How My Mom Shows Her Love Through Food

When it’s hard for her to say ‘I Love You.’

Even though it’s hard for Asian parents to say ‘I Love You,’ they show their love in many other ways like cooking and food.

Every mother-daughter relationship is different

Some women can only tolerate their mothers for a moment before needing to exit the room.

Other women can hang out with their moms every freaking day.

Some are estranged and some lost their mothers too soon to figure out where they stand.

My mom and I are somewhere in between the first two.

When I was little, my mom poured her love into making traditional Chinese soups for my sisters and me.

I’m not talking Hot and Sour or Egg Drop.

I’m talking Ching Bo Leung (清补凉), with dried goji berries, lotus seeds, fox nut barely, pork bones, dates and a bunch of other herbal ingredients that give the soup a distinctive taste.

As a kid, I never enjoyed drinking them because the taste made me gag.

I’d whine,

“Can’t we just have Campbell’s chicken noodle? You know, like Becky’s family?”