Christine Varela

Sunday, April 22, 2018

Multicult. Food and Asp.

Reflection on Cultural Competency Activity

My choice of activity was to try a new Asian restaurant here in Menomonie, called
Hang’s Cuisine. I’ve tried Chinese and Japanese foods before but never Thai food. The good
thing about Hangs Cuisine is that they offer a variety of Asian foods, such as, Thailand,
Vietnamese, Chinese etc. This really made me open my perspective of Asian cuisine and
learning about their origin of the specific dishes.

When we first arrived at our table I’ve notice all the different types of condiment they
had on the table that I’ve never seen before such as fish sauce other condiment that I can’t full
remember and should have asked about. They also had chopsticks, forks, and a strange looking
spoon, which I learned is called a Chinese spoon. Before I began to order my meal, I ask asked
the waitress what kind of Asian dishes they served, but all she had said was “just a variety of
them.” I think due to how I paraphrase the question it might have seemed silly to ask her
especially since she was also busy with customers. I did apologize to any miscommunication by
applying my self-awareness to the situation. Although, it did make me wonder if that was an
impolite question to ask but I was curious as looked through their menu choices before she
came to take our order. Some of the unfamiliar Asian cuisines that were listed on the menu that
I’ve never seen before, were the Basil Chicken, Tom Yum Fried Rice, Laab, Pho, and Curry
Noodle. I had decided to try out the Chicken Basil, which was Thai, with a veggie egg roll. The
Chicken Basil dish consisted of chicken with basil leaves with a choice of spiciness (I asked for
mild) that was topped with an egg and served with white rice. I was really fascinated with the
appearance of how the food was platted when it arrived, it seemed very elegant. Honestly, I
was nervous to try something new because there’s always the chance that you might not like it
but so glad I went thought with it. It turned out that I loved the Chicken Basil! I had a friend
come eat with me and I told her I was going to try something totally new. My friend, Peral, had
been coming to Hang’s ever since she arrived in UW-Stout, which is four years now, and had
always order the same thing (Chicken Lo Mein).
Christine Varela
Sunday, April 22, 2018
Multicult. Food and Asp.

Overall, some steps that I took to increase my cultural competency was showing respect
towards the culture by trying a new dish and location, using kind gestures and facial
expressions when communicating with server, and using my self-awareness when
miscommunicating a question about a certain dish origin. This had taught me to keep an open
mind about trying new dishes at different ethnic restaurants. It makes you wonder and want to
learn about the origin or history of a dish, especially when it tastes so good!

Picture of Chicken Basil at Hang’s Cuisine