Much of Yang’s experience in America is defined by her family’s poverty and socioeconomic status. While Yang’s family faced poverty in Laos and Thailand, that poverty seems intensified when Yang looks out at the America around her. Many other American families are living in comfortable homes, while Yang and her family live in cramped houses that are falling apart. To Yang, other American children seem relatively carefree, whereas Yang and her older sister are forced to babysit their siblings at night so her parents can work. From a young age, Yang is aware that money and class determine where and how people live. 

Food symbolizes many things throughout the memoir. While her parents were struggling to survive in the jungles of Laos, the ability to find food, however scarce, means that they live another day. For Yang’s mother, her mother’s gesture of giving her the most tender, delicious pieces of food is a symbol of her mother’s love. In the refugee camps, the Hmong are no longer able to farm for their food. Instead, everyone must eat the same food provided by the camp, illustrating that everyone is considered economically and socially the same.

Once the Yangs are in America, food symbolizes how the Hmong are forced to leave behind much of their culture.