The Asia Pacific Journal | Japan Focus

Volume 22 | Issue 2 | Number 5 | Article ID 5827 | Feb. 27, 2024

Keeping Alight the Kitchen Fire: Food Charity andCommunal Solidarity in Ho Chi Minh City (Vietnam)
Dr. Le Hoang Anh Thu
and cook them in huge stoves, pots, and frying pansin the temple’s kitchen. At 2 PM, they transport big
stainless steel containers fitted with foam boxes
filled with hot meals on an auto-rickshaw to a charity-distribution center managed by a Buddhist temple
in HCMC. There, food is distributed to patients who
have received food stamps beforehand.

Abstract: This study explores the preparation of food forcharitable distribution by Buddhists in Ho Chi Minh City
(HCMC) (Vietnam). Most of those involved in cooking forcharity 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 thewider 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.

This cooking team is part of a vibrant charity phenomenon in HCMC and Vietnam (Hoang et al.
2019). Although the exact number of charitableorganizations, religious institutions, individuals, andgrassroots groups that distribute charity meals in
HCMC is not known, numerous news articles havecovered these groups, which are known by names
such as “charity kitchen” (bếp cơm từ thiện), “kitchen of love” (bếp yêu thương), and “0VND kitchen”(bếp ăn 0 đồng). Recent studies on food systems in
Vietnam have explored various food practices, suchas vegetarian diet, delicacies, alternative food, andagricultural production to cope with anxieties aboutfood hygiene and food safety (e.g., Ehlert and Faltmann 2018; Avieli 2018, Faltmann 2018). However,academic attention on the food charity network,
which has gained prominence across Vietnam, islacking. This article aims to fill this research gap by
providing an ethnographic account of food charity
in HCMC and discussing what this phenomenon
reveals about the connection between the people
involved as charity givers and their recipients, inaddition to wider society.

Keywords: Food, Charity, Cooking, Feminine roles,
Feminization of charity, Vietnam

Introduction
I met Mrs. An and her cooking team at the Trì An
temple1 in an alleyway of District 4, a central district in Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC). They are practitioners frequenting this small temple for regularchanting and other rituals. Twice a month, thetemple’s charity team prepares 700 portions of avegetarian meal for patients—and their relatives—atan Oncology hospital in HCMC. The meal is comprised of steamed rice, a braised dish (of tofu andvegetables), and soup (usually sour soup with vegetables). The total cost of cooking and delivering
meals each time is about four million VND, whichis equivalent to approximately 200 USD. It covers
gas, seasoning, and transportation, and each portion
costs approximately 5,000 VND, which is 22 US
cents—not enough to buy a decent meal in HCMC.
Twice a month, this group gathers at 4 AM to washand peel a large quantity of vegetables and cut tofu,
1

It is difficult to pinpoint the beginning of the foodcharity initiative in Vietnam, which has attracted theattention of many people. One of my contacts, anName changed to protect the confidentiality of research participants.

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80-year-old Vietnamese woman living in Australia,
told me that she was impressed by the new charity
movement in HCMC when she returned to the country after many years living abroad. This movement
refers to the charitable distribution of food in hospitals, orphanages, schools, and homes for the elderly.
Notably, given the lower cost compared to othercharitable activities, such as constructing houses,
building bridges and roads in poor rural areas, many
food charity projects are conducted by individuals,
households, or grassroots charity groups, who start
their activities in their neighborhoods and collect
donations via personal networks of friends and families.

cooking teams in HCMC, three of which were associated with Buddhist temples, although their cooking
activities were conducted and funded mostly by lay
practitioners; one team comprised residents of aneighborhood in the city. The core members of this
spontaneous group were Buddhist adherents. Most
charity givers I met belonged to lower working-classbackgrounds. This observation resonates with several studies which show that people involved in grassroots charitable practices in Vietnam often belong
to the lower social strata (iSee 2015 and TAF and
VAPEC 2011, cited in Hoang et al. 2019; Le 2020).2
Food charity is not merely a charitable practice, but
a notable food network in HCMC. For many city
residents facing economic difficulties, food charity
is an alternative channel for food procurement. In
their edited volume on alternative food networks(defined as production and consumption networks
of food), Goodman and Sage (2014) use the concept
of “food transgression” to highlight new agricultural schemes, agricultural fair trade, and organic
food movements in different countries. The authors
adhere to the original meaning of “transgression” as“exceeds boundaries” or “exceeds limits”. The mostbasic boundary-crossing capacity of food lies in thefact that food connects the inside and the outside of
the body, the self and the world, and thereby crosses
the boundary of the body (Enhlert & Faltman 2018,3). Goodman and Sage (2014, 2) extend this ideaof bodily transgression by illustrating the various
boundary-crossings related to food provisioning,
connections between food producers and consumers,
space and knowledge around food, and food networks. The concept of transgression is a springboard
for the authors to explore new forms of morality
in relation to food provisioning, distribution, newunderstandings of ecological and bodily health, andnew food cultures and connections.

Food charity became even more prevalent and essential during the Covid-19 pandemic, which triggered
several strict measures such as social distancing andlockdown in HCMC (“Những bếp ăn yêu thương,”2020; Hồng Giang and Thu Hương 2021). The pandemic witnessed an outburst of street-level philanthropy in HCMC. Many religious and non-religious
charity groups distributed dried food and raw ingredients as well as hot meals to passersby and people
whose livelihood was affected by lockdown measures. During the strict lockdown applied in HCMC
from July to September 2021, these grassroots charity groups changed their food distribution mechanism
from static to mobile delivery by bringing food toquarantine centers, households, and neighborhoodsin need, and even developed smartphone apps (forexample, App Gạo for charity rice donation anddistribution) so that the needy could call for fooddelivery at their home (“Ủng hộ gạo,” 2020).
The ethnographic data presented in this article wascollected before the pandemic, during my fieldwork
in 2013, 2018, 2019, and early 2020 among the lay
Buddhist practitioners in HCMC. Most of the practitioners I met were women who worked as petty
traders in city markets, tailors working from home,small shop owners, and housewives. Among theBuddhist practices in which I participated during
my fieldwork were preparation and distribution ofcharity food. I participated in the activities of four

However, alternative food movements often refer toorganic food and fair-trade movements, as well asother forms of community-shared food and agricultural schemes, and thus “focus on the needs of those2
For discussion on the classed aspect of Buddhist charity in Vietnam,
see also, Le (2020), Swenson (2020), Nguyen (2020).

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with agency and capacity to engage with different
ways of producing or obtaining food” (Caraher andDowler 2014, 227) such as those in the middle-classniche. Caraher and Dowler (2014), in their contributed chapter, rightly ask to what extent the “current‘alternative’ practices engage with the needs ofpoorer households and communities, for healthy
food choices?” Charity food initiatives embody thetransgressive quality by expanding food business toinclude the poor, while at the same time establishinga new moral discourse on care (Goodman and Sage
2014, 2).

meals and becomes the benchmark for safe foodfor non-kin recipients. Meanwhile, safe food is not
merely food free of contaminations, but also foodcooked with care and affection.
Caring for Others like Caring for Family

This article examines Buddhist food charity as analternative food network that transgresses the boundaries of domestic places, household duties, andmoral care to bring home-cooked food to a wider
population. Paralleling their charity work with carefor the family, women charity givers see their activity as “care for all”—this resembles their caring
labor at home, which is extended to embrace society
at large. The enormous amount of work invested in
preparing charity food imparts moral significance,
similar to caring for family, to this activity. This“feminization of charity” (Nguyen-Marshall 2008,80) is also found in media narratives, which emphasize the voluntary work in food charity. According tothis feminizing rhetoric, not only do women undertake kitchen work to maintain the well-being of theirhouseholds, but also to “keep the fire” burning in thesociety by sustaining happiness and solidarity within
the larger social space. The kitchen thus transgresses
the boundaries of the home and becomes a frontier
for communal solidarity, especially during difficult
times such as during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Figure 1: Preparing charity hot meals at a Buddhist
temple in Ho Chi Minh City. Photo credit: Le Hoang
Anh Thu.
“We cook for strangers as wholeheartedly as we
cook for our family.”3—Fieldnote, March 3, 2018

One early morning in March 2018, I joined the cooking team at the Trì An temple to prepare hot meals
for patients at an oncology hospital. Three women—apparently in their forties or fifties—worked by
the kitchen stoves as cooks, and 10 women—apparently in their sixties or seventies—served as kitchen
hands. I joined the ladies sitting on the floor in the
Additionally, food charity embodies concerns
temple’s main hall, in front of the Buddha’s statue,
about various food-related issues in contemporary
washing and chopping vegetables. The menu ofVietnam, namely food quality, hygiene, and safety.
that day had three dishes: steamed rice, a vegetarian
While attempting to provide their recipients withbraised dish, and legume soup. Each of us had one
wholesome and hygienic meals, Buddhist charity
chopping board and knives of different sizes andgivers interweave their lay understanding of foodshapes in front of us. For three hours we sliced turhygiene and nutrition with moral principles that they nips into thin pieces and young jackfruit, tofu, carembody in their daily lives. The concept of a ‘whole- rot, kohlrabi and okra into small pieces. Meanwhile,some and good meal’ transcends that of household33“Mình nấu cho người ta ăn cũng phải kỹ như mình nấu cho ở nhà.”

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APJ | JFa woman in her early seventies carried big basins of
the vegetables that we just had cut to the water tap,
washed them several times, and delivered them inthe kitchen where three profusely sweating cookslaboriously stirred a massive quantity of vegetables
and tofu in big frying pans on hot gas stoves.

still saw her charitable work as a parallel to her married life. She said:
My husband should have loved and respected me
more for my charitable work. By doing charity, I became a better daughter, a better mother, and a betterwife. Not only do I love and take care of my family, I
take care of everyone (chăm lo cho bá tánh).

Being the youngest member of this group, I received
a lot of attention and comments from the ladies
about my knife skills. Seeing how clumsy I was, alady advised me to come to join them more often
to learn how to cook, because, as she said, cooking
will help me “keep the fire” (giữ lửa) burning in myfamily. The majority of their conversation revolved
around cooking for the family. Most of them werethe main cooks in their households. Although they
were living with their children, they were in chargeof the housework, including cooking, so that theirdaughters or daughters-in-law could work fulltime.
One woman, who was a strict vegetarian, described
how she prepared delicious meat-based meals for her
family and seasoned the food with fish sauce withouteven having to taste it, as she was that experienced
a cook. Another woman shared the recipe for the
porridge that she made every morning for her grandchild. She tried to make as pure a soup stock as she
could by using pork ribs and avoiding MSG. They
agreed that cooking for charity is like cooking forthe family: it requires a similar kind of effort andconcentration.

This connection between food charity and caring forfamily resonates with the anthropological discussionof kinship and how it is forged through feeding. In
her classic study of kinship in Langkawi (Malaysia),
Carsten (1995) argues that kinship is not merely
procreation central, as in the Western understandingof the concept, but is also forged through exchangeof substances, such as through feeding and sharing
meals. The Langkawi people believe that bodily
substances, such as blood and flesh, are made fromfood, and thus sharing meals becomes the “axis ofrelatedness operating through women” as women are
the cooks in their families (Carsten 1995, 228). In
addition to sharing meals among the people living inthe same house, Carsten also mentions sharing foodamong people outside the family, to indicate thefluidity of kinship in Langkawi as it can be forgedthrough social interaction and food sharing.
In Vietnam, several media outlets also connect
charity in general, and food charity specifically, with
the idea of national and ethnic kinship. Several news
articles about charitable activities that distributed
cooked and dried food during the Covid-19 pandemic draw on cultural terminologies, using phrases
such as “sharing” (chia sẻ), “a complete leaf covers
a torn leaf” (lá lành đùm lá rách), or “pumpkin andgourd care for each other” (bầu bí thương nhau)(e.g., Nguyễn 2020; “Nghĩa đồng bào,” 2020; “Nặng
sâu,” 2020). Underlying this collective sharing andaffection is the idea of shared origin, as is expressedin the repeated phrase “people from the same egg
sac” (đồng bào), a terminology derived from a wellknown myth that all the Vietnamese are kin derived
from the same ancestors. The following excerpt froma news article about the Rice ATM—an innovative

I often observed this correlation between family andcharity recipients when talking to my contacts about
their charitable work. One woman who stayed in anorphanage where she cared for 20 girls praised mydonation of some dried food to the children, encouraging me to “see these kids as your own” and “eata bit less to share the food with your children.” Ona trip to the Mekong Delta to distribute dried food,such as soy sauce, spices, and rice in a village, I met
a 72-year-old woman who had devoted herself tocharitable work for many years—even during theyears of her troubled marriage to an unfaithful husband. Years after her husband’s passing, this woman4

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charity allowing people to “withdraw” rice at no
cost from a machine—illustrates this perception thatnational and ethnic kinship fuels people’s kindness
and sharing in times of adversity.

reciprocity between them. Food is usually meant tomeet an instant need of others, unlike other charity
gifts, such as houses, roads, or bridges constructed
for people affected by natural disasters that cement
a longer-term connection between givers and recipients. Food is often consumed right away, which does
not entail a further reciprocal connection between
givers and recipients. Mauss (1970), in his classicalwork on exchange systems in Polynesian and Melanesian societies, argues that gifts must be reciprocated even when it is the gift men exchange with gods
or spirits, because transactions are always based on
obligation and economic self-interest. Nevertheless,Bornstein (2009) reports that gift giving in somereligious traditions, such as Hinduism in India,
challenges Mauss’ assumption that gifts must be
reciprocal.

Rice ATM in Ho Chi Minh City is becoming widespread to assist poor laborers to temporarily overcome the difficulties during the pandemic. People
who heard about this ATM joined hands to assist
the vulnerable and those living in hardship. Loving
and sharing is being spread to every corner of ourcountry. (…) Every kilogram of rice possesses thespirit of mutual protection, care (đùm bọc), and love
for people from the same egg sac (nghĩa đồng bào).
(…) Every day in our country, amidst the adversity,
we can feel the intensity of care and appreciate themeaning of the saying, “how beautiful is the moral
affection shared among compatriots from the same
egg-sac” (Nguyễn, 2020).

By the same token, Laidlaw (2000) draws on Derrida (1992)’s concept of “free gift” as a gift with no
Although Buddhist food charity givers likened
reciprocity, where both recipient and donor must nottheir activity to the care they gave to family, they,recognize the gift as a gift. Laidlaw (2000) explores
nevertheless, did not develop long-term or kin-like
Jain practice of Supatra dan, the alms given byconnections with their recipients. On the contrary,householders to Jain renouncers who come to theirinteractions between charity givers and recipients are houses unexpectedly for food. This practice contains
brief, centered on giving and receiving. For example, several rules to keep the act of giving food by thethe 700 portions of vegetarian hot meals prepared at householders as voluntary and disinterested and thethe Trì An temple were distributed within an hour.
act of receiving of the renouncers as autonomous
There was little conversation between the givers
as possible. Renouncers must not express liking or
and recipients: the charity team members were busy gratitude for the food they receive, and the portion
putting food into boxes and handing them to theof food they accept should be very little to the point
recipients as fast as possible; the recipients received that the loss is unnoticeable to the householders.
the food and quickly dispersed to let others move
Finally, the food collected from different households
forward. Filling the boxes, I realized that this simple are mixed into one mass so that the renouncers canmeal could be the lunch not only for the people inneither savor each separate dish nor recognize indithe queue, but also for their relatives in the hospital. vidual offering. The food in Jain alms giving is deI once paused to talk to a woman who came withpersonalized and made to disappear once it is given,several boxes, asking her how many portions shewhich makes it an example of a “free gift.”wanted. She smiled shyly and said, “Four; we havea family,” but our conversation was immediately
Although food in Buddhist charitable distribution
interrupted by my teammate who urged her to move does not entail a reciprocal relationship between
aside, and reminded me to act faster.
givers and recipients in material terms, the painstaking efforts in food preparation imparts this form ofThis brief interaction between givers and recipicharity its moral significance and a meaning equivents in food charity also indicates the absence ofalent to caring for one’s family.4 It forges a high45Additionally, as observed by Nir Avieli (2012, 49–51) in his

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moral status for the givers, evident in the sense of
responsibility that they have toward their recipients,
and in their likening the activity with caring for theirfamilies.

ness of the charity givers, many of whom are themselves struggling to make a living, for devoting theirtime and labor to “sustain the fire of the kitchens oflove” (“Ấm áp tình người” 2011).

Additionally, food charity involves a significant
share of volunteering work that, to some extent, distinguishes it from several other forms of charitablework. For charitable construction of houses, roads,
or bridges, charity givers are investors, rather thanthe doers. On the other hand, food charity depends
largely on volunteering work. While monetary
donation is important, volunteering work is crucial
because free labor is needed to prepare and distributefood. The volunteers contribute with their culinary
skills—their essential domestic duty for which they
do not receive wages. This strenuous voluntary work
renders food charity its moral heft and significance.

One charity meal, one pot of rice porridge full of affection, one warm New Year’s eve, one free medical
examination … all the “ones” keep the fire always
alight in the kitchens, warming up the hearts of people who are living difficult lives all year round (“Ấmáp tình người” 2011)
Central to the portrait of food charity in this TV
program, as well as in several media coverages offood charity, is the connection between mundane
items related to the household kitchen (e.g., meals,
pots, vegetable, legume, tofu, fire, warmth, etc.) andlarger social issues, such as alleviating suffering inthe society, helping those who need food, and so on.
The charitable work of cooking and distributing foodis called “keeping the fire.” The plight of charity recipients in the show is compared to “a kitchen stove
where fire is rarely lit” (bếp ít khi đỏ lửa).

Keeping the Fire Alight: Kitchens as a Source ofCommunal Solidarity
Food charity activities organized by individuals,
households, and religious institutions have regularly
featured on Vietnam’s national news. For example,
a reality show titled “Kitchen of Love” (Bếp yêuthương) ran on the Ho Chi Minh City Television(HTV) from 2011 till 2014; its YouTube channel
features charity programs about distributing food tothe needy in Vietnam. Each episode is a combinationof introductions to charity programs, game shows
involving celebrities and locals, and interviews withfood recipients and sponsors.

The kitchen holds a central place in any Vietnamese home. It is where the family gathers during
meals and discusses various private matters. It is thedomain of women where they prepare life-sustaining food (Avieli 2012, 51; McAllister and Luckman
2015, 112). As such, the kitchen stove, which iscentral to the household kitchen, represents family
life and connections and cooperation between family
members. The kitchen stove, or fire, is considered“the center of life,” as “it is from the kitchen thatlife is granted” (Huynh Ngoc Trang 2014, cited in
McAllister and Luckman 2015, 112). The Vietnamese people perform a ritual for the Kitchen God on
the 23rd day of the 12th lunar month, one week before the Vietnamese New Year, as they believe thaton this day the Kitchen God of each household returns to Heaven to report to the Jade Emperor all theactions—good and bad—committed by the membersof the household within the past year (McAllisterand Luckman 2015). Calling the voluntary work ofcharity givers as an act of “keeping the fire” (giữThe central narrative of the reality show “Kitchen ofLove” is to praise the kindness of the charity givers
and seek donations from the audience to “contributefire” (góp lửa) to these “kitchens of love.” The press
reviews of this program also praise the kind-hearted-

research on foodways in Hoi An (central Vietnam), at the time of his researchin 2000, “humble” ingredients were used in Hoianese home meals: mostly“cheap carbohydrates and vegetables and miniscule amounts of inferior animal
protein.” The value and art of the meals lie in the enormous work and skill
that Vietnamese women put into turning these cheap materials into elaborate
and delicious meals for their loved ones. This observation resonates with mostcharity hot meals in whose preparation I participated; they were made fromcheap ingredients, such as tofu, eggs, fatty pork, cheap vegetables, etc. However, their value lies in the wholehearted involvement of volunteers in soliciting
donations and cooking, transporting, and distributing meals to recipients.

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APJ | JFlửa), which is also a metaphor for sustaining a happy
and peaceful family, the media juxtaposes food charity with maintenance of communal solidarity andpeace. Kitchen and preparation of food thus transgresses the domestic space and is placed in a wider
context to become a source of national solidarity andunity.

236; Caplan 2016, 9). Caplan (2016, 9) indicatesthat food banks and food aid are “highly depoliticizing” and “allow the state to evade its obligations”
of assuring its citizens the right to food, while “still
maintaining a degree of control.” Likewise, Caraher
and Dowler (2014, 236) contend that food initiatives
for the poor do not significantly challenge the Stateand welfare assistance projects.

As shown in Nguyen-Marshall’s (2008, 75–76)
work, while Vietnamese women’s charitable work
during the colonial time was meant more as social and political participation, as well as a way tochallenge their subjugated sexual roles, the rhetoric
behind their activities drew on their domestic work
to justify their social involvement. They did so by
feminizing benevolence and presented their philanthropic work as an “extension of the domestic
sphere.” Nguyen-Marshall also indicates that “thisfeminization of benevolence made it difficult later
on to justify political rights on the basis of equality”(p.76).

Moral Care Involved in Preparing Wholesomeand Hygienic Meals
Caring for others like family also manifests in the
preparation of wholesome (đầy đủ chất bổ dưỡng)and safe (sạch) meals for charity recipients. To
ensure both of these qualities, charity givers apply
their personal understanding of the causes of foodpollution and how to keep the food clean and safefor their recipients (similar to the discussions of “layepidemiologies” [Orlando 2018, 4], or “embodied
food knowledge” [Enhlert and Faltmann 2018, 21],
which mean personal and not scientific understanding of the causes and chances of illness).

In the present, the “feminization of charity” (Nguyen-Marshall 2008, 80) is visible in the case of foodcharity. By highlighting volunteering for kitchenwork in this charitable practice, Vietnam’s media
and State showcase this movement as an act ofkindness akin to a woman’s moral duty to preserve
the peace and well-being of their families. Women’s
unwaged domestic caring work forms the center not
only of their households, but also of the community and the nation, becoming a force of communal
solidarity.

Providing wholesome meals to recipients was thepriority when deciding the menu of several charity
meals I participated in making. Wholesomeness is
not measured by a scientifically-determined measurement of nutrition, such as calculating portionsof fiber, vitamin, grain, and dairy products. Rather,it accords with what makes a typical Vietnamesefamily meal. A wholesome hot meal usually includes
steamed rice (cơm), soup (canh), which is a vegetable-based dish, and a braised or salty dish (mónmặn), which is usually a meat-based dish. A familywith greater means would include in their daily meala stir-fried dish (món xào), which is a combinationof vegetables and meat or seafood, and dessert (trángmiệng), which is fruits or sweets.

By feminizing food charity and defining it as domestic work, the State frames food charity as a sociallybeneficial activity that does not pose a threat to theState’s authority and credibility. This highly gendered portrait of food charity overlooks the structural issues that underlie the deprivation and sufferingof the people who receive charitable food—a practice not unique to Vietnam. Studies on food initiatives for the poor in developed countries also showthat these activities do not challenge the State andthe welfare systems (e.g., Caraher and Dowler 2014,

Although charity hot meals are of very low cost,
ranging from 5000 VND (22 US cents) to 20,000
VND ($1 USD), charity cooking teams try to include at least three dishes: steamed rice, soup, anda braised or stir-fried dish. Most team leaders I met
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Food safety is another issue that concerns charity
givers. As it is embedded in the wider food system
of HCMC and of Vietnam, it is not surprising to see
food anxieties manifest in charitable efforts. Food
hygiene is among the most prevalent of food concerns in contemporary Vietnam (Ehlert and Faltmann 2018, 20). Safe food is perceived as “clean”
food in Vietnam, as it is supposed to be “clean” ofthe multiple problems associated with food production in Vietnam, including overuse of chemicals, fertilizers, pesticides, antibiotics, GMOs in agricultural
production, preservatives, chemicals, or colorants.

were very proud about the quality of the hot meals
they prepared for their recipients. They shared indetail what their hot meals included, and how delicious they were. For example, a leader of a charity
team was extremely proud to tell me that her groupprovides patients of a hospital in the city with delicious and wholesome meal once a month. Her group
comprised lay followers of a neighbourhood temple
and neighbours. During the early days of their activity, they made vegetarian meals because they were
Buddhists and several of the team members werestrict vegetarians. However, they soon decided toswitch to meat-based meals as people under medical
treatment would need nutrients from meat for quick
recovery. On one occasion when I volunteered withthis team, we made 1,000 portions, each of whichcontained steamed rice topped with braised pork andegg, one nylon bag of beetroot soup, and one sachetof fish sauce. An 80-year-old woman, who organizedcharity trips to a temple-based old people’s home in
the Tây Ninh province (approximately 90 kilometersfrom HCMC), shared that even though she and herfriends could visit that temple only sometimes, their
hot meals were eagerly anticipated and highly appreciated. The elderly there daily ate steamed rice withsalted cabbage prepared by the monks. That was
why her team’s hot meals, which included stewed
beef, was a luxury for the elderly.

One observation that particularly intrigued meduring my fieldwork was the concern about charity
food being poisoned. I sometimes heard volunteers
discuss the different scenarios under which the foodthey served could be poisoned, landing them in trouble. In one of the scenarios, food could be poisonedby nefarious outsiders. A few temples running foodcharity programs have installed security camerasin their kitchens, mainly to keep track of strangers
entering the kitchen. As a general rule, strangers are
not allowed inside kitchens.
Less serious than the anxiety about food poisoning is
the concern about food becoming “dirty” or unsafe
because of contamination during the production anddistribution process. I often heard concerns about
vegetables being sprayed with too much pesticideand fertilizers, or noodles and tofu being soaked incolorants and preservatives. These concerns aboutfood poisoning and contamination reflect the “deepinsecurities in the arena of food” and mistrust aroundfood networks and management in Vietnam (Faltmann 2018, 192). Food safety issues are prevalent tosuch an extent that the line between safe and unsafe
food is very thin—so thin that women who cook fortheir families or for charity constantly worry aboutcrossing it. This reveals the general sense of skepticism prevalent in the society.

Charity groups that prepare vegetarian meals also
follow the formula of a proper Vietnamese household meal, replacing meat with tofu and plant-based
products. For example, during the Covid-19 pandemic lockdown, a lay Buddhist woman paired withthe abbess of a Buddhist temple in her neighborhood
to cook hundreds of hot vegetarian meals and leftthem at the temple’s gate for any passers-by to takeon every full-moon day. Talking to me on the phone,
she exclaimed:
The food tasted so good, Thu! Everyone loved it andall the servings vanished within minutes. I made vermicelli with fried “meat”5 topped with thinly-sliced
cucumber and onions.
5

Nevertheless, while the inherent doubts surrounding
food and social environment are troublesome, they
can be offset with a charitable disposition. Despite“Meat” was made from a paste of tofu mixed with mushroom.

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these worries, most Buddhist charity givers I met did
not think that these issues could hinder their charitable culinary practices. Rather, such problems are
solved by a wholehearted involvement in the cooking process. Several charity teams equip their members with hair covers, face masks, aprons, and gloves
for serving food to recipients and to prevent contamination. When cooking, vegetables and other ingredients are washed under tap water multiple times; a
few groups do not let new members or visitors join
the cooking process. Several groups require the recipients to bring their own lunch boxes to receive thefood, and forbid the use of nylon bags as a food container. The team at the Trì An temple requested theirrecipients to bring reusable plastic boxes to receive
the food, and refused to give food in nylon bags to
educate their recipients about the environmental
damage of plastic waste. In fact, their bigger concern
was food getting contaminated in nylon bags. Despite their good deeds and good intentions, they may
incur the blame of poisoning their recipients.

to cook as carefully as they do for their families.
This care, protection, and wholehearted effort canoffset the several food problems emanating from thewider environment. This observation echoes with
Swenson’s (2020) and Le Hoang Ngoc Yen’s (in thisspecial issue) highlight on the connection between
food quality and emotional and spiritual states ofpeople engaged in preparing and distributing food.
In research on how the Buddhist understanding ofkarma integrates into the charitable cooking for cancer patients in HCMC, Swenson (2020, 35-6) showsthat Buddhist practitioners believe the “thoughts,
intentions, words, and emotions” they invest in their
benevolent work have positive impact on the recipients’ health and merit status. Charity workers cangenerate positive social change by “creating andcirculating positive feelings of peace and joy” thatenhances their recipients’ karma and can turn backthe rising cancer rates in Vietnam (p.55).

Besides the methods to eliminate the risk of contamination, what is more important is that charity
givers’ peaceful state of mind can bring merit to
the food, making it soothing and wholesome. If thecooks are agitated or hold a grudge against someone,
their food may harm the consumers. A lay woman
explained to me:

In this article, I have explored the charitable activity of preparing and distributing food to the poorand needy in HCMC. Food charity is widespread in
HCMC and has attracted many religious organizations, grassroots groups, and individuals who contribute with money and free labor. Long endorsed
by State-run media for its social contribution, foodcharity received even greater applause and attention
from the public and the State during the Covid-19
pandemic.

Conclusion

If a woman holds a grudge against her husband,
quarrels with him, and then cooks for the patients,
her food will be like her mind. When patients eat her
food, they will consume her anger. If we wish the patients a swift recovery, we must cook with a peacefulmind. Food cooked with a peaceful mind will heal.

This study contributes to the existing scholarshipon food systems in Vietnam by exploring foodcharity as an alternative food network supporting
many Vietnamese through adversities. Inspired by
the concept of food transgression (Goodman andSage 2004), this study examines the ways in which
women’s domestic care “transgressed” the household space to become “care for all” in the society,and how this extension of women’s domestic carereveals the feminization of benevolent work in contemporary Vietnam (Nguyen-Marshall 2008).

Food’s purity resembles mind’s purity. As such,“clean” food is not merely food free of contamination—as is generally understood in Vietnam—but
also free of moral impurities. A person who cooks
wholesome food for others is someone filled withcompassion not only for her own family, but for others as well. Using the family meal as the yardstick
to measure the quality of charity meal, they attempt922 | 2 | 5

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This article highlights the roles of food and kitchenwork in the continuing feminization of charity, asboth of these are at the center of food charity andrepresent the conventional domain of women. Drawing on the sociocultural significance of the kitchen
and the kitchen stove in Vietnamese people’s family
life as a source of life, vitality, well-being, love, andconnection, Vietnamese media describes food charity as domestic work transcending the home to enrich
the lives of underprivileged people in the wider
society. The image of a kitchen fire is highlighted
as a force to sustain the ties between members of
the society. People who participate in food charity
programs—most of them women—are those who“keep the fire” alight for society, which makes theirvolunteering work a source of communal solidarity
and strength during difficult times.

“Ấm áp tình người từ ‘Bếp yêu thương.’” 2011.
Người Lao Động (Laborer), January 20.
Avieli, Nir. 2012. Rice Talks: Food and Community
in a Vietnamese Town. Bloomington, Indiana University Press.
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.
Bornstein, Erica. 2009. “The impulse of philanthropy.” Cultural Anthropology, 24(4), 622-651.
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.

The standards of regular household meals also
impact charity meals. A wholesome hot meal forcharity recipients should resemble a family mealcomprising rice, soup, a braised or stir-fried dish,and sometimes dessert. Despite their low cost, charity hot meals often include these basic components
of a proper family meal. Additionally, similar to thecommon concern of many Vietnamese women about
feeding their families safe food, “clean” and hot
meals are also a common topic of discussion amongcharity givers. Nevertheless, even though foodsold in markets may be unhygienic—as is widelybelieved in Vietnam—food can be kept clean by awoman’s wholehearted labor and purity of thoughts
while cooking. Last but not least, spiritual and emotional dispositions of the cook can transfer positiveenergy into the charity food, making the food cleanand safe for the recipients.

Caraher, Martin & Elizabeth Dowler. 2014. “Foodfor Poorer People: Conventional and ‘Alternative’
Transgressions?” In Michael Goodman & Colin
Sage, eds., Food Transgressions: Making Sense ofContemporary Food Politics (1st ed.), 227-246.
London: Taylor & Francis Group.
Carsten, Janet. 1995. “The Substance of Kinship andthe Heat of the Hearth: Feeding, Personhood, andRelatedness among Malays in Pulau Langkawi.”
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Derrida, Jacques. 1992. Given Time: I. Counterfeit
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About the Author
Dr. Le Hoang Anh Thu is an associate professorof Asia Pacific Studies at Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific
University (Oita, Japan). Le holds a PhD of Anthropology from the Australian National University.
Le’s current research focuses on aging, lay Buddhist
practice, and faith-based charitable practice inVietnam.
Other images featured in this article can be found athttps://apjjf.org/2024/2/le-keeping-alight12