On Women and Chinese Ritual Food Culture in Penang and Singapore

Abstract

In Malaysia and Singapore, both ordinary and festival foods broadly distinguish ethnic Chinese from Hindus and from Muslims, who do not eat pork. Within the Chinese population, Buddhists, Daoists, and Christians also express different social and spiritual outlooks in their food practices. Strict Buddhists make only vegetarian offerings, Daoists prepare sacrificial offerings of meat, and Chinese Christians, who describe their outlook as modern, do not offer foods of any sort to ancestors or deities. Nonetheless, broad commonalities in Chinese food culture perpetuate a sense of shared identity irrespective of religious affiliation. As food experts in this multi-religious, multi-ethnic setting, women play an important role in the simultaneous reproduction of religious distinction and ethno-cultural unity. Women also sometimes act as agents for change, modifying ritual practices to suit their own taste, values, and sentiments.