The Vietnamese cooking legacy: a cultural and post-colonial exploration of food metaphors in Linda Lê's <i>Les Trois Parques</i>

Abstract

Les Trois Parques, written during a period of extreme grief and despair, is an explosion of anger and pain, fuelled by the violent desire to blaspheme, vilify, satirise and rebel against any figures of authority or sanctity, be they God or ancestors, French or Vietnamese. The full strength of such rebellion can be felt in Lê's exploitation of the intrinsic ambivalence attached to food and eating, and her powerful use of food metaphors in Les Trois Parques.