The University Asian Market, a Cultural Haven to Many
STONY BROOK, N.Y. — Just a few feet outside of the gate of the sprawling State University campus here is the University Asian Market, which for the past 10 years has become a familiar touchstone for Asian students by providing them with foods that remind them of home. The owner, 42-year-old John Liu said, “I think people like this shop because it’s familiar, in a society where, for most, everything is so different from where they came from.”
Inside the mundane, brick storefront is a small store with overcrowded shelves of seaweed chips, an overpowering smell of the freshly cut flounder and soothing orchestra music. And even in this microscopic space, it’s easy to get lost. The products are sorted by their country of origin and there is almost always an abundance of people pouring out from each aisle. With no introduction needed, a wall of more than 30 different types of instant noodles is a slice of heaven for the eager and cost-conscious college students. Right at the entrance is a bulletin board with posters advertising Chinese translators, Korean tutors and private piano lessons.
“The majority of people who shop here aren’t American-born, or even Americanized,” said Mr. Liu. “Here, things are more similar for Asian people. It’s the food they grew up with, it’s all familiar to them.” Cuisine is one of the most important aspects of an individual’s culture because it can be brought and maintained most anywhere.
“When I moved to Long Island I had to choose which parts of my culture I wanted to keep,” said one regular customer, 20-year-old Zhisong Li from Tianjin, China. “I couldn’t really wear the traditional clothes anymore, I couldn’t celebrate all the holidays, but I could maintain the cuisine, so I do.”
The Chinese culture has been preserved over centuries in part because of people like Mr. Lui and Mr. Li who make the conscious effort to uphold its values. But this also reveals a much deeper message, that continuity to some extent is essential.
The high percentage of ethnically Asian students at Stony Brook University, who make up more than 25 percent of the student population, helps explain the market’s success and validates the importance of nutrition not only as a physiological necessity, but as a cultural biological process. “I don’t think anybody realizes how important their hometown cuisine is to them until they immigrate to a new place,” said Mr. Liu, mop in hand. “Even though we are in the U.S., we also miss our home country. This store lets people feel like they’re back there in a happy way.”
Mr. Liu immigrated to Chinatown in Manhattan, New York in 1992 from Hangzhou, China to gain a better education and help support his family. With a smile on his face, he says how “although no one usually buys them, I always make sure we have the pork dumplings my mom used to make. They’re my favorite item we sell because they always make me think of her.”
From the perspective of its average inhabitant, Stony Brook is culturally quite homogeneous. However when looked at more closely, it reveals itself as a true home to many diverse cultures. The University Asian Market reveals much more about individual values and the importance cuisine has in preserving and encouraging cultural principles.
