Rice talks: food and community in a Vietnamese town

345 Pages·2012·4.188 MB·English

by  Nir Avieli

Rice Talks
.

Rice
Talks
Food and Community in a
Vietnamese Town
.
Nir Avieli
Indiana University Press
bloomington and indianapolis
This book is a publication of Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed
Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48-1992.
Indiana University Press
601 North Morton Street Manufactured in the United States
Bloomington, Indiana 47404-3797 USA of America
iupress.indiana.edu Library of Congress Cataloging-
in-Publication Data
Telephone orders 800-842-6796
Fax orders 812-855-7931 Avieli, Nir.
Orders by e-mail [email protected] Rice talks : food and community in a
Vietnamese town / Nir Avieli.
© 2012 by Nir Avieli p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
All rights reserved ISBN 978-0-253-35707-6 (cloth : alk. paper)
No part of this book may be reproduced or — ISBN 978-0-253-22370-8 (pbk. : alk. paper)
utilized in any form or by any means, — ISBN 978-0-253-00530-4 (e-book) 1. Food
electronic or mechanical, including photo- habits—Vietnam—Hội An. 2. Food—Social
copying and recording, or by any information aspects—Vietnam—Hội An. 3. Gastronomy—
storage and retrieval system, without per- Vietnam—Hội An. 4. Cooking, Vietnamese.
mission in writing from the publisher. The 5. Hội An (Vietnam)—Social life and customs.
Association of American University Presses’ I. Title.
Resolution on Permissions constitutes the GT2853.V5A85 2012
only exception to this prohibition. 394.1’2095975—dc23
The paper used in this publication 2011028385
meets the minimum requirements of the
American National Standard for Information 1 2 3 4 5 17 16 15 14 13 12
To my parents Elyakum
(1937–2004)
&
Aviva
This page intentionally left blank
Contents
Preface ix
Acknowledgments xv
Note on Transliteration xvii
Introduction 1
1 Deciphering the Hoianese Meal 18
2 The Social Dynamics of the Home Meal 42
3 Local Specialties, Local Identity 66
4 Feasting with the Dead and the Living 100
5 Wedding Feasts: From Culinary Scenarios to 136
Gastro-anomie
6 Food and Identity in Community Festivals 173
7 Rice Cakes and Candied Oranges: Culinary
Symbolism in the Big Vietnamese Festivals 199
Conclusion: Food and Culture—Interconnections 236
Epilogue: Doing Fieldwork in Hoi An 249
Glossary 269
Notes 277
References 297
Index 313
This page intentionally left blank
Preface
Food, like the air we breathe, is vital for our physiological survival. Food is
also the most perfect cultural artifact, the outcome of a detailed differentiation
process, whereby wheat grains are transformed into French baguettes, Italian
pasta, or Chinese steamed buns, each encompassing a world of individual, so-
cial, and cultural identities: “The way any human group eats,” Claude Fischler
(1988: 275) points out, “helps it assert its diversity, hierarchy and organization
. . . food is central to individual identity, in that any human individual is con-
structed biologically, psychologically and socially by the food he/she chooses
to incorporate.”
The power of food is epitomized by the process of incorporation (literally,
“into [the] body”), in which culturally transformed edible matter crosses the
borders of the body (ibid. 279) and breaches the dichotomy between “outside”
and “inside,” between “the World” and “the Self.” No other cultural artifact
penetrates our bodies with such immediacy and thoroughness. As Brillat-Sa-
varin’s aphorism “You are what you eat” suggests, when we eat we become
consumers (and reproducers) of our culture, physically internalizing its prin-
ciples and values. Hence, when Brahmins partake of their vegetarian meals,
they express their commitment to the sanctity of life and to the principle of
nonviolence; equally, when Argentinian gauchos bite into their bloody steaks,
they reaffirm their masculinity and the violent vitality that distinguishes their
lifestyle.
Yet it is precisely the nature of food as a constant and necessary part of life,
consumed habitually and often nonreflexively, that consigns the culinary
sphere to banality, unworthy of sustained scholarly attention. Anthropologists
tend to give far more weight to “substantial” aspects of culture, such as kinship,
religion, or language, and mention foodways only as a secondary phenomenon.
If overlooking the importance of food seems to be rather the norm in anthro-
pology, when it comes to the anthropological study of Vietnam by foreign and
local scholars alike, the neglect is almost complete: Huard and Durand (1954),