HCM City (VNA) – A special exhibition at the War Remnants Museum in Ho Chi Minh City is offering visitors an insight into the cuisine that sustained soldiers and civilians in southern Vietnam during the resistance years.
The event is held to mark the museum’s 50th founding anniversary and the 80th anniversary of the August Revolution and National Day.
Organised to celebrate the museum’s 50th anniversary and the 80th anniversary of the August Revolution and National Day, the event presents wartime and peacetime utensils, regional food maps, and characteristic southern spices and sauces. Visitors can also join interactive activities such as a Hoang Cam kitchen simulation, QR code–based recipe exploration, and a bamboo-leaf stamp mural symbolising resilience and solidarity.
The War Remnants Museum underlined that wartime food represented not only nourishment but also endurance, ingenuity, and national unity. Through the exhibition, the museum seeks to help the public, particularly younger generations, better appreciate the human values and love of peace embodied by the Vietnamese people.
Associate Professor Jane Gavan of the Sydney College of the Arts, University of Sydney, noted that her research into southern wartime culture highlighted the preciousness of every grain of rice as a symbol of survival and compassion. She welcomed the exhibition’s focus on the diversity of mam (fermented fish sauces and pastes), which she believed could strengthen intergenerational understanding and empathy.
Among the contributors is 76-year-old Pham Thi Oi from Vinh Loc ward, who began cooking for soldiers at the age of 18. For the event, she prepared ten traditional dishes, including cassava, compressed rice, and 40 banh tet (cylindrical glutinous rice cakes). She said that although the work required an early start, she hoped the display would deepen public understanding of history and the simple meals that accompanied soldiers through hardship.
Running until December 2025, the exhibition is expected to provide audiences with a vivid and moving portrayal of the vitality, resilience, and culinary traditions of southern Vietnamese people during wartime./.
