FOOD NEVER FORGETS: DIGITAL FOODPRINTS AND COLLECTIVE MEMORIES OF VIETNAMESE FACEBOOK GROUP

To understand how the Vietnamese diasporic community navigates the tensions and conflicts with both home and host countries, in this article, I draw on a study designed to transcend geographical boundaries and follow the community’s digital footprints on Facebook. I describe how participants of the Vietnamese Food Group, as a segment of the Vietnamese diasporic community, have used their online foodways sharing to reclaim collective memories across borders and imprint their collective memories as legitimate historical accounts. I illustrate the potential sociocultural power of food and online foodway sharing to broaden geographic boundaries; overcome dialectal differences, discrimination, and political conflicts; and imagine and connect communities.