first t... first time when I met you?

Stir fry ginger frog.

- Yeah.
- Ginger frog?

- Uh-huh.
- Yeah. I went to the... like, a swamp.

- Here in Lowell?
- Yeah.

And so, you foraged for frogs,

- and you made her stew with ginger?
- Yeah.

- Were you afraid to eat it?
- Yeah, a little bit, but it was good.

Well, he didn't tell me it was frogs.

- Oh, that's smart.
- Yeah.

Did you always love cooking?

Um, for me, back then
when I was six, seven years old,

I, I... I would do anything to get food.

Sam, like the majority
of Cambodian refugees,

is a survivor of the Khmer Rouge,

a brutal regime which gained power

after four years of secret
U.S.-led bombings.

From 1975 to 1979,

the Khmer Rouge
violently terrorized its own citizens.

They k*lled artists, writers,

and anyone threatening
anti-intellectual agenda.

The result?
Millions lost to genocide and starvation.

One morning, I remember I woke up,

my mom, my dad say,
"We gotta move from our house."

You know, that's when
the, um, Khmer Rouge take over.

I don't know what happen.

Is something go wrong?

When they catch all those...
people, includin' my dad,

took him away
and I never see him again.

I don't even remember
what my dad look like.

I was so young back then.

Every time I bring it up,
I always have this emotion.

It's like,
"This has really happened to me?"

And it did.

I'm really thankful
that you're talking to me about it

because I don't think people know.

And so, you spent

- five or six years in Thailand...
- Yeah, yeah.

- ...in basically a refugee camp.
- Yeah. Like, no food.

You know, we eat a, a rice porridge.

- Mm-hm.
- Maybe half of the bowl.

Once a day.

And that's why you were

- having to forage?
- Yeah.

Over 300,000 people were displaced,

many in refugee camps on the Thai border.

The conditions were cruel and lawless,

food and resources scarce.

This scarcity taught a young Sam Lee
to make something out of nothing.

In that camp, you don't have a lot
of Cambodian people from different city,

so I get my unique taste from that.

So you learned how
to cook in the refugee camps?

Yeah, yeah.

And then when I come to the country,
it happened to be...

Lowell is not a big Cambodian community.

- Mm-hm.
- But it's... they have a Cambodian store.

I don't think she have it over there.

- Not in Kansas.
- Not in Kansas.

So, he, in a way, rebuilt your palate?

Yeah, 'cause he's always
live and breathe that flavor, that taste.

Soybean oil.

It's a red chili pepper
but it's not spicy.

But no spicy. Just to get the color.

- Can I try?
- Oh, yeah. Go 'head.

All right.

- Just simmer it?
- Yeah.

Sweet and hot.

- Yeah?
- Yeah.

The next thing you need to put is krueng.

Krueng is starting to cook.

This is catfish.

They have a unique toughness a little bit,

and then more sweet into it.

Part of what
makes this dish a crowd-pleaser

is the presentation.

It's served in a banana leaf.

- And then like this?
- Yep, uh-huh.

There we go. My first banana leaf boat.

Amok trey is full of flavor
that gives it its mass appeal.

- It's beautiful.
- Yeah.

So, this, this is all set to serve.

I don't even wanna eat it,
I just wanna smell it.

So aromatic.

- Should we try it?
- Yeah.

We should try it. Let's try it.

- What do you think?
- I think it's delicious.

And I love that chili oil,
which is so mild,

- but gives it a warmth.
- That smell, yeah.

Thank you for teaching me
how to make this.

So, you really like amok?

- Like, it's...
- Yeah, I love amok trey.

I don't care if it's
tourist food, I like it.

If that... Is that... Is it tourist food?

- A little tourist food?
- It's a little bit.

All right.

So, what do you want for the future?

I know you've got
a couple of fridges, a couple of shelves

with a lot of juicy stuff
I'm about to go check out.

I've always been, like,
a big, big thinker, big dreamer.

I wanna open up pop-up shops
in different cities,

so that people can get a taste...

- Of Simply Khmer food.
- Of Simply Khmer.

And if you build that hype up,
you rock with that uniqueness, that funk,

you can probably get it.

Xavier's efforts
are part of a trend in Lowell

to increase awareness
of Cambodian food and culture,

as well as the most powerful tool of all.

Representation,
'cause representation matters.

Representative Vanna Howard

is the first Khmer woman
to be elected in her district.

We have, now,
the second largest Cambodian Americans

living in the city of Lowell.

We need representation
at the municipal level,

at the state level,
and at the federal level.

Just five years ago,

almost all elected representatives
were European-American.

In 2017, a Cambodian-led movement

filed a lawsuit to reform
Lowell's electoral system,

and they won,

resulting in perhaps the most diverse
city council and school board

the city has ever seen,

and appointing the nation's
first Cambodian-American mayor.

So, you have Xavier's generation
now staying in Lowell,

and raising their family in Lowell
and giving back to Lowell.

So, the economy is very positive
and diverse and growing.

In a way, what's going on in Lowell
for the last two or three decades

is a microcosm
of what's been going on

over many centuries in America.

This is a nation built
of immigrants of different layers

and different generations
at different times.

And you can see that in Lowell.

And we are ready to welcome
our Ukrainian, uh, neighbors

if they choose to come here
to the city of Lowell.

- Mm-hm.
- We'll welcome them with open arms.

In Cambodia,
life revolves around its rivers,

and may be why Cambodian refugees
were able to feel at home

here in New England

with its coasts, rivers, and tributaries.

So I'm going fishing, like a local,

with the help of two
very seasoned fishermen,

Sako Long and his friend, Sam Man.

Fish is like gold to Khmer people.

I'm an avid fisherman.
I fish for fun, but I also like to fish

for fish that I can bring home
and, and give away to my family,

to my parents, to friends and whatnot.

River cultures
kinda transfers easily here.

Absolutely.

Sako, a former g*ng member,

turns to the water to keep
g*ng violence at bay in Lowell.

How has fishing played a role
in what you're doing?

If I had a positive
role model in my life,

I probably would've been
somewhere different.

You know, with growin' up
with the g*ng life, got locked up.

And so, I wanted to kinda
be that for the young people

that were growin' up in the city

and experienced some
of the struggles that I went through.

And when you take 'em outta the city
and you go to somewhere peaceful,

they get to really just relax
and, and be them-themselves

- outdoors.
- Sunshine.

- Stress-free. Keep you sane.
- It's so peaceful.

- Yeah.
- I know. I get it.

So, I've never really been into fishing.

In fact, I'm the least
outdoorsy person you'll ever meet,

but between the calming landscape
and Sako's guiding hand,

I could get into this.

- So you have your finger like this.
- Mm-hm.

And then when you go like that,
just release your finger.

- Just, just turn it this way and it'll go.
- Okay.

There ya go!

Ah.

- Here ya go.
- Yay!

And then I reel it in a little bit.

Woo!

- You caught a trout.
- Wow!

That's a good-size trout, too.

Oh, my gosh! I'm fishing!

Nobody I know will believe me.

Ta-da!

I've eaten a lot of fish in my life,

but never once have
I caught it and gutted it myself.

And I gotta say,
it's pretty gratifying... if squishy.

Grilled whole fish is a simple
but delicious and healthy meal.

Today, we're doing it Cambodian style,

stuffed with those beautiful aromatics,

and a side of green mango salad
thanks to Sako's wife.

- So, this is the lemongrass?
- Yep.

A few more pieces of galangal.

It's like if ginger
and lemongrass had a baby,

but were in a little bit of a bad mood.

- Lime.
- Lime. Yep.

Make sure it's, um, nice and tight.

Throw it right on the grill.

Sako and Sam
seem like natural teachers,

but it wasn't an easy journey
to get to this place.

I was in refugee camp
for, um, almost four years.

- In Thailand.
- In Thailand.

- Yes.
- So, when we came to the States,

growin' up in the '80s and '90s,
it was horrific.

After leaving
the dire conditions of refugee camps,

young Cambodians arrived in Lowell
in the midst of a crack epidemic

and violent turf wars
with Puerto Rican gangs.

For many, the only way to protect
themselves and their families

from racism and violence
was by joining a g*ng themselves.

The one thing that I think, you know,
people don't understand is, like,

America has just finished
the Vietnam w*r during that time.

And so, any Southeast Asians
comes into the country

was considered Vietnamese, right?

And so, you know,
we experienced a lot of that racism.

People that came here as, like, teenagers,

a lot of them
joined together to kinda say,

"We're not takin' this bullyin'.
We're gonna fight back."

What ultimately turned
the tide after the '80s and '90s?

It was a combination
of realizing that

we were killin' each other.

So, when I was locked up,
my rivals were there, too.

I was forced to become friends
with my enemies on the streets

while I was in jail.

We stuck by each other in jail.
We supported each other. We ate together.

And so, part of that was really
a learning tool for me to say,

"Why can't we do this on the streets?"

Sam's life was almost taken

when he was shot in a g*ng dispute.

Through Sako's mentors hip,
he found his way out.

From Sako, we... he taught us, you know,

like, there's, there's better thing
in life to just bein' out on the streets,

and, you know, goin' to jail or...

- Die.
- Die.

You can't. You can't do either.

Your parents went through
too much to get here.

- Absolutely.
- Absolutely.

In 2020, during the rise in AAPI hate,

Sam felt compelled to do more.

He and his peers formed EAST Movement:

Every Asian Stands Together.

Lowell has a big
population of Cambodians.

And, you know, we have our children,
our parents, our grandmothers.

And we have to do somethin'.
We have to speak out about this.

We have to raise an awareness.

- Nothin' like fresh-cooked fish.
- Right outta the lake.

Mm... It's so delicate.

I love what's happening
in my mouth right now.

Sako and Sam have used their past

to transform Lowell's present
into a safer home.

But rebuilding a community
requires many hands.

So, how have others helped
shape Lowell into what it is today?

A community takes shape
through the hands of its people,

and it's through the careful
and persistent hands

of artists like Yary Livan

that Lowell has become a hub for the arts.

I pretend that my pot
look like the lady.

Not like slope like this.
A little bit angle.

They s... They look like lady when they...

- Right.
- They need a little bit up like this.

Yes, you need some shape here.

Only three classically trained ceramicists
survived the Khmer Rouge.

Yary is one of them.

And he's brought this precious
Cambodian art form here to Lowell.

I would like to have at least
a I... tiny understanding

of how to do it with my actual hands.

- Can we do that?
- Yes.

But you have to expect you make a mug...

- Okay.
- ...not make a pot.

- Okay.
- As you made a pot...

You expect to make a pot,
you'll be a disappointed.

Okay, I'm gonna...
Let's go make some mud.

- Okay. All right.
- How 'bout that?

Cooking and making clay,
a same technique.

- Really?
- Yeah.

Okay.

You pretend that you make a meatball.

Okay. I know how to make meatballs.

- Drop on in the middle.
- Really hard.

Yeah.

Good. Now just tap it.

- Yeah, that's enough.
- Okay, sorry.

You're gonna turn the wheel

and pull them up like this.

And what do I do if it, like,
gets off the center? Whoa.

Stop it.

Yes. Add more water.

- A little bit more faster.
- It's not sticking. Hold on.

Oh.

Oh! Too... It's okay.

- Put the center down.
- Okay.

Put it down. More down.
Look like that. Stop the wheel.

Stop.

- This is really fun.
- Work really, really gentle.

- Gentle. Gentle is not my forte, Yary.
- Yeah. Yeah.

But this is so cool.

Okay. I'm losing the plot now.

Yeah. It's okay.

Ah!

Yeah. See? You get it.

That's very good. I like it.

It does not look good.

I think this is somewhere
between a dish and a ashtray.

If you, if you practice like 10 year,
you may look like this? It's not good.

But this a first day you're touching clay.
I think it's good for you.

- Okay. Thank you.
- Good job. Gimme five.

So, I didn't come away with a work of art,

but Yary's patience
and humor made this a lot of fun.

And to think his art
was almost lost to the world.

- When you were young...
- Mm-hm.

...you know, for a long time,

you kept it secret
that you were a ceramicist,

- that you were an artist, right?
- Mm-hm. Yeah.

Why did they not want
any artist to survive?

- Mm-hm.
- Why were they so interested

in getting rid of all the arts
in wh... the Khmer Rouge?

Because art, artists
are hard to control the mind.

Who have education...
they k*ll all that, not just artists.

Cambodian art, in itself,
is an act of rebellion and persistence,

so it's fortunate that Yary's work
has been showcased across the country,

including at the Smithsonian and Harvard.

He's passing on this precious gift
through teaching at colleges

and other schools
in the greater Boston area.

What is your connection to Lowell?
Like, how do you feel about Lowell?

- To help you.
- Yeah, to help me.

- And to value this beautiful art form.
- Yeah.

Cambodian arts are now
a treasured feature of Lowell,

but they also serve another purpose:

To help heal the wounds from the past.

While the Cambodian community has gone

from surviving to thriving here in Lowell,

there is still work to be done
to help elders heal from a painful past.

Activist and journalist Sanary Phen
encourages the older generation

to share their stories,
instead of repressing them.

My mom has always been open with me,

but a lot of other folks
I talk to in the community,

their parents or elders are not as open.

And so, in those situations,
we encourage our younger folks

to ask questions, and process
what everyone has gone through

and be able to move forward from it.

Today, we're preparing nom banh chok,

an offering for the Khmer New Year,

a tradition that pays tribute
to those who've passed

and seeks blessings for the future.

And all the recipes
are, literally, in her head.

Me and my children,

we really want to be able
to record her recipes.

And this is a dish that you
take to the temple because?

And through feeding
the monks and the elders...

- Yeah.
- ...you're actually feeding

- your ancestors?
- Yeah, and we enjoy together.

Nom banh chok
is a warm bowl of seafood goodness.

And at its base, are two key
elements of Cambodian cooking:

Prahok, a fermented fish paste,

and, you guessed it, krueng.

With technological advances,
the best way to do it right now

is to, actually... use one of these.

Oh. Well, why didn't you say so?

This is a steaming, aromatic dish
that's built with different components,

cooked separately,
and combined at the very end.

Woo!

It smells fantastic.

So, we start to prep the vegetable mix

- that we use with the fish.
- Okay, great.

Banana flower.

Wow. Can I taste it?

It's sharp.

So, now we're going to debone the fish.

As part of the broth,
you pound the cooked fish into a paste.

It's a great way to dispense
of all the parts you typically avoid.

Slow, Mom, slow.

I don't know... I don't think
she knows what slow means.

Okay.

You know, I'm dyin' to taste it, too.

I think it's perfect.

And it's while cooking together
that Sanary has heard her mother's stories

of losing everything
and of rebuilding their lives in Lowell.

When you came here,
did you know anybody here

or did you have to leave
your whole family behind?

- Starvation everywhere.
- Yeah... The whole country.

- The whole country.
- Yeah.

On the other hand,
you came to a safer life for yourself.

After fleeing Cambodia
and arriving in Lowell,

Sany and her husband found support
and jobs at a local factory.

Eventually,
they bought this home in Lowell,

and raised four children
and eight grandchildren.

I'm lucky to have came here, you know?

Have a fruitful career

and take care on my family.

Come back here. It's okay.
It's okay to have a good cry.

It's all right.

- We've been through a lot, but...
- It was, it was hard.

I mean, I've heard
these stories, you know?

It's part of, um,
my storytelling process, actually,

to, to kinda work through
some of that, that, that trauma.

Even though I didn't
experience it myself...

- Mm-hm.
- ...to be so close to it,

and, um, to know that
my mom suffered so many losses.

It's amazing because you're
just chopping those vegetables,

and you're carrying on,

and, I mean, there's so much
strength in every gram of you.

She's unstoppable.

As is Buddhist custom,
we set aside food for the temple first

in a chan srak,

an intricately designed
Cambodian tiffin box.

And only then, do we eat.

This looks great. It's piping hot.

- So, I mix it up? All of it?
- Yeah.

Oh, my God, it looks so good.
It smells herbaceous, and fresh and green.

So, you grew up eating like this?

Pretty much.

Must be sad for you
when you have to eat out.

Mm, it's so good.

Can I ask you, Sany, is it rude

if I just drink from the bowl
'cause I really want some broth.

- Nope, 'cause I would do the same thing.
- Okay.

I'm sorry for slurping,

- but it's really hot.
- It's okay.

It's really delicious.

The Khmer New Year
is the three-day celebration.

Families come together to give offerings,
like Sanary and her daughter, Nila.

Being there, surrounded by
a mixture of grief and hope,

listening to the chanting,

I couldn't help but feel moved
by all the stories of loss and strength.

Like krueng, the essential element
at the heart of their dishes,

the Cambodians in Lowell
have created a strong foundation.

Their determination,
creativity, and ingenuity

has fed newer generations

who are building
upon their families' labor.

For anyone saying,
"Refugees just take and don't give,"

this community, among many others,

reminds us that immigrants
strengthen our country.

And when we give
a safe haven for those in need,

they give our nation what it needs.

Delicious.