Ahma, a New Herbal Soup Kitchen, Is Sharing Traditional Cantonese Soup Culture With Portland

When Silas Lee spent nine years in Hong Kong, one of the cityscape’s most distinct features, in his eyes, were the soup stalls found on many street corners. These herbalists run the gamut from small mom-and-pop shops to large chains, each selling bespoke packs of herbs for customers to take home and prepare or offering remedies that can be consumed immediately.

“In Hong Kong or in China, there’s herbal tea shops on almost every street corner,” Silas says. “And if you have a bit of a headache, or a runny nose, or you’re on your period, you just walk into the shop, tell them what’s up, and they give you a small bowl of soup or herbal remedy. You drink it [on the spot] and get on with your day.”

Drawing inspiration from these soup stalls, Lee and his partner Grace founded Ahma Healing Soup, a new Cantonese herbal soup kitchen offering pickup and delivery. Ahma offers ready-made soups for immune support; balancing “heat,” a concept in Chinese medicine; and nourishment for folks who are postpartum and nursing. The Lees are hopeful that Ahma will be embraced by the combination of Portland’s large Cantonese community and the city’s adventurous food scene.

“I know there’s a lot of Asian people in Portland and America who, like me, grew up with a lot of these soups at home,” Silas says. “But they don’t necessarily know how to cook it themselves. It’s been nice to find those customers who are familiar with this.”

The couple, who have a background in media, met while working at the Asian record label 88Rising — careers that left them feeling burnt out and prompted a move back to Oregon, Grace’s home state. Silas, who was raised in a household that would have different soups on the stove at every meal, shared with Grace, who is white, the Cantonese soup culture he experienced growing up. Grace immediately felt drawn to the tradition. “All the moms, the grandmas, the aunties, know how to make these soups,” Grace says. “And there are soups for everything — different seasons — there’s this deeply rooted understanding of when you eat soup.”

When Grace became pregnant, Silas’s family members began sharing their knowledge with her, advising her on soups to make while she was expecting and for the postpartum period. It became a source of bonding between Grace and her in-laws, and as she practiced soup making, Silas’s homesickness was eased as well. “In Oregon, Silas is far from his culture and his family,” Grace says. “And with our daughter now, I wanted to be recreating some of that culture in our own home.”

Ahma’s offerings include specialty postpartum recovery soups with ingredients that are thought to replenish essential nutrients, help with hydration, and aid tissue recovery. Postpartum confinement is a common practice in many Asian cultures — the period is meant to aid with recovery from pregnancy and childbirth. Grace cites Heng Ou’s postpartum guide The First 40 Days, which was released in 2016, as a catalyst for the concept gaining traction in the United States.

Since, in Chinese culture, recipes are more often passed down by direct teaching rather than explicitly written out, the couple partnered with a friend, chef Jeremy Adair, to help fine-tune Ahma’s soup recipes. They also consulted with a couple herbal soup businesses in Hong Kong, including Check Check Cin. Ahma sources its ingredients, which include night-blooming cactus, cordyceps flowers, and lily bulbs, from Sam Bao Trading, an herbal shop within Shun Fat Supermarket.

“We wanted to have soups that were good for new parents because, having just gone through that ourselves, we experienced how limited options were for good food that’s meant for that time period,” Grace says.

Ahma is located at 333 SE 2nd Avenue.