When Lin Qingyan immigrated in 1980, Asian fruits and vegetables were a rare find in the United States, and the Chinese native wondered if favorites from home like bitter melon and luffa might be but a memory.
More than 30 years later, Lin can buy both of those delicacies as easily as green peppers and tomatoes in many food stores in California, where she now lives.
"There's a wide variety of Asian vegetables available now that weren't decades ago. Because of the accessibility of Chinese vegetables, there are quite a lot of dishes I missed before but can now cook myself," she said.
American farmers now grow a wide variety of produce native to China and other parts of Asia, and first-generation immigrants like Lin aren't the only consumers.
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