Banh mi and omakase join the dictionary. What it says about Asian cultural influence. 

When Andrea Nguyen was growing up in the 1970s and 80s, banh mi was still an insular Asian experience. Found almost solely in enclaves of Vietnamese refugees, it was a low-cost community staple — a practical, portable dish just as much as a tasty one. 

But banh mi is now so ubiquitous that last week it was added to Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary alongside 370 other words. “Omakase,” the Japanese concept of chef’s choice dining, and “maitake,” a mushroom consumed widely in Asia, were also added.

Webster’s Dictionary is known for cementing trendy vocabulary to its ranks each year. Banh mi and omakase are being ushered in alongside words like “plant-based,” “cringe,” and “sus.” 

“Dictionaries reflect how mainstream and how popular foods are,” said Nguyen, now a recipe developer and author of “The Banh Mi Handbook.” “Trying to push Asian food from the margins is really my overarching goal. It signals this acceptance. Like, ‘No, you’re no longer foreign.’”

Nguyen said she saw banh mi’s popularity grow over the decades. As more Vietnamese Americans moved out of ethnic neighborhoods, so did the banh mi. By the 2010s, it was a household name for the customizable sandwich of pate, pickled veggies and meat on a baguette, sold almost everywhere in the U.S

With Asian food rocketing in popularity, food experts say adding culturally specific words to dictionaries is the only reasonable way to go. 

“The future of American food has a strong Asianization,” said Krishnendu Ray, an associate professor of Food Studies at New York University.

When the English language fails to adequately describe something with existing words, that’s when new, cultural vocabulary tends to get added, he said. 

“These terms have met our criteria for entry as words an English speaker is likely to encounter,” Peter Sokolowski, an editor at large for Merriam-Webster, told NBC News. “They have shown both widespread and long-term use, and can now be considered to be English words.”

Though she’s excited by the concept of bringing bahn mi to a larger audience, Nguyen takes one issue with the definition Merriam-Webster provides. In its description, the dictionary refers to the banh mi as a “usually spicy sandwich.” 

“It doesn’t have to be…