Vietnamese Culture
People of Vietnamese ancestry rank as the largest Asian American and Pacific Islander ethnic group in the state of Louisiana, accounting for around 33,000 individuals according to the 2020 census.
In the final days of the Vietnam War, leading up to the U.S. military defeat in April 1975, President Gerald Ford approved the acceptance of Vietnamese refugees, as well as displaced persons from Laos and Cambodia. During this first wave, an estimated 125,000 individuals were evacuated and resettled in the United States. Many had worked with the South Vietnamese and U.S. governments during the war. After short stays in reception camps in the Philippines and Guam, refugees were transferred to military camps scattered across the nation, with Fort Chaffee, Arkansas, being the closest to Louisiana.
Sponsorship for eventual resettlement was a requisite. In Louisiana, many Vietnamese were sponsored by the state’s Catholic dioceses and associated charities. The Archdiocese of New Orleans took the most newcomers, with the Diocese of Houma-Thibodaux (incorporating St. Mary, Terrebonne, and Lafourche Parishes) following close behind. The parishes of Vermillion, Iberia, and Lafayette, where one-third of Vietnamese arrivals were sponsored by the Catholic Church, also accepted many.
A second wave of refugees from Vietnam arrived between 1978 and the mid-1980s. Most of these immigrants had previously lived in that nation’s countryside, working as farmers and fishermen. Now resettled around the Gulf Coast, many Vietnamese men and women found jobs in seafood processing and packing plants or as crewmen aboard fishing vessels.
Prior to 1975, there were about 15,000 ethnic Vietnamese living in the entirety of the United States; by 1985, just one decade following the war’s end, there were 15,000 residing in Louisiana alone.
Vietnamese immigrants shared several affinities with South Louisiana’s culture. Many were Catholic, and some spoke French, a nod to Vietnam’s French colonial history. The two regions also share a similar hot and humid subtropical climate.
Across the U.S., many Vietnamese quickly became small business owners, opening grocery stores catering to their own communities, nail salons serving everybody, and restaurants that, over time, moved from the periphery to the center of the nation’s culinary norms. Especially popular is Vietnam’s premier sandwich, the bánh mì, containing cold cuts, pâté, or grilled meats; daubed with mayonnaise; dressed with pickled vegetables, fresh jalapeño, cucumber, and cilantro; and often finished with dashes of Maggi-brand seasoning sauce. Because of its similarity to Louisiana’s favorite sandwich, banh mis are often sold under the name “Vietnamese po-boy.”
Vietnamese restaurants can be found in most towns throughout Acadiana, large and small, as non-Vietnamese locals have learned to enjoy phở (a noodle soup most commonly containing beef, though chicken and veggie options are frequently available), gỏi cuốn (spring rolls stuffed with vermicelli noodles, pork, and shrimp), and cà phê sữa đá (iced coffee sweetened with condensed milk).
Vietnamese communities throughout the world celebrate Tet, or the Lunar New Year, in January or February. Recently, a Vietnamese Lunar New Year Festival has popped up in Lafayette, with food, music, and traditional lion dancing.
