Purpose Identifying the Cantonese cuisine in terms of family cuisine, ritual cuisine and community cuisine in order to see the role of cuisine in terms of expressing the outlook on li
Trang 1VIETNAM ACADEMY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES
GRADUATE ACADEMY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES
*
TRAN THI KIM OANH
CANTONESE CUISINE IN HO CHI MINH CITY NOWADAYS
Major : Culture Code : 9 22 90 40
SUMMARY OF CULTURE THESIS
HANOI, 2019
Trang 2The work was completed at GRADUATE ACADEMY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES
Scientific Supervisor: Assoc Prof., Ph.D Vo Quang Trong
Reviewer 1: Prof., Ph.D Bui Quang Thanh
Reviewer 2: Assos Prof., Ph.D Đang Hoai Thu
Reviewer 3: Assos Prof., Ph.D Tran Thi An
The dissertation will be defended before the thesis review council of the Academy at the Graduate Academy of Social Sciences
at hour minute, day month year
The thesis can be found at:
- National Library of Vietnam
- Library of Graduate Academy of Social Sciences
Trang 3THE PUBLISHED WORKS OF THE AUTHOR
RELATED TO THE THESIS
1 Tran Thi Kim Oanh (2016), Traditionl Lunch in Everyday Lives of
Cantonese in Ho Chi Minh City, Folk cul ture review, No 3 (165)
2 Tran Thi Kim Oanh (2017), The Cantonese’s tea cuisine, Cul ture and
arts Magazine – Organ of Ministry of Culture sports and tourism, No 392
Trang 4INTRODUCTION
1 The urgency of the subject
Cuisine does not stop at serving material needs for human but also expressing spiritual values, cultural values, reflecting both life and traditional values and towards the reflection element of contemporary living Cuisine transports several messages in life, such as individual tastes, identifying the position of individuals and families in society through the positions and objects practicing cuisine together Identifying cuisine in these aspects is a quite different approach to the majority of previous culinary culture studies
Ho Chi Minh City is now the highest concentration of Chinese people living in Vietnam with 50.3%, of which the Cantonese language for the highest proportion (40%) and carries the residence-focused characteristics living areas Therefore, it brings a clear community mark Cantonese cuisine has several typical dishes, which is the basis for understanding the Chinese culture in Ho Chi Minh City today In the life processes, natural, economic and social conditions and the viewpoint of human life contribute to influencing the tastes and ways of practicing the cuisine of Cantonese people Therefore, studying this thesis in the above aspects desires to contribute to understanding in the broader aspect of cuisine in the ethnic culture
2 Purpose and mission research of the thesis
2.1 Purpose
Identifying the Cantonese cuisine in terms of family cuisine, ritual
cuisine and community cuisine in order to see the role of cuisine in terms of expressing the outlook on life, gender, arranging the social order and current changing trends in the context of ethnic culture and the context of contemporary society
2.2 Mission
+ Overview of research projects related to cuisine, Chinese cuisine, and Cantonese cuisine
Trang 5+ Identifying family cuisine, ritual cuisine, and culinary cuisine outside the family
+ Pointing out the transformation process of the culinary culture of Cantonese people in Ho Chi Minh City, the factors that impact and the purpose of that change
+ Discussing some of the issues posed from the practice and transformation of cuisine practices of Cantonese people in Ho Chi Minh City today
3 Object and scope of the research
3.1 Object of the research
The main research object of the thesis is the various cuisine practices in daily life and rituals of the Cantonese community in the cultural, economic and social context in Ho Chi Minh City today
3.2 Scope of the research
In terms of research space: We choose the Chinese community currently living in Ho Chi Minh City for about 3-4 years The living area is mainly concentrated in district 5, 6 and 11
In terms of research time: The thesis studies cuisine practices of the Cantonese community in the family and the life rituals practiced over the past
10 years
In terms of research issues: the thesis focuses on learning about the culinary culture of the Cantonese community currently living in Ho Chi Minh City in some aspects, such as: raw materials, processing ways, the role of cuisine in daily life, in family and social relationships with the way that Chinese people use cuisine to affirm and link their ethnic and social values, the relationship between gastronomic culture with the world outlook and outlook on life through daily culinary practices as well as on holidays
4 Approach and research methodology of the thesis
Trang 6Determining the research method for this thesis is qualitative research, so
we use the following main methods:
- Methods of in-depth interviews, retrospective interviews
- Text analysis method
- Observation attended method
- The secondary data analysis method
5 New contribution to the science of the thesis
- The thesis is the first study to contribute to the collection of materials
on the culinary culture of Cantonese people today, contributing to the broader array of cuisine in human life
- Considering the cuisine in a new aspect is the expression of the cosmological perspective, the concept of gender in the division of cuisine-related practices, expressing the social status of individuals and families
- The cuisine is not only a dish, a way of eating but also a view of cuisine
as a mirror of a cultural reflection in view of the role of cuisine in modern life
6 Theoretical and practical significances
Theoretical significance: Firstly, the thesis provides a new approach
when studying Cantonese culinary culture including considering cuisine as an autonomous cultural school, reflecting the current social order and participating in cultural production in the Cantonese cuisine framework in Ho Chi Minh City
Secondly, through a systematic study of the Cantonese cuisine culture on the basis of considering the practice of home meals and community rituals in order to clarify the role of cuisine involved in the creating ethnic culture of Cantonese language group in Ho Chi Minh City today
Practical significance: The thesis provides more insights into the unique
culinary culture of Cantonese people as well as ethnic cultural life with cultural, economic and political messages expressed through cuisine
Trang 7Accordingly, understanding about the cuisine is not only normal eating but also a culture, expressing many cultural and social messages This resource does not help only researchers and educators but also policymakers about ethnic culture in terms of understanding the culture of each ethnic group to get the right behaviors and feasible policies in promoting the strengths of cultural resources in social development
7 Structure of the thesis
In addition to the introduction, conclusions and references, the thesis consists of 4 chapters:
Chapter 1: Overview of the research situation, theoretical basis and
study area
Chapter 2: Daily Cantonese cuisine
Chapter 3: Cantonese cuisine in calendar and life cycle
Chapter 4: Cantonese cuisine and discussion issues
Chapter 1 OVERVIEW OF THE RESEARCH SITUATION, THEORETICAL
BASIS AND STUDY AREA 1.1 Overview of the research situation
1.1.1 Studies on domestic culinary culture
We divided into the following groups:
The group of researching the dish structure and how to process food
under the influence of natural conditions and living environment:
The research group of considering dish to be a message of social issues:
In general, studies of Vietnamese cuisine have so far attracted the attention of many authors with many published works, there are descriptive studies and comparative analysis studies of detailed elements surrounding cuisine In the overview picture of Vietnamese cuisine research to see the diversity in cuisine research, and it is an important opening for us in the study
of the culinary culture of Cantonese people
Trang 81.1.2 Studies of Cantonese cuisine
Based on the function of cuisine, we divided the research works of Cantonese cuisine into the following groups:
The group of researching dish associated with the living environment The group of research projects on dish in terms of nutrition and treatment
The group of researching the role of cuisine in rituals
In general, the works we mentioned above show a multidimensional view of cuisine and culinary practices in aspects of nature, nutrition and social reflection that are practiced in each specific meals or family meals and ceremonial dishes
1.1.3 General assessment of research situation
All of the works including Vietnamese culinary research in general or the above mentioned Chinese cuisine have provided us with a rich source of data on many different aspects of cuisine At the same time, the subjects of research on cuisine in the above mentioned projects are Vietnamese, Chinese and Chinese people living in Ho Chi Minh City in general, not a group of individual Chinese language communities Although there is no condition for further analysis of Vietnamese and Chinese culinary issues, but this is the basis for us to have a reference and develop in a broader research approach, such as: cuisine contributes to reflecting gender relations, the culinary role in humanity or cuisine that reflects the social stratification of the Chinese community in Ho Chi Minh City today
1.2 Theoretical basis
1.2.1 Concepts
Cuisine (food culture)
After explaining the concepts of cuisine in many respects as the views
of previous researchers like Professor Tran Van Khue, Professor Tran Quoc Vuong, Dr Phan Van Hoan We see that the researchers identify cuisine (culinary culture, food culture) not just about eating and dishing Therefore,
Trang 9in this thesis, we understand that cuisine is the way of eating, organizing food and its impact on social behaviors It can be said that seeing cuisine in the research framework of the thesis will see people's views on cuisine not merely food but also the view of worldview and social stratification, about the important role of the scope of culinary practice, which affects the identification of modern society
It is a category used to refer to people's views and beliefs about their relationship with family, society and the natural environment It is possible to divide the universe from the perspective of approach, such as personal and community universe Considering the research perspective of the thesis, the worldview of Cantonese people through cuisine is associated with the perspective of human value, good dish, harmony of yin and yang that bring health and luck in life This is often associated with a daily meal or a fortunate, rich meal through ritual offerings
1.2.2 Theoritical approaches
Firstly, the thesis applies the theoretical perspective of many anthropological and cultural researchers that Nir Avieli summarized in the study of "Rice talks - food & Community in a Vietnamese Town" However,
it can be summarized that there are three approaches:
- Considering the cuisine field that reflects the existing social order and the existing cultural arrangement
- Considering cuisine as an autonomous cultural field in which there are intrinsic principles and internal mechanisms to explore
- Cuisine is not only a mirror of cultural production
Based on that theory, Nir Avieli applied culture to its case study cusine
as an autonomous culture, reflecting the existing social order In view
of Nir, we also use the research pathway of anthropological and anthropological researchers to study the case of Cantonese cuisine:
- Considering cuisine reflecting the cosmopolitan viewpoint to understand the worldview reflected in life
Trang 10- Considering culture as a mirror of social culture and reflecting an existing social order Cuisine practices involved in the production of culture are applied to understand the cultural messages expressed in Cantonese cuisine practices, looking at social orders, settlements, gender, class, status as well as the process by which cuisine is involved in the production of ethnic culture
Besides, the thesis is also interested in Pirre Bourdieu's theory when he mentions the way cuisine affects culture, identity, and social changes Through the process of cultural production by the consumption of food partly reflects the role of cuisine for social culture Through this theoretical point of view, we compare how cuisine practices, such as: food quality, cuisine positon inside and outside family, cuisine participation in life cycle rituals and schedules are expressing the expressive meaning of food culture
10 and District 11
Through many different immigrants, the Chinese community living in
Ho Chi Minh City is not homogeneous about the period residence
In particular, the group who migrated to Vietnam for the longest time much later until the People's Republic of China was established in 1949 The next migration was concentrated mainly in the Western provinces and Ho Chi Minh City area (Saigon - Cholon) In general, the Chinese community here is quite concentrated and separated according to the "states" During the process
of integration, Chinese people have many reasons but the main reason is that
Trang 11the Chinese community tried to find ways itself to stabilize and develop in the land of South Vietnam That integration brings favorable conditions for business, production, as well as political and social interests
Population and population distribution
In Ho Chi Minh City, the distribution of the Chinese people’s residence
is in two forms, one is an alternate residence between Chinese people and other resident communities, two is concentrated in each small area Even the most concentrated areas of Chinese people in District 5 or District 11 in the neighborhoods, the apartments, it has an alternation between Chinese and Vietnamese and other ethnic groups
1.4.3 Overview of Cantonese people in the study area
Like other Chinese communities in Ho Chi Minh City, the Cantonese community settled here through various stages Currently, along with the trend of expanding exchanges in the process of living, doing business, mixed marriaged with especially Vietnamese people Therefore, in general, Cantonese people are also scattered throughout the districts However, Cho Lon is still the oldest and most crowded area of Cantonese people
1.4.4 Some common characteristics of the Chinese cuisine
- Chinese people places much value on eating
- Chinese cooking techniques are booming with a lot of materials and ways of processing that creating diversity
- Culinary taste has a difference between regions
- The standard in Chinese culinary arts is to converge both colors, flavor, taste, etc to make the dish more charming, creating different tastes of salty, sweet, sour, and spicy combining decoration Therefore, Chinese dish really becomes the culinary art
- The viewpoint of dish is a dose, with the belief that eating and drinking can be effective in preventing and treating diseases and nutrition so many of these beneficial plants become familiar dishes in their cuisine With the
Trang 12viewpoint of enjoying food "neutral and beautiful ", it also plays a role in regulating functions and health care for people, which is also an idea towards harmony and unified balances between human with nature, human with society
Through out some basic characteristics of Chinese food culture will generally give us the basis to better understand the culinary practices of Chinese people, especially Cantonese people in Ho Chi Minh City nowadays
It is to see which elements of the community identity are retained, which one has changed to suit the life in the new land
1.4.4.5 Descriptions of the current Chinese cuisine in the study area
The culinary culture of the Chinese people in the resident area is considered in the following aspects: How to prepare a family dish, a restaurant network outside the family, a symbolic image of offerings in ceremonies It also gives us an overview of the development and role of Chinese cuisine in the study area Each category meets the needs of customers as well as towards different service objects It's not just about enjoying food, it's a very reflective social image
Conclusion
Culinary culture is generally an attractive subject for many domestic and foreign researchers The system of published documents on the culinary culture has helped us to have a basis to inherit and develop our culinary research direction on the culinary culture of the Cantonese people in Ho Chi Minh City nowadays Learning Cantonese culinary culture, we want to associate the culinary value with the current life in the family, social relationships and spiritual connections through rituals and ceremonies of the Cantonese community currently lives in Ho Chi Minh City on the basic characteristics of practicing meals inside and outside the family, including community meals through rituals as research objects The study of gastronomic culture associated with the Cantonese community is approached
Trang 13from many theories of cultural anthropologists in the twentieth century, further discussing the issues we mentioned above in the role with the subject
is the Cantonese culinary culture nowadays
Chapter 2 DAILY CANTONESE CUISINE
2.1 Decoding the family meal
2.1.1 Dish structure
Through observing the preparation of meals in the family, such as: Ms.Luy's family, Van's family, Uncle Hung's family, Nguyet's family, etc we can produce the structure of the dish that is being practiced daily in a Chinese family meal It can be said that each different family chooses different dishes, but they all have the same point: the structure is quite similar, in which: rice belonging to a starch group which plays an unchanged fundamental role, the accompanying dishes are flexible, varying according to different tastes and conditions that are served with rice and soya, fish sauces or chili according to user preferences’s tastes With this structure, it creates a dish with balance of yin and yang, harmony which is beneficial for health as well as beautiful
2.1.2 Meal preparation
Back to families like Ms Luy, Van, uncle Hung, etc we found that the process of preparing meals is basically flexible for family members, who has more time will prepared food ingredients or meals However, from a certain point of view, such as the case of Luy's family, Van's family, the preparation
of meals in the family is still mainly women Besides, preparing a fussy or simple meal depends much on the circumstances and nature of the work of each individual in the family Accordingly, the lunch in current many Cantonese families in the family scope is quite simple and convenient Dinner usually takes place full of members and many traditional dishes are prepared, this is also how family members take care of their spirit and health