The article I chose to read was written by Wenying Xu, of Florida Atlantic University
The Article mostly focus's on the metaphorical use of food in Bich Minh Nguyen's Stealing Buddha's Dinner. Her Argument is that food is universal, and it's what makes the story relate able, as well as what helps the protagonist work through her journey.
Food represents the following to Xu by way of Nguyen: "Nguyen's rite of passage is a culinary text that gestures toward a greater parameter of identity formation. She observes insightfully that in school, "a student was measured by the contents of her lunch bag, which displayed status, class, and parental love""
Food is the only thing Bich has in common with anyone. Everyone always tries new food, everyone consistently eats something different, everyone can afford different types of food.
Food separates everyone, as well as brings everyone together.
It's not a coincidence that breaking bread together helps those who are very different come together.
It's brilliant that Nguyen ties social issues, and how she feels about her everyday life by comparing it to food.
"Eating is a means of becoming-not simply in the sense of nourishment but, more importantly of what we choose to eat, what we can afford to eat, what we secretly carave but are ashamed to eat in front of others"(2)
I think Xu hits the nail on the head here. This article is about appetite. Not just literal food appetite, but also Bich's appetite to become. But to become what? This is the journey she takes, and she used food as a metaphor to do so.
This is why the act of stealing Buddha's dinner becomes so significant. The food given to Buddha, while it is only a piece of fruit, is a very meaningful piece of fruit; just like the bag lunches her schoolmates have hold significance in their quality, the food that is placed in front of Buddha becomes quality.
Bich wants a quality life. She wants to take what is hers. She wants to take her identity. She wants to go grocery shopping and hand pick what she nourishes herself with. After all, you are what you eat.
Maybe she took Buddha's fruit because she wanted to know what about the fruit was so significant that it was worthy to sit there? Perhaps she wants to be worthy of holding such fruit.
The memoir begins with the title "Pringles," obviously an American food. And it ends with "Cha Gio" which is a Vietnamese food. And everything else in between is something from each, or something from another culture. So, as cliche as it may sound, I think this is exactly what Bich becomes. She is a sandwich (Isn't it clever I used food as a metaphor to describe her) Anyway, she is a sandwich, America and Vietnam are the bread, and then she has everything else in between.
"Don't you know you're not supposed to wait until other people start eating?"(120) Rosa says this to Bich. Rosa is the single most influential people in Bich's life when it comes to helping her define herself.(Discussed more in detail in other blogs)
What a lesson to teach. Don't wait until others find out who they are. Don't wait to try something just because others haven't tasted it yet. Rosa basically influences Bich in really asking, what are you waiting for? Be you.
Nguyen, Bich. Stealing Buddha's Dinner. New York:Penguin, 2007. Print.
Xu, Wenying (2011) "A Psychoanalytical Approach to Bich Minh Nguyen’s Stealing Buddha’s Dinner," Asian American Literature: Discourses & Pedagogies: Vol. 2, Article 3.
Available at: http://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/aaldp/vol2/iss1/
The Article mostly focus's on the metaphorical use of food in Bich Minh Nguyen's Stealing Buddha's Dinner. Her Argument is that food is universal, and it's what makes the story relate able, as well as what helps the protagonist work through her journey.
Food represents the following to Xu by way of Nguyen: "Nguyen's rite of passage is a culinary text that gestures toward a greater parameter of identity formation. She observes insightfully that in school, "a student was measured by the contents of her lunch bag, which displayed status, class, and parental love""
Food is the only thing Bich has in common with anyone. Everyone always tries new food, everyone consistently eats something different, everyone can afford different types of food.
Food separates everyone, as well as brings everyone together.
It's not a coincidence that breaking bread together helps those who are very different come together.
It's brilliant that Nguyen ties social issues, and how she feels about her everyday life by comparing it to food.
"Eating is a means of becoming-not simply in the sense of nourishment but, more importantly of what we choose to eat, what we can afford to eat, what we secretly carave but are ashamed to eat in front of others"(2)
I think Xu hits the nail on the head here. This article is about appetite. Not just literal food appetite, but also Bich's appetite to become. But to become what? This is the journey she takes, and she used food as a metaphor to do so.
This is why the act of stealing Buddha's dinner becomes so significant. The food given to Buddha, while it is only a piece of fruit, is a very meaningful piece of fruit; just like the bag lunches her schoolmates have hold significance in their quality, the food that is placed in front of Buddha becomes quality.
Bich wants a quality life. She wants to take what is hers. She wants to take her identity. She wants to go grocery shopping and hand pick what she nourishes herself with. After all, you are what you eat.
Maybe she took Buddha's fruit because she wanted to know what about the fruit was so significant that it was worthy to sit there? Perhaps she wants to be worthy of holding such fruit.
The memoir begins with the title "Pringles," obviously an American food. And it ends with "Cha Gio" which is a Vietnamese food. And everything else in between is something from each, or something from another culture. So, as cliche as it may sound, I think this is exactly what Bich becomes. She is a sandwich (Isn't it clever I used food as a metaphor to describe her) Anyway, she is a sandwich, America and Vietnam are the bread, and then she has everything else in between.
"Don't you know you're not supposed to wait until other people start eating?"(120) Rosa says this to Bich. Rosa is the single most influential people in Bich's life when it comes to helping her define herself.(Discussed more in detail in other blogs)
What a lesson to teach. Don't wait until others find out who they are. Don't wait to try something just because others haven't tasted it yet. Rosa basically influences Bich in really asking, what are you waiting for? Be you.
Citations:
Xu, Wenying (2011) "A Psychoanalytical Approach to Bich Minh Nguyen’s Stealing Buddha’s Dinner," Asian American Literature: Discourses & Pedagogies: Vol. 2, Article 3.
Available at: http://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/aaldp/vol2/iss1/
I really appreciate how you apply Xu's analysis of food to a few key moments in the memoir, namely the act of stealing buddha's dinner. I wonder, too, how food allows us to experience various cultures and to ultimately find ourselves--and how Bich craves the ability to eat what she wants to, not just what others give her.
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