Food and War : New exhibition brings food, memory and peace-building to the War Remnants Museum
Ho Chi Minh City – The War Remnants Museum opened a new four-month exhibition, Food and War in Southern Vietnam, on 4 September 2025, offering visitors a sensory journey through food, memory, and resilience.
Developed in partnership with the University of Sydney Vietnam Institute and led by Associate Professor Jane Gavan, the exhibition explores how food sustained communities during the southern resistance wars and how museums can foster peace and healing.
The project is closely aligned with Vietnam’s new Cultural Heritage Law (December 2025) and Museum Professional Duties Circular (July 2025), positioning it at the forefront of national museum reform and innovation.
Food, Memory, and Resilience
The exhibition highlights the central role of food in survival and solidarity during wartime. Visitors can explore fermented foods and spices, grind rice by hand, guide steam puffs from a Hoang Cam oven, or try on a soldier’s rice caddy and backpack. Recipes, oral histories, and songs contributed by veterans, elders, and students give voice to everyday acts of care.
“Food is a powerful lens for understanding both survival and solidarity,” says Assoc. Prof. Jane Gavan. “By engaging the senses, we invite visitors to connect with history on a deeply human scale.”
Designed to be reflective rather than traumatic, the exhibition prioritizes resilience and underscores the vital role women played in sustaining memory through food.
Inclusive, Community-Led Curating
Food and War in Southern Vietnam will form a pilot of the UNESCO Curating Futures initiative, which promotes inclusive and collaborative curatorial practice in Vietnam. Developed through co-design workshops with communities, students, and museum professionals, the exhibition reflects the principle of “nothing about us without us”.
Assoc. Prof. Gavan worked closely with interns from the University of Architecture in Ho Chi Minh City, who helped design and prototype the exhibition, and with interns from the University of Culture, who collected intergenerational stories and oral histories.
Several cultural partners contributed to the exhibition’s visual storytelling: the Nguyen Art Foundation, Dogma Foundation, the Ho Chi Minh City Museum, and local photojournalists all lent images and archival materials. These contributions expand the Museum’s collection and strengthen collaborative links both inside and outside the museum sector, reaffirming the role of museums as part of Vietnam’s wider community.
Vietnam–Australia Collaboration
The collaboration has been supported by the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT), which has connected the War Remnants Museum with specialists from the Australian War Memorial. These links strengthen Vietnam–Australia cultural ties, contribute to UNESCO’s Sustainable Development Goals, and showcase new museum practices emerging from Vietnam’s cultural reform.
Through the project “Food and War in Southern Vietnam”, the University of Sydney Vietnam Institute (SVI) affirms its role as an international academic bridge, working alongside researchers, students, artists, and communities to preserve cultural memory through creative and humanistic approaches. The project reflects SVI’s long-term commitment to fostering interdisciplinary education, supporting community initiatives, and contributing to cultural innovation, heritage preservation, and sustainable development in Vietnam and the region.
Let's take a look at images of the Food and War in Southern Vietnam Exhibition.