History of Washington Through Food: Acceptance

10/29/2004

Immigrants come to America looking for opportunity and a better life. For some the path to success is food. In the final installment of our series on how food has shaped Washington history, we meet a unique woman. KUOW’s Ruby de Luna takes us to the Kitsap Peninsula to visit Xinh Dwelley, Vietnamese immigrant, war bride and oyster queen.

DWELLEY: “…I’m cooking with the clam…”

EVERY AFTERNOON 53 YEAR-OLD XINH DWELLEY WORKS IN THE CALM OF HER RESTAURANT’S KITCHEN, CHOPPING VEGETABLES. IT’S QUITE A CHANGE FROM WHERE SHE LEARNED TO COOK AS A TEENAGER - IN THE MESS HALL AT AN AMERICAN MILITARY BASE IN SOUTH VIETNAM.

DWELLEY: “This is funny, I think back, I think I learn to cook American food before I know how to cook Vietnamese food. At first I learned to do sausage, and all that…then I make pancake batter… then we make spaghetti, meatball, all those things.”

A COOK’S LIFE WASN’T EASY AMIDST THE CHAOS OF WAR.

NEWS CLIP: “Very often after a heavy battle it’s hard to tell who won and who lost. But in this case, the evidence of victory is very clear.”

SEATTLE RESIDENTS WATCHED VIETNAM UNRAVEL ON THE EVENING NEWS. FOR XINH DWELLEY, THE BATTLES UNFOLDED BEFORE HER EYES.

DWELLEY: “We live in fear all the time. At night time when you sleep you hear the noise, the helicopter circle on top of your building, you have to run for cover…”

NEWS CLIP: “Today America can regain the sense of pride that existed before Vietnam.”

PRESIDENT GERALD FORD DECLARED AN END TO THE VIETNAM CONFLICT IN 1975 AS AMERICAN TROOPS WITHDREW FROM SAIGON. NEARLY 45,000 SOUTHEAST ASIAN REFUGEES CAME TO WASHINGTON STATE AROUND THIS TIME. IT WAS ONE OF THE LARGEST WAVES OF IMMIGRATION EVER. JEFF KIBLER HELPED RESETTLE THE NEW ARRIVALS FOR THE STATE.

KIBLER: “And what was really unique and exciting about that time was many people brought into their homes ethnic minorities, people of a different culture and different language, who hadn’t known anybody. It was a different time.”

XINH DWELLEY HAD TO COPE WITH A DIFFERENT KIND OF SHELLSHOCK WHEN SHE ARRIVED IN AMERICA IN THE 1970S. SHE WAS 19, MARRIED TO AN AMERICAN SOLDIER, AND THE MOTHER OF A NEWBORN AMERASIAN BABY.

DWELLEY: “Didn’t know anything either, kind of young and fell in love and scared to death to think about to leave my country because my whole life I born and work in the village and go home in the village. You don’t go anywhere.”

DWELLEY LIVED IN OLYMPIA, HER HUSBAND’S HOMETOWN. ONE DAY, ON A WHIM SHE APPLIED FOR A JOB AT A LOCAL OYSTER COMPANY. THERE SHE DISCOVERED A UNIQUE TALENT. ON HER FIRST DAY DWELLEY SHUCKED 8 GALLONS OF OYSTERS. NOT BAD FOR SOMEONE WHO’D NEVER SEEN ONE BEFORE.

DWELLEY: “If I see an oyster and nobody tell me, I thought it was a rock. The first time I saw an oyster I was struggled how to get it out of shell, they showed me. But after a couple of days I finally figured it out where the muscle is. If you hit the muscle they pop right away.”

AUDIO CLIP: “So if the shuckers are ready will get their hands up over their head. Okay, looks like they’re all there. Timers are you all ready? Okay you guys are ready right? Okay for all the marbles, on your mark get set…”

DWELLEY BECAME SO FAST. SHE WON THE WEST COAST OYSTER SHUCKING CHAMPIONSHIP FIVE TIMES. BUT IT WASN’T JUST HER SPEED THAT MADE DWELLEY POPULAR, IT WAS HER COOKING. TAYLOR SHELLFISH FARM ASKED HER TO COOK WHEN OUT OF TOWN BUYERS CAME TO VISIT. SHE EXPERIMENTED WITH FLAVORS FROM HER VIETNAMESE VILLAGE. NEIGHBORS RAVED ABOUT HER CREATIONS, PROMPTING THE COMPANY TO OPEN A RESTAURANT WHERE SHE COULD PURSUE HER PASSION IN COOKING WITH SHELLFISH.

DWELLEY: “I come up with a lot of different recipes: hot and spice soup, I have cioppino, curry prawns… Now after 9 years I discover my customers even more creative than I am. They come here they want something different than what I have on the menu, they say could you do this could you do that, we do it for them.”

THESE DAYS YOU’LL FIND DWELLEY RUNNING THE KITCHEN IN XINH’S CLAM AND OYSTER HOUSE IN SHELTON.

DWELLEY: “This is sautéed oysters in Asian sauce…”

ONE OF HER MOST TREASURED MOMENTS WAS COOKING FOR AN EVENT IN SEATTLE AT THE AMERICAN FOOD AND WINE INSTITUTE. THE GUEST OF HONOR WAS MASTER CHEF JULIA CHILD.

DWELLEY: “And they like the food so much and I ask can I meet Julia Child tomorrow and they say yeah, come back to the conference and we’ll take you to see her to take picture…I kind of feel proud about it.”

A PHOTO WITH JULIA CHILD SITS IN THE CORNER OF DWELLEY’S RESTAURANT. MANY VIETNAMESE HAVE FOUND THAT FOOD IS A FIELD WHERE IMMIGRANTS CAN PROSPER. THERE ARE MORE THAN 150 VIETNAMESE RESTAURANTS NOW IN WASHINGTON. DWELLEY SAYS SHE FEELS BLESSED TO HAVE ESCAPED WAR TO START A NEW LIFE IN THE U-S. AND SHE’S NOT DONE DREAMING YET. DWELLEY HOPES TO WRITE A COOKBOOK AND LAUNCH HER OWN TV COOKING SHOW SOMEDAY. I’M RUBY DE LUNA, KUOW NEWS.