May 3-June 7, 2025
Opening Reception: Saturday, May 3, 2025 (6-8 PM). With music by Standards Gazette. Free and open to the public.
The Bath House Cultural Center presents Digging In: How Food, Culture, and Class Shape the Story of Asian Dallas, and exhibition featuring oral history interviews by Dr. Betsy Brody and photographs by Thanin Viriyaki.
This exhibition is presented in conjunction with the 2nd annual AAPI Heritage and Dragon Boat Festival.
Supported by a Mellon/ACLS (American Council of Learned Societies) Fellowship, the Digging In project explores how Asian restaurants and food markets have shaped, and been shaped by, the Asian immigrant experience in Dallas. Through oral histories, archival research, and photographs, the project documents the stories of immigrant entrepreneurs, revealing how food is deeply tied to community-building, cultural identity, and social mobility.
With more than 25 Asian ethnic groups represented, Dallas is home to a rich and diverse Asian American community. Yet the city is still often seen through the lens of cowboy culture and barbecue. This image overlooks the fact that Dallas has become a major hub for Asian cuisine. When Bon Appétit named Dallas its 2019 “Restaurant City of the Year,” it pointed to the dynamic food culture in the city’s immigrant communities as a key factor. Between 2000 and 2010, the Asian population in the Dallas-Fort Worth area grew by 76%—the highest growth rate of any demographic group—signaling a shift in the cultural identity of North Texas.
Restaurants and food markets have been central to the ways Asian immigrants have made Dallas their home. These spaces provided not only essential ingredients but also a sense of belonging, serving as anchors for emerging “micro-towns” and community networks. At the same time, the growing popularity of global cuisine both locally and nationally opened doors for economic success and cultural recognition, helping Asian immigrants build connections across ethnic lines and contribute to the city’s evolving character.
Dr. Betsy Brody, a researcher specializing in immigrant and refugee experiences, leads the project. In 2018, she received Baylor University’s Charlton Oral History Research Grant, which launched Becoming Texans, Becoming Americans—a project that documents the lives of Vietnamese refugees who resettled in North Texas after the fall of Saigon in 1975. That research became the foundation for a 2024 exhibition at the Bath House Cultural Center, featuring her interviews alongside photographs by Byrd Williams IV.
Thanin Viriyaki, a professional photographer originally from Bangkok, Thailand, also contributed to Digging In by both participating in the oral history project and creating portraits of other participants. Known for his striking images of meals from local “mom and pop” restaurants, Thanin has become a well-known figure in the Dallas Asian food scene. His work has earned over 75 million views online and the nickname “the man with 75 million views” from D Magazine in 2022.
To learn more about the project and explore these stories, visit www.diggingindallas.org.
