Hmong International Market

            I have always heard that Minneapolis has a large Hmong community so I decided to go to the Hmong International Market in St. Paul to learn more about that culture. On top of that, people always just assume that because I am Japanese, I know about other Asian cultures, which is far from the truth. Therefore, I wanted to expand my knowledge on another Asian culture by going to this event.

            I’ll admit, I was a bit nervous at first going to the market by myself because I wasn’t sure what to expect. I had remembered reading an article about the market before that mentioned no one could speak English in the market. For some reason that made me anxious. Just knowing that someone may try to speak to me in a different language and not in English made me uncomfortable because of the miscommunication that could happen. In addition, I didn’t want to react to something that someone said in an impolite or rude manner. I was entering their market; I wanted to be as respectful as possible. I also was curious as to what their reaction would be to me being in the market. Would they think I’m part Hmong? Would they try to speak to me in Hmbob?

            Upon entering the market, I definitely didn't feel like I was in Minnesota anymore. It felt as if I were in a Hmong market in Asia. I entered the West building first which had a bunch of little stores inside lined up in a market manner (same as the East building). These stores consisted of your typical household tools such as kitchenware to apparel to produce. The first store I encountered was a DVD store with Asian television and movies. I say “Asian” because I noticed that there were some Japanese and Chinese television shows I recognized. There was also televisions set up with a couple of the shows playing. What was kind of shocking to me was that they had a graphic slaughtering of an animal playing on the television. Not only did they have it playing in this one store, but also other DVD stores had similar television shows playing. From this, I made the assumption that farming is vital to the Hmong community. Farming is a way of trade and providing for the family. Another type of store I found prevalent throughout the market was these medicinal/health and wellness stores. There were also several herbal stands with all different kinds of roots and plants. From this I concluded that the Hmong people are concerned with how they look and maintaining a healthy lifestyle.

            When walking around the market, the Hmong clothing caught my eye right away with the bright, vibrant colors. Most of the outfits that caught my attention were women’s silhouettes (dresses) with colorful embroideries including colors such as pink, red, green, and blue. You could see a couple of the store owners actually sewing the outfits in the stores as well. I also couldn’t help but notice also how tiny the outfits were. Every person that worked in the market was shorter than me, even the men. I received a lot of looks mainly because I think I’m tall and look somewhat Asian. A couple of times some of the workers tried to speak to me, but I just responded with a “hello” and smile. I remember one time a lady had said something to me, and I said “Hi!” She looked at her other co-workers, said something to them, and just smiled back. This encounter was awkward because I know she was saying something about me, but I don’t know what was said. Those are the kind of experiences that make me nervous because I don’t understand what is going on in the situation. Looking back, I wish I had tried to communicate more with them. I think I was just too nervous and scared that I might wind up offending someone somehow. 

            Hmong cuisine was another area I was interested in because for a group of people that eat a lot of meats, everyone seemed extremely small in stature. Looking at each of the restaurants, every menu had either chicken, sausage, beef that was boiled or fried. The staple food was of course rice, which would be eaten with a variety of vegetables. I also noticed that the ginger root was everywhere, in the medicinal area, in the produce area, and in the restaurants. I was quite angry with myself because I didn’t have cash on me, otherwise I would’ve purchased some of the food try!

            Over all, my time in the Hmong International Market was a great cultural experience. I enjoyed walking around and looking inside all the different stores to see what sorts of products and goods they were selling. From this experience I can clearly say that the Hmong people are a very hardworking and resourceful people who value their culture. I wish I would have brought a friend with me because I feel like I would have been more adventurous in interacting with some of the Hmong people if I had someone there to help me/ back me up. I may be should have also done research on the Hmong community so I would have had somewhat of a background knowledge on the culture. I definitely would love to go back with someone who knows more about the Hmong culture so I could learn more. I’d also like to go back mainly to try the Hmong cuisine. It was such a tease going in there and not being able to try anything because I forgot cash. Another reason I’d like to go back to the market is to learn about the workers’ stories. I want to know why they moved to St. Paul and why there is such a large Hmong population here. I’m sure I could look it up online, but hearing someone’s story makes it that much more personal and interesting.