For a while I just said I was (insert my Asian ethnicity here, I’m not saying what it is for privacy reasons). Even though I was born and raised in the US, I feel a lot more culturally close to my Asian culture. I grew up in a conservative white small town that excluded me and my family, so I never really related to much of Western cultural norms and traditions. I don’t celebrate Christmas, Easter, Thanksgiving or 4th of July, but every year I celebrate Lunar New Year, Mid-Autumn Festival, and Winter Solstice. I eat mostly Asian food at home, my partner is Asian of my same ethnicity, we live in an Asian neighbourhood, I speak Asian languages with my family and his family. We are filial and host our families for meals during special occasions and holidays. I also have a fairly Asian palate - I don’t eat much dairy, I hate butter, I hate overly sweet things, I love spicy food, I hate coffee, I love tea.

But saying I’m my Asian ethnicity when meeting new people just brought confusion to them as they would mistakenly think I grew up in Asia and am recently arrived in the US. The misunderstanding would often take weeks to clear out. So now I just say I am Asian-American for clarity’s sake, even if I don’t feel particularly American.

I’m curious to know if that is common?