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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
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Abstract

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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
Copyright
Copyright © The Authors 2024

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