The postpartum rituals of Vietnamese culture stem from the long-held tradition of “sitting the month” (zuò yuè zǐ), dating back more than 2,000 years to the Western Han Dynasty of China. The resting period after birth was deemed essential to the mother’s ability to recover and avoid ill health in later years. Traditional Vietnamese medicine, which combines traditional Chinese medicine (thuốc bắc) and indigenous Vietnamese folk medicine (thuốc nam), believes that health is obtained through the balance of âm, the male / the heat and the blood, and dương, the female / the cold and the breath. Pregnancy is considered to be a ‘hot state’ that then transitions the mother into a vulnerable ‘cold state’ after birth through the loss of blood. By extension, specific foods are classified as ‘hot’ or ‘cold’ based on their intrinsic properties. 

During the postpartum period, mothers are encouraged to consume ‘hot’ foods such as ginger, longan, jujubes, and goji berries, while strictly avoiding ‘cold’ foods such as raw fruits and vegetables and iced beverages. As someone raised by a long lineage of matriarchs, I went down my own rabbit-hole researching traditional dishes that my grandmother, Vinh Thi Trương, once known as a village healer, prepared for my mother when she was recovering from childbirth. I’m honored to be able to share these dishes as tribute to the ancestral knowledge passed onto me as well as as testament to the belief that food holds the power to heal, restore, and bring harmony to our mind and bodies.