Getting Oriented to the South

It's a good thing that I don't have a problem with being "Oriental" anymore.  If I was in my twenties I would take offense at the label.  So archaic.  So cliche.  So not PC or haven't you read Edward Said?  I'm not a carpet. I'm not a thing, I'm not something for you to own or claim as your territory.  But, I'm nearly forty (OMG!) and can separate my own identity politics now from you or from the rest of the country.  Anyway, do identity politics even matter anymore?  It's rare that I meet people in their twenties who think about issues of identity or who are continuing an active, intrepid dialogue.  I can think of a hanfdul of some young people I've come to know, but they seem like a rare breed nowadays.

Here, in the South I'm still Oriental.  Now, rather than being offended, I'm charmed--by their ignorance, by their backwardness, by the rewinding of a cultural clock that tells me, "You're in a different world," and I'm not talking the 80s Cosby show spin-off (though, that would be frickin cool as shit.  Hm?  Maybe a visit to Morehouse or Tuskegee is in the future?).  I don't take offense or feel the need to be defensive when I've been called "Oriental."  I don't take it personally.  "Oriental" is just a word.  In fact, it's kind of a cool word.  It's so exotic. 

Although, I am sensitized to being an "Oriental" lady in the South, and a single one at that.  I wonder what I conjure in the minds of Southern people.  Something like this

or this

It's different being Asian in Los Angeles or New York or any other large metropolitan city.  There, I blend in and have many like-minded people to relate to or talk openly about differences with.  Race is still shrouded in mystery here in the South.  The legacy of slavery is a ring of guilt and pain that everyone wears on a finger, but no one talks about it much.  People are just simply polite about issues of race now.  I have found it difficult to speak with people about it, especially White people.  I have often wondered which bathroom I would have used if I had visited during segregation.

I am not one to shy away from controversy or, more importantly, necessity.  One of the first things I did when I moved to Savannah was get in touch with my Oriental roots.  I went on a quest to find all the Asian restaurants and markets.  Food is always my touchstone for where I am in the world.  My friend, Fitz, warned me that there were no good Japanese restaurants to be found in Savannah and I took heed, but I was also baffled.  Really? There has to be a good Japanese restaurant!  I mean, we've been around forever.  I tried a handful of Japanese restaurants, but Fitz was right: there are no good Japanese restaurants in town.  They're all owned or operated by Chinese or Malaysian people.  I thought at the very least they must be able to make decent sushi; there's so much seafood here!  Spicy tuna roll is my barometer: chopped maguro and the fatty part of the tuna mixed with a bland, semi-sweet mayo and Japanese chili powder, then combined with green onions or  layered with julienned cucumbers onto well-seasoned, not too sweet, perky rice and crisp seaweed.  While in Savannah, I've been served sashimi chunks, literal slabs of fish on rice,  "spicy tuna roll" with tabasco, drenched with a questionable "spicy sauce," or, if they're somewhat inventive and know their Asian condiments, Sriracha.

When I was sweltering in the 95 degree Savannah heat, I had a hankering for neng myun--chewy, thin buckwheat noodles and delicately cut cucumbers, carrots, and radishes served in an ice cold beef broth that you flavor with a mixture of vinegar and mustard or in a sweet spicy Korean chili sauce.  I found Kim Chee on Montgomery--mind you, the only Korean restaurant in Savannah, but so good.  The fact that even have neng myun is an indication of a decent Korean population here and the fact that it's good is a revelation.

The Asian markets have been a fun mission to seek out.  There is a small store located next to Kim Chee that has a decent selection of a variety of Asian goods, aptly named "Asia Market" (Asian stores and markets in Savannah tend to be very literal or easily identifiable by the most popular food, hence Kim Chee.  I suppose, so as to avoid confusion).  Chinatown Market (with nary a "Chinatown" in sight, mind you) is a study in blind sightings.  You could easily pass the facade of the store because its sign can be overlooked--located off a "busy," one-way street and difficult to navigate into the compact parking lot.  Though you enter "Chinatown Market," you would not know that there is anything "Chinatown" about it by the merchandise that you first see (except for the Oriental man or woman at the counter).  As I ambled through the rows of canned and dry American goods, a Black man came from behind the meat section and asked me kindly, "Are you finding everything you need?"  I nodded, but asked, "Is this all there is?"  He knew what I meant and led me into a backroom--the stockroom.  I ventured cautiously as he led me into the backroom--a strange place to lead a customer.  I followed him and was happily surprised by rows and rows of Asian products:  Pocky and jelly candies, dried Thai rice noodles, wakame and konbu seaweed, fish sauce, Vietnamese profiteroles, pungent roots and stinky dried goods, frozen baos and har gow, and a refrigerated room full of Chinese longbeans, bok choy and daikon.  There is also a very good Korean market store right around the corner from my house--Han Le Oriental (of course) Grocery.

I don't mind being Oriental here and I like that the spicy tuna is to be desired.  Anyway, the shrimp here is marvelous.