Time Capsule Catalog
The Huge Asian Culture Collective celebrates the everyday items we associate with home.
For the past few months, time has felt like a meaningless construct. The good news is that it is finally May, which means a celebration of Asian Pacific American Heritage Month in the US and Asian Heritage Month in Canada. While we are quarantined in our homes, the Huge Asian Culture Collective group wanted to share their stories about the sometimes-low-brow, everyday things they grew up with that now bring a sense of home.
Many of these items and stories come from people who are first generation immigrants or descendants of immigrants. We noticed a theme of comfort and belonging running through the stories, as well as recurring memories associated with scents of natural medicine products and everyday food items.
While we can’t go outside, we are very thankful for the safety that our apartments and houses provide and for the mundane, little things that make those spaces home.
BorFang Su
Creative Director
I had a lot of fun with this Magic YoYo when I was young because it didn’t require a lot of space. The best parts were the colorful lights and wind-like sound.
Stephen Barros
Experience Lead
This pack of gum is the first object that helped me realize my identity as a 1st generation Asian American. I would ask my mom to buy this at the local Asian markets for me and my siblings all the time! Whenever we visited American grocery chains, I always looked for that pack of gum and could never find it. When I brought it to school, the other kids would mistake it as a pack of erasers or toys, serving me looks when I tossed one in my mouth. It’s these types of experiences I remember so vividly.
Alexa Lantin
Associate, Business Partner
My favorite item growing up was Kamayan Bagoong (shrimp paste). Bagoong is shrimpy and super salty — it can be used as a dip with green mangoes or seasoning for a multitude of Filipino dishes. When I was young, I used to eat a spoonful of this with vinegar and a plate of rice. My lola (grandma) and mom would giggle and tell all my family that I would survive in the Philippines since I could survive on this and rice alone. It has always been a staple in my home for as long as I can remember. Eating this brings back happy memories of my lola living with us in NY, and how she was my main source of Filipino culture when I was growing up.
Eve Songdej
Senior Visual Designer
Tiger Balm has always been essential for my family. For every ailment, my mom and grandma swore that Tiger Balm was the cure. If we had a headache: use Tiger Balm. If we had a sore neck: use Tiger Balm. If we had a cold or upset stomach: use Tiger Balm. My mom never left the house without it, often pulling it out of her purse when we were out to dinner or at family gatherings. To this day, one of my most vivid memories is the smell of my grandma. She would smell like incense and Tiger Balm, and I would detect traces of it as she would kiss me hello. I thought Tiger Balm was essential at everyone’s house (like Band-Aids), but as I got older, I realized this wasn’t the case. My friends and coworkers would balk at the smell of camphor and menthol whenever I would rub it on my temples or nose. Most times, I use Tiger Balm to alleviate my headaches or muscle sores. Other times I use it to bring me home to my mom and grandma.
Sarah Kim
Director, Creative Services
My family and all of my cousins’ families had a very similar foldable black lacquer table. It was faux-fancy and would eventually warp and chip away with a lot of use. Whenever this table came out, it meant that good times were ahead. Instead of sitting at a dining room table with chairs and paper napkins, we set up in the living room. We hosted our friends and family to a big meal sitting on the living room floor, where the table would inevitably and quickly be covered in dishes of homemade banchan, Korean-marinated meats, sliced fruits piled up high, and sometimes bottles of soju and Budweiser. I don’t own one of these tables now, but I still prefer to sit on the floor leaning near the coffee table when I’m hanging out with my sister and my good friends.
Trammie Casianov
Senior Analyst
Growing up, while kids got band aids and kisses, I got “green oil”. My mom would give it to me for everything. Headache? Green oil. Stomachache? Green oil. Congestion? Green oil! We rubbed it on every bruise, scrape or ache on the body. My mom would even put a dot of green oil under my nose for congestion. I remember always telling my mom it smelled like grandma back home (in Vietnam). Now all grown up, I still continue to use it, and reminisce about my childhood. This Eagle Oil is an asian household staple and I do the same with my husband and kids. Any time something hurts I tell them to break out the green oil!
Chang Baek
Associate Experience Director
This “Banana Milk” is the definition of what you drink after taking a bath in the public bathhouse, spa or jjimjilbang. I remember my dad would always buy me a bottle after taking a long bath at the spa. My addiction to this probably started when I was 5 or 6 years old. Back then, a bottle of this would cost 300 won (25 cents)!
Tracy Wan
Copywriter
One condiment to rule them all. All the food blogs are telling me to make my own chili crisp. Why would I do that when the perfect one already exists? Laoganma (“old godmother”) has been the patron saint of my family’s kitchen for as long as I can remember, finding its way into everything from fish dishes to congee. It’s savoury, spicy, and most importantly: crispy. It elevates your average scrambled eggs and plays nicely with any noodle dish. When I moved out on my own, it was one of the first things to fill my fridge; a connection to my family and, in turn, my Chineseness. Find it in any Chinese grocery store — they could use our support right about now.
Jocelyn Chuang
Experience Design Lead
Once winter hits, these wooly blankets are really the only acceptable choice of bedding. When it comes to choosing one, the rule is to go big or go home with the patterns. Mine features a pair of peacocks blissfully strolling in a garden of roses, but it took me 20 years to realize what was being depicted. Warning: being swaddled by these blankets might mean hitting the snooze button one too many times. Example
Ziqu Zou
Senior Product Designer
When I was a kid, I smelled Red Flower Oil all the time when I walked into my grandparents’ home. It provides relief for muscular aches, backaches, sprains, and so on. Ever since I broke my back, I use it as I need and it fixes everything overnight. Now I understand why I could always find this magic item at my grandparents’ home.
Edmund Lee
Partner Brand Manager
As a child, getting sick was never any fun. I hated the taste of normal medicines like Robitussin and Nyquil/Dayquil. My parents also gave me Pei Pa Koa as a sweet herbal remedy for my sore throats and coughs. It’s meaningful to me and my culture because it represents how we approach medicine as a whole.
Irina Lee
Creative Director
Rice was a staple ingredient in my house growing up. My grandma used to tell us that if you don’t eat rice every day, hair will grow on the inside of your stomach. Growing up, every single person in my family (my grandma, my mom, my aunt, cousins, basically everyone in our family and friends) had this round Zojirushi rice cooker with faint pastel flowers. My mom got me the same exact rice cooker as a wedding gift, and now I’m the Korean mom that uses it every day. I make my kids eat rice daily.
Magenta is a publication of Huge.
