peppers

circa 2015

Artist statement by photographer Sue Mei

The taste of spice is a very altering sense - to some its sweet and to others its an annoying bug. Pepper plays a big role in the Hmong community. Hmong people have a bland palette consisting of herbs, rice, meat and salt. No soy sauces, five spices or bbq. Because of this they rely on pepper to give their food a kick. Coming to America the Hmong families were told what to feed and not feed their children, whereas in the old country most foods were given at any age. This had me curious about what other people’s spicy stories were. I asked some individuals what their earliest memories were of eating pepper, how they felt about it and how pepper tastes to them.