Hostname: page-component-f554764f5-nwwvg Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-04-17T15:43:59.225Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Keeping Alight the Kitchen Fire: Food Charity and Communal Solidarity in Ho Chi Minh City (Vietnam)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 March 2025

Le Hoang Anh Thu
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

This study explores the preparation of food for charitable distribution by Buddhists in Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) (Vietnam). Most of those involved in cooking for charity are women. This article shows that HCMC women perceive cooking for charity as an extension of household cooking. Food charity transforms the household duty of cooking into a charitable practice that benefits the wider society. Vietnamese media focuses on this feminine aspect of food charity, portraying it as an act of kindness that increases communal solidarity during adversities such as the Covid-19 pandemic, similar to women's kitchen work in sustaining their families.

Keywords

FoodCharityCookingFeminine rolesFeminization of charityVietnam
Type
Research Article
Information
Asia-Pacific Journal , Volume 22 , Issue 2 , February 2024 , e5
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BYCreative Common License - NCCreative Common License - ND
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivatives licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is unaltered and is properly cited. The written permission of Cambridge University Press must be obtained for commercial re-use or in order to create a derivative work.
Copyright
Copyright © The Authors 2024

References

The Asia Foundation (TAF) & Vietnam Asia Pacific Economic Center (VAPEC). 2011. Philanthropy in Vietnam. Hanoi: The Asia Foundation & Vietnam Asia Pacific Economic Center.Google Scholar
“Ấm áp tình người từ ‘Bếp yêu thương.’” 2011. Người Lao Động (Laborer), January 20.Google Scholar
Avieli, Nir. 2012. Rice Talks: Food and Community in a Vietnamese Town. Bloomington, Indiana University Press.Google Scholar
Avieli, Nir. 2018. “Forbidden from the Heart: Flexible Food Taboos, Ambiguous Culinary Transgressions, and Cultural Intimacy in Hoi An, Vietnam.” In Judith Ehlert & Nora Katharina Faltmann, eds., Food Anxiety in Globalising Vietnam, 77–103. Basingstoke: Springer Open.Google Scholar
Bornstein, Erica. 2009. “The impulse of philanthropy.” Cultural Anthropology, 24(4), 622–651.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Caplan, Pat. 2016. “Big Society or Broken Society?: Food banks in the UK.” Anthropology Today, 32(1), 5–9. doi: 10.1111/1467-8322.12223.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Caraher, Martin & Dowler, Elizabeth. 2014. “Food for Poorer People: Conventional and ‘Alternative’ Transgressions?” In Michael Goodman & Colin Sage, eds., Food Transgressions: Making Sense of Contemporary Food Politics (1st ed.), 227–246. London: Taylor & Francis Group.Google Scholar
Carsten, Janet. 1995. “The Substance of Kinship and the Heat of the Hearth: Feeding, Personhood, and Relatedness among Malays in Pulau Langkawi.” American Ethnologist, 22(2), 223–241. doi: 10.1525/ae.1995.22.2.02a00010.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Derrida, Jacques. 1992. Given Time: I. Counterfeit Money (Vol. 1). University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
DeVido, Elise Anne. 2010. Taiwan's Buddhist Nuns. Albany: State University of New York Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ehlert, Judith & Faltmann, Nora Katharina. 2018. “Food Anxiety: Ambivalences around Body and Identity, Food Safety, and Security”. In Judith Ehlert & Nora Katharina Faltmann, eds., Food Anxiety in Globalising Vietnam, 1–40. Basingstoke: Springer Open.Google Scholar
Faltmann, Nora Katharina. 2018. “Between Food Safety Concerns and Responsibilisation: Organic Food Consumption in Ho Chi Minh City.” In Judith Ehlert & Nora Katharina Faltmann, eds., Food Anxiety in Globalising Vietnam, 167–204. Basingstoke: Springer Open.Google Scholar
Goodman, Michael & Sage, Colin. 2014. “Food Transgressions: Ethics, Governance and Geographies.” In Goodman, Michael & Sage, Colin, eds., Food Transgressions: Making Sense of Contemporary Food Politics (1st ed), 1–14. London: Taylor & Francis Group.Google Scholar
Hoang, T. Huong, Nguyen, T. Trang & Reynolds, Jerry F.. 2019. “Buddhism-based charity, philanthropy, and social work: A lesson from Vietnam.” International Social Work, 62(3), 1–13. doi: 10.1177/0020872818767257CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Giang, Hang, & Hương, Thu. 2021. “Sức dân ở tâm dịch TP.HCM: Những bếp ăn thấm đẫm nghĩa tình” (People's force at the epicenter of the pandemic in HCMC: Kitchens full of love). VietnamPlus.Google Scholar
Huang, Chien-yu Julia & Weller, Robert. 1998. “Merit and Mothering: Women and Social Welfare in Taiwanese Buddhism.” The Journal of Asian Studies, 57(2), 379–396.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Trảng, Huỳnh Ngọc. 2014. “The Kitchen God returns to the heavens.” Vietnam Heritage 1 (4): 3.Google Scholar
Vân, Kim. 2021. “Những bếp ăn yêu thương vẫn ‘đỏ lửa’ trong dịch COVID-19” (Kitchens of love still “light with fire” during Covid 19 pandemic). Gia Đình, July 21.Google Scholar
Laidlaw, James. 2000. “A Free Gift Makes No Friends.” The Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, 6(4), 617–34.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hoang Anh, Le. 2020. “Doing Bodhisattva's Work: Charity, Class, and Selfhood of Petty Traders in Ho Chí Minh City.” Journal of Vietnamese Studies, 15(4), 4–32. doi: 10.1525/vs.2020.15.4.4Google Scholar
Lu, Hwei-syin. 1998. “Gender and Buddhism in Contemporary Taiwan— A Case Study of Tzu Chi Foundation.” Proceedings of the National Science Council (Republic of China), 8(4), 539–550.Google Scholar
Mauss, Marcel. 1970. The Gift: Forms and Functions of Exchange in Archaic Societies. London: Cohen & West Ltd.Google Scholar
McAllister, Patrick & Cam, Thi Luckman, Tu. 2015. “The Kitchen God Returns to Heaven (Ông Táo Về Trời): Popular Culture, Social Knowledge and Folk Beliefs in Vietnam.” Journal of Vietnamese Studies, 10(1), 110–150. doi: 10.1525/vs.2015.10.1.110CrossRefGoogle Scholar
“Nặng sâu nghĩa đang bào! (Deep Compatriot Love!).” 2020. Hà Nội Mới (New Hanoi), April 13. Retrieved from Nặng sâu nghĩa đồng bào! (Deep Compatriot Love!)Google Scholar
“Nghĩa đang bào và tinh thần Việt Nam” (Compatriot Emotion and Vietnam's Spirit). 2020. Tuổi Trẻ Online, April 12.Google Scholar
Nguyen, Dat Manh. 2020. “Unburdening the Heart: Urban Therapeutic Buddhism and Youth Well-Being in HồChí Minh City.” Journal of Vietnamese Studies, 15(4): 63–98.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nguyễn, Ngân. 2020. “Nhiều Tấm Lòng Góp Sức Chống Dịch Covid-19” (Hearts poured into the battle against Covid-19). VTV, April 10.Google Scholar
Nguyen-Marshall, Van. 2008. In Search of Moral Authority: The Discourse on Poverty, Poor Relief, and Charity in French Colonial Vietnam. New York: Peter Lang.Google Scholar
Orlando, Giovanni. 2018. “Offsetting Risk: Organic Food, Pollution, and the Transgression of Spatial Boundaries.” Culture, Agriculture, Food and the Environment, 40(1), 45–54. doi: 10.1111/cuag.12105CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Swenson, Sara. 2020. “The Affective Politics of Karma among Buddhist Cancer Charities in Vietnam.” Journal of Vietnamese Studies, 15(4), 33–62.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
“Ủng hộ gạo qua App Gạo: Giải pháp từ thiện bằng công nghệ 4.0” (Contribute rice through App Gao: Solutions for charity using 4.0 technologies). 2020. Tien Phong Newspaper, December 8.Google Scholar
“Viện Nghiên cứu xã hội kinh tế và môi trường (iSEE).” 2015. Nhận Thức Của Người Dàn Về Hoạt Động Từ Thiện Và Khả Năng Gây Quỹ Của Các to chức Phi Chính Phủ Việt Nam (Citizens’ Perception of Charity and the Capacity for Fundraising of Ngos in Vietnam). Hanoi: NXB Giao Thông Vận Tải (Transport Publishing House).Google Scholar