Mời cả nhà ăn cơm!

Weil wir diesen Beruf haben, hat man nicht viel Kontakt zur Außenwelt, kann man sagen. Die Familie ist dann eigentlich die Hauptquelle für alles.

One thing that I experienced a lot at Dong Xuan Center, is the male gaze, the male white gaze and how I feel a part of some “exotic” attraction. And I think that with women, service and food, there’s always this narrative of being obedient and servers. There is stereotype of who you are as an Asian woman.

Cooking enabled my parents to talk about traumatic experiences in their lives. During communal cooking, they were a bit sidetracked by doing things with their hands and they didn’t have to make eye contact. So, perhaps it was a safer way for them to share some traumatic stories, which I think they wanted me to know.