Display presents the culinary heritage of war-era southern Vietnam
The War Remnants Museum in Ho Chi Minh City is currently hosting a unique exhibition that offers a fascinating glimpse into the cuisine that sustained soldiers and civilians during the resistance years in southern Vietnam. The exhibition, which runs until December 2025, is part of the museum's 50th founding anniversary celebrations and the 80th anniversary of the August Revolution and National Day.
The exhibition, titled 'Culinary Resilience: A Taste of Vietnam's Resistance Years,' aims to provide audiences with a vivid and moving portrayal of the vitality, resilience, and culinary traditions of the southern Vietnamese people during the Vietnam War. It features a variety of traditional dishes, prepared by local chef Phạm Thị Oi, who started cooking for soldiers at the age of 18.
Among the dishes on display are cassava, compressed rice, and 40 bánh tét (cylindrical glutinous rice cakes). The exhibition also highlights the diversity of mắm (fermented fish sauces and pastes), a key component of Vietnamese cuisine, and the characteristic southern spices and sauces that gave these dishes their unique flavors.
Associate Professor Jane Gavan of the Sydney College of the Arts, University of Sydney, has expressed her support for the exhibition's focus on the symbolic importance of every grain of rice during the Vietnam War in southern Vietnam. Professor Gavan emphasized that these simple meals represented not only nourishment but also endurance, ingenuity, and national unity.
In addition to the food displays, the exhibition presents wartime and peacetime utensils, regional food maps, and interactive activities such as a Hoàng Cầm kitchen simulation, QR code-based recipe exploration, and a bamboo-leaf stamp mural. These activities aim to foster intergenerational understanding and empathy, helping younger generations appreciate the human values and love of peace embodied by the Vietnamese people.
Phạm Thị Oi's contribution to the exhibition underscores the personal stories and experiences behind the wartime cuisine. She hopes that the display will deepen public understanding of history and the simple meals that accompanied soldiers through hardship. The museum aims to help the public better appreciate the human values and love of peace embodied by the Vietnamese people through this exhibition.
Despite the lack of information about 76-year-old Phạm Thị Oi in the available search results, her dedication and passion for preserving the culinary history of Vietnam's resistance years are evident in the dishes she has prepared for the exhibition. This special exhibition at the War Remnants Museum offers a compelling and immersive experience, inviting visitors to explore the resilience and spirit of the Vietnamese people during a challenging period in their history.
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