By Cameron Lee
November 28, 2023
With the rising popularity of Asian cuisine and culture in the United States, it’s hard to believe Charlotte’s actual Asian population is only 6.5%, according to the 2022 U.S. Census Bureau. While content on trendy Asian food, music and pop culture have become more accessible and widely recognized, connection and communication within Charlotte’s Asian community has long been lacking.
Jennie Nguyen, a Vietnamese-American food enthusiast from Charleston, has recently helped connect thousands of Asians from various cultural backgrounds in Charlotte through her Facebook group, CLT Asian Eats. Nguyen, who attended Winthrop University for international business, has been enamored with Charlotte since she was a teen, when her family used to travel to the city to eat at Dim Sum Restaurant off Central Avenue. While Charleston has been touted as a prestigious food destination, it lacked a lot of the authentic immigrant-owned Asian restaurants Nguyen and her family craved at the time.
In 2021, shortly after Nguyen moved to the Queen City with her husband Jeremy Straw (who also assists with CLT Asian Eats), she was craving a dish that was trending on Asian mukbang channels. Nguyen was eager to try yangnyeom gejang, a traditional Korean spicy raw crab dish primarily eaten with warm white rice. When she visited her cousin Kristina in Atlanta, she told her about the craving and within minutes of posting a question on an Atlanta Asian community Facebook group, they were able to locate some at a local grocery store.
“I was like dang, I wish we had something like that in Charlotte so I can know where to eat,” Nguyen said.
Then, on a restless September night in 2022, Nguyen started the Facebook group CLT Asian Eats, mainly because she couldn’t go to sleep.
“You know what, I’m just gonna make something…I’m just gonna call it Charlotte Asian Eats…so, I started the group, and it’s all because of Korean raw marinated crab,” Nguyen said.
What started out as a personal food journal for Nguyen and some of her friends and family, quickly drew attention from curious foodies in the city seeking authentic Asian fare. As the group’s following quickly reached thousands, Jennifer Phan, a paralegal and an aficionado of the Charlotte and Raleigh Asian food scenes, reached out to offer assistance and commend Nguyen on the growing page. Nguyen and Phan met shortly after and hit it off, both sharing their admiration for their parents and older Asian business owners who immigrated to America to provide for their families. Phan, who is quite influential through her social circles, helped grow the page substantially.
Nguyen, Phan, and Straw refocused the energy of the growing Facebook group to help spread awareness about Asian-owned restaurants and establishments in Charlotte. They also wanted to break barriers through community events to curtail Asian stereotyping post-pandemic. Through regular monthly meet-ups and administering a resourceful community page, CLT Asian Eats recently celebrated its one-year anniversary, now with over 9,000 members.
For Nguyen, CLT Asian Eats has turned into a lot more than just a source for information on where to get items like yangnyeom gejang, the spicy Korean crab dish that inspired her to start the group.
Nguyen and her family didn’t sense a lot of community when she was growing up in Charleston, and she was often the only Asian in most of her classes. But food always provided comfort and a sense of belonging and affection. On Sundays, she’d dine with her family and Nguyen’s mom would make pho and bun bo hue. Like most Asians who immigrated to the U.S., Nguyen’s parents ran their own business (a nail salon) and often worked seven days a week.
“My mom, even though she was super tired, and had a bad day at work, she would always come home and make food for all of us. And we would all just eat around the table. I guess my brain kind of associates food as love, you know, just being happy with family…I know how much work my mom put into this food, so food has always had a positive feeling to me,” said Nguyen.
Now managing a large social group that fosters her passion for Asian food and community, Nguyen spends more time making sure the page upholds her values. As most community pages often get infiltrated with spam, bullying, and advertisements, Nguyen intends to keep the focus on supporting local restaurants and businesses. She’s created official rules to maintain the integrity of the platform. Among some of the rules are no hate speech, bullying, or politics, and businesses are limited on the amount of times they can post in a week to keep it organic.
Nguyen also wants to do more charity work, possibly creating a scholarship fund for aspiring chefs with bigger quarterly meet-ups instead of monthly gatherings.
“I want to be part of a community here in Charlotte, because I’ve never been part of anything like that,” she said. “How can we be more than what we are? Like, how can we be more than just a Facebook food group?”
Nguyen and her husband intend on organizing bigger quarterly meet-ups in 2024 and more charity work with CLT Asian Eats. Photo: Courtesy[/caption]
“I have a really soft spot for Asian small business owners, because many you know, they came from nothing, but also small businesses in general because it is really hard to pursue your dreams, and one bad review, or just one customer’s bad experience can destroy that dream,” said Nguyen.
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What Charlotte Asian Eats evolves into over the years will be compelling to watch, but one thing is certain: Nguyen has created the community she’s long yearned for and one that Charlotte truly needed.
Follow the CLT Asian Eats group on Facebook and Instagram. They also recently started an RDU Asian Eats group serving the Triangle area.
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