There are about 320,000 Cambodian-Americans in the United States today, mainly based in California, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Washington, Texas, and Florida; they bring Khmer cultural landscapes to American cities and suburbs, such as 20,000 Cambodians In the “ Little Phnom Penh ” neighborhood of Long Beach, California, where people live in California , Cambodian sauces in Asian supermarkets, or a bowl of Phnom Penh kway teow in Cambodian restaurants. United_Cambodian_Center_(Current) Photo Credit: Daluu18 CC BY SA 30 Originally set up in the offices of one of the Cambodian community organizations in Little Phnom Penh, California.
However, compared with the normal practice popular database of Chinese immigrants opening Chinese restaurants in the United States, it took Cambodian immigrants more than 40 years to gradually introduce Cambodian food to American society. The reasons for this include that the family income of Cambodian immigrants has been lower than that of Asian-Americans for a long time. On average, 13% still live in poverty , while Cambodian immigrants working in the catering industry choose to open Chinese restaurants.
The negative impact of the Khmer Rouge on Cambodian immigrants is also profound. Ethan Lim, Cambodian chefat Chicago restaurant Hermosa , said : " Revisiting food requires re-examining certain traumas, and I think many people are not ready. "Dr. Sophal Ear, Cambodian associate dean of the Thunderbird School of Global Management at Arizona State University, also pointed out that due to the Khmer Rouge background, the social and cultural capital of Cambodian immigrants has been destroyed.