Dual Worlds Foods Community and The Dead: Foodways of All Souls’ Day at Nong Saeng Catholic Community

Abstract

          The objective of this article was to explore dietary figuration used during the Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed at Nong Saeng Catholic Cemetery, St. Anna’s Church in Nakhon Phanom Province. The research discovered that Thais of Vietnamese descent have food way that are required in important rituals. The present of such foods signify their congregation, flexibility, and assimilation. These characteristics resulted in plurality of the ritual-based foods and its denoted meaning. Dual Worlds Food is a term that elaborates the emotional bond in responding to fear of hunger. This compelling force invigorates the conceptualization of the afterlife world for which foods serve as a medium that connects these worlds. Furthermore, foods also illustrate the phenomenon concerning figuration and multi-dimensional aspect of the community of the dead.