Story by Grace Fick, 2021
Bamboo is the building block of many Southeastern and Eastern Asian cuisines, medicine, infrastructure and so much more. It makes up the smallest and largest pieces of Asian culture. Growing up in a Laotian and Vietnamese household, there was bamboo everywhere. Bamboo plants were the essence of every room, kitchen utensils, bowls, plates and even a body roller in my house. To me, bamboo isn’t just a plant that signifies good luck and fortune, it represents community within my family and for many other Southeastern Asian families. The bamboo baskets I have in my house and the ones we use during family dinners are the very ones that my grandmother and grandfather brought from Laos. To me, they provide a connection to my heritage and a home away from home.
The sense of community, derived from bamboo, holds significance in the form of bamboo rice baskets. Traditionally, these baskets, or houat, are used to hold sticky rice, also known as Khao Niew, a cultural delicacy native to Southeast and East Asia and the essence of almost every Laotian dish. Growing up, I was always surrounded by bamboo baskets at the dinner table. They were found in all sizes and were decorated in different colors. During big family gatherings, almost every meal is paired with sticky rice, thus these bamboo baskets were always at the table, spread around. These baskets are significant to my family because I always remember everyone sticking their hands into all of the baskets to get some. As a little girl, the sticky rice was always so steaming and fresh, so my mom would scoop a big spoonful for me. I always knew that when my mother brought out the rice baskets, the family was coming over. This brought me great comfort, happiness and thankfulness just to be eating and spending time with my family.
Houat description
These sticky rice baskets are interlaced with strains of bamboo with very intricate weaving and some strains of bamboo painted green, red, or black. The baskets range from being as small as a coffee cup to as big as a crockpot. There is a bottom part, made up of bamboo, which is also made up of interlaced bamboo. Then tied to that is a string that connects the bottom part to the top so the lid can be opened or closed at any time. Then with extra strips of bamboo, they are cut and stuck together to create a thicker bamboo pole to be added as a rim on the bottom of the basket. Bamboo is used for this reason because it releases the steam from the sticky rice and doesn’t build up the heat. The bamboo also allows for the flow of air outside, while allowing the rice to be fresh and warm for those to enjoy for hours after.