Who Owns the Kitchen?

Kitchen is conventionally a mother-in-law’s territory. It is difficult for a young bride to change the old-fashioned way continued by her mother-in-law.

Usually a big pot is used for complementary meals training provided in developing countries, but we asked each participant to bring ingredients and small pot in this project. Moreover, we provided the training not in the Vietnamese language, the official language of this country, but in the languages of each minority group and encouraged each participant originality and ingenuity. As a result, this cooking training became not just a place for gaining knowledge and learning recipes, but also an opportunity for gaining an experience that could immediately practice at home.

As this self-directed training continues, we could see changes on messy and unsanitary kitchens in this region. The kitchens got organized and the sanitary condition was greatly improved; moreover, people became to have more kitchenware, tableware, and seasonings. Mothers-in-law cannot feel bad about these changes. From the nutritional point of view, it was a favorable change that the number of dishes prepared for meals was increased. Originality and ingenuity that each participant tried at home are shared in the next training. The cooking training for complementary meals gradually became to a place for mothers to share information and exchange ideas. FIDR actively supported these changes.

Changes have been seen in the cluttered and unsanitary kitchen. We came to know that some fathers were interested in getting involved in raising children and invited these fathers to cooking training for complementary meals. Gradually, the number of fathers joining the training increased, and some fathers started helping their wives cook and take care of their children. There is a custom in this area that women are responsible for housework, parenting, and farming while men do not work so much. However, this project has contributed to change the awareness of housework by couples, in particular in younger generations.