About

Reclamation Street is a curated marketplace celebrating the Asian-American experience. As a one-stop-shop, we help you discover inspiring products and brands built by Asian-American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander (AANHPI) business owners. The products on our marketplace thoughtfully combine elements of family tradition, multicultural storytelling, and conscious consumption. We have researched and tested - and come to love - each of the products on our site, and we're excited to share them with you.

 

OUR STORY

As someone who immigrated to America as a child, the hyphenated cultural experience shapes the core of my identity. Growing up in California, I stayed connected to Hong Kong and my family’s culture through my parents’ recipes and herbal remedies, speaking Cantonese in our household, and watching films from legendary directors like Ann Hui and Wong Kar Wai. 

 
  
Over the years, I’ve maintained my love for Hong Kong by recreating our family’s favorite recipes, learning about and using products inspired by Traditional Chinese Medicine, frequenting dim sum restaurants, reading memoirs like The Impossible City, and celebrating the annual Mid-Autumn Moon Festival. These moments and practices do more than transport me “home” and bring me a sense of comfort; they also help me share the story of my family and our culture with my friends.  

A few years ago, after witnessing recent waves of anti-Asian discrimination in the U.S., I noticed that new businesses, founded by other immigrants of my generation, shared a drive to connect our culture with the world we live in now. Similar to the way I’ve updated my grandmother’s jook recipe (also known as congee or rice porridge) and talk about my mom anytime I make wonton, these founders boldly recall meaningful moments from their childhood and culture with curious audiences. I love learning about their products, hearing why they started their businesses, and in doing so, getting to know more about other parts of this diverse, diasporic world. Most specifically, I love how these businesses are uniquely shaped by the complexities, challenges, and beauty of the hyphenated experience.

The products featured on Reclamation Street each have a story to tell. I’m so inspired by these brands, their products and founders, and most of all - their stories. And I hope you will be too.

   

OUR NAME

Reclamation Street is the name of a street that runs through the Mongkok district of Kowloon, Hong Kong, where I lived during my earliest years, and where all of my earliest memories were made. It's a place I think about a lot, as the hub of our family’s existence in Hong Kong, and as the starting point for my third culture journey.  I named this marketplace Reclamation Street because I believe that each of the brands we feature started their own journey at their version of Reclamation Street. 

 
- 黄晓 心
Winnie Hiu Sum Wong, Founder