Awkward Moments From The First Gen

Somehow, I ended up with numerous life-long friends who, like me, are first generation Americans. Our families are from different parts of the world but whether our people are from India, Ethiopia, Honduras, Japan, or (for me) Panama one thing we all have in common are painfully awkward stories about moments from our childhood when our customs were misunderstood or misjudged. These moments usually involved food. For Robert, it was when our 9th grade history teacher asked us to conduct a short presentation about our ancestry and to highlight common customs, dress, and food. Robert proudly presented facts and figures about the Philippines; the place where his family migrated from in the seventies.

Things, however, went off the rails when he said that his family enjoyed eating Balut. For those of you, who like our classmates, aren’t familiar with Filipino cuisine, Balut is a developing bird embryo that is boiled and eaten from the shell. Our classmates were mortified. There was a lot of mock gagging, shouts of “yuck” and “eew”, and shame for Robert who admits all he kept thinking was, “Balut is actually really good”. Robert and I are still friends and we chuckle about that day from time to time. But, the truth is, there’s a little pain there as well. We’re proud of our heritage and hope that one day our babies will inherit a world that truly celebrates differences and embraces diversity.