PHNOM PENH, Cambodia — It was fish for breakfast and fish for lunch and fish for dinner.

“I hate fish,” Khan Hin said.

What Mr. Hin wanted was a burger. Maybe a bowl of Cap’n Crunch. Or some Tater Tots. “I’m feisty,” he said, “for my Flamin’ Hot Cheetos.”

Mr. Hin’s palate is American. His vernacular, slang from the streets of Stockton, Calif., is American.

And his family’s experience is all too American. His older sister was at school in Stockton in 1989 when a man sprayed gunfire on the schoolyard. Five children ages 6 to 9, all of Cambodian or Vietnamese heritage, were killed. Nearly 30 others, including Mr. Hin’s sister, were injured. The killer had repeatedly spewed hatred of Asian immigrants.