If you said the words “Asian food” to my parents – or any adult – in 1954, their response would have been “You mean Chinese food?”

Certainly there were other Asian ethnic groups represented in the U.S. population – Japanese immigrants notoriously were detained in internment camps during World War II. But the predominant one for most Americans were the Chinese.

The Chinese had come in big numbers during the late 19th century as they basically built the transcontinental railroad. But after that, immigration from China was held in tight check by the racist exclusion acts.

That racism wasn’t just meant for the Chinese. Immigration laws passed in the 19th and 20th century were stacked so that there were lots more openings for western Europeans and fewer for anyone from anywhere else. From elementary school through high school, the only Asians I knew were Chinese kids whose families ran local restaurants.

In Flushing, Queens, where we lived, there were two Chinese restaurants – Lum’s in the heart of the community and a place whose name I don’t remember but had a big green sign that said “CHOW MEIN” over the sidewalk.

My parents, who were married in Flushing and lived there for the first 12 years of their marriage, would – by the late 1980s – no longer recognize the place as immigrants from Asia took over.

The main catalyst for the change was the Immigration Act of 1965, which loosened the quotas from outside Europe. And it was not just Chinese immigrants – Koreans fleeing hard times and hostility, Thais fleeing political unrest and the Vietnamese, who endured hardship to escape when the Vietcong and North Vietnamese took over their country.

There were other influences as well. Japan’s rise as an economic power led to interest in its culture and food.

Sushi was an idea that made Americans (including this one) cringe when it started showing up in the 1970s. Now, there is almost no place that you can’t get it – even at gas station convenience stores (Caveat ficedular!).

Other Asian concepts were adapted by Americans just about everywhere. Yoga. Pad Thai. Bahn Mi. K-Pop. Acupuncture. Chai. Taekwondo. 

And the Lunar New Year, which is not only a holiday in the countries of East Asia, but is becoming a day off in U.S. school districts.

Which is, by the way, today. So Happy New Year! Or, as we say in my family, Goong Hay Fat Choy!