In this blog post, Kien Dang, Programme Coordinator of the Land Use Policy Analysis for Poverty Alleviation (LUPAPA) under Livelihood Sovereignty Alliance (LISO), explores food security in Vietnam. She shares her experiences of working with the local Dao Indigenous people to learn about local varieties of edible forest foods, and highlights what we can learn from Vietnam’s effective response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
My name is Kien, and I earned my degree in geography and environmental science and later went on to do a Masters in forestry science and management. I now work with remote local communities, and I currently work for a small local NGO named SPERI in the Livelihood Sovereignty Alliance (LISO), in Vietnam.
In 2016, I was part of the Social Policy Ecology Research Institute (SPERI) local team researching traditional knowledge of plants. This is when I first met Cory Whitney, researcher at the University of Bonn, who was visiting our Human Ecology Practical Area (HEPA) Farmers Field School site HEPA Eco-Farming School, based in the Ha Tinh province, Northern Central region of Vietnam. Our research began with fieldwork, visiting HEPA tracks and locations, where we documented wild plant species. After the fieldwork in HEPA, Cory and others published an article, titled, Learning with Elders: Human Ecology and Ethnobotany Explorations in Northern and Central Vietnam in the journal, Human Organisation. This article draws on research with elders from eight ethnic groups across northern and central Vietnam, uncovering how traditional knowledge helps protect biodiversity. We documented local uses of hundreds of plant species from herbs and climbers to shrubs and trees. Using an approach developed by Indigenous groups in the Mekong region, it shows that traditional practices and beliefs play a powerful role in conserving Vietnam’s rich plant life. Since then, our shared research interests focus on edible forest foods and wild forest vegetables.
During the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021, I first received an email from Cory, asking for input on a proposal related to the food environment, which included food security, nutrition, access to food, food environment, resilience, and so on.
The COVID-19 pandemic raised debate about the fragility of the world’s food system. It exposed issues and vulnerabilities in the supply chains and raised urgent questions: How can we ensure food security in a future pandemic? How can we build resilience in conventional food systems? And how do we search for alternative food sources? whether this is new materials, genetics, plants, or species. While the COVID-19 pandemic affected a huge number of people and caused many deaths worldwide, the situation in Vietnam was largely controlled. Although the pandemic was controlled in Vietnam in terms of casualties, through it surfaced questions about the country’s food security and long-term resilience.
Vietnam’s Food Security: COVID-19 and Now
Despite the chaos brought by COVID-19, Vietnam gained global recognition for the unity shown by its citizens u in combating the virus. The movement and solidarity spread across all corners of Vietnam, calling for different strategies to ensure food security, preventing food shortages, and to build a food environment that is accessible, agroecological, nutritious and affordable.
In the face of COVID-19, the government emphasised the distribution of food to rural and urban regions to ensure everyone gets access to essentials such as rice and vegetables. However, despite these efforts, there are still areas where access to food shortages persisted, particularly in remote villages. Storms and other climate impacts continue to be a key problem for food access in Vietnam, as flooding often buries and destroys rice and crops. Recently, on the 10th of October 2025, the Cao Bang province received 600 tons of rice to feed the population after storms swept through the region, and with Vietnam currently expecting more extreme weather, Vietnam’s food security remains at risk.
The Importance of Food Security
Building an environment where food security is nationally reliable is an urgent priority. This means ensuring that food production remains local, sustainable and nutritious. The disruptions to the food value chain in food during the pandemic revealed how fragile access to food could be in times of crisis, and the possible alternative direction could be to strengthen the local value-chain rather than being dependent on global ones. Currently, the conventional food system relies heavily on imported seeds and agricultural inputs that are costly, and often fails to reach remote populations. My research therefore focusses on rethinking this conventional approach and instead looking at local seed varieties, and species instead.
I began to focus on which species or crop varieties could be considered, tested and cultivated to thrive despite the climate-related loss of biodiversity. The widespread use of chemical substances in farming has already affected biodiversity. Therefore, developing and protecting seeds and/or plant varieties that can be resilient against climatic conditions (or climate change impacts) was particularly important. A key question that I became particularly interested in is how we can create a food environment that promotes health and well-being for everyone. Beyond ensuring access to food, another equally important aspect involves the strengthening the knowledge needed to cultivate and conserve local crop species and varieties.
After reflecting on food security in Vietnam, I discussed with Cory ‘s proposal and shared my thoughts. I suggested focusing on edible forest foods, a vital area yet still remaining under-represented, with limited support and research attention in Vietnam. This led me to highlight the role of local communities, particularly from remote, mountainous and vulnerable ethnic minorities and Indigenous groups, in sustaining and revitalising local food systems.
These are areas where food insecurity is a prevalent issue, yet there is not much scholarship or support focused on this particular topic. Through both my research and practical experience reviewing many landscapes and regions of Vietnam, it has become clear to me that the participation and knowledge of local indigenous villagers in managing and understanding their own food sources could make a significant contribution to scholarship and to combating food insecurity.
Most conventional approaches that study local food access, even by Vietnamese social scientists, tend to overlook Indigenous (or ethnic minorities) peoples. The absence of their knowledge and practices within the food system such as their understanding and local knowledge of species, varieties, and or food processing methods represents a major gap that needs to be addressed.
Partnership with the Nutrition Intervention Forecasting and Monitoring Project
The NIFAM (Nutrition Intervention Forecasting and Monitoring) project is part of the Institute for Horticultural Sciences at the Institute of Crop Sciences and Resource Conservation, University of Bonn. This project aims to identify and develop interventions that sustainably improve nutrition and reduce all forms of malnutrition, directly contributing to the achievement of Sustainable Development Goal 2 (Zero Hunger). Under Cory’s leadership, NIFAM became a reality in 2022.
I was fortunate to receive some support from NIFAM to carry out field activities with the Ca Doong indigenous minority in the (old) Kon Tum province, Central Highlands of Vietnam. More recently, I have been working with the local Dzao community in the Ba Vi area to learn and document edible forest goods.
Studying the Edible Foods with the Dzao Community
The indigenous Dzao community lives in the buffer zone of Ba Vi National Park. The Dzao community’s access to the surrounding forest and their traditional knowledge on edible forest foods is poorly understood and not well documented, despite the rich unwritten history about the Dzao’s relationship with the surrounding forests.
Currently, the edible forest foods collected by the Dzao community and their uses in relation to dietary diversity have not been studied. Our field research focused on exploring and documenting edible forest foods, with the goal of supporting conservation, promoting sustainable use, and encouraging their integration into local diets.
Our local research team consisted of people from different organisations including the Plant Resources Centre, the Forestry Inventory and Planning Institute, Ba Vi national park and also representatives from the Dao indigenous people. Together, we went through various stages of research. We first met and presented our ideas to local park rangers and a traditional Dzao women’s group.
Introducing this new theme on edible forest foods triggered their curiosity and surprise at first, as individuals at the meeting did not think that anyone would be interested to learn about this topic. During the meeting, we also discussed the cultural significance of forests as sacred places in the traditional memories of the Dao and shared some traditional stories about how people would find and gather forest foods. Then, our exploratory trips began.
Fieldwork with the Dzao Community
During these trips, we worked with a diverse group of people including practitioners and scientists, forest rangers, local Dzao men and youths, female healers, traditional elders, specialists working in gene-banks, villagers, and community development workers. We conducted transect walks across various heights of topography, looking at vegetation and undergrowth as we searched for edible forest foods. Through continuous exchanges, discussions, debates, and various drafts, we are now approaching the final stage of the project – preparing to print a list of 31 edible forest foods to share with children and use in educational settings. In total, we spoke to 31 families (or 31 individual informants) in the Dzao Indigenous local community to document their vast knowledge about the growth, cultivation and use of forest foods.
The study on wild vegetables used by the Dao people in Ba Vi involved 31 informants, including 22 men and 9 women. Through field research, we identified 80 different plant species, of which 76 were provided by men and 66 were provided by women. The average age of participants across both genders was approximately 53 years.
We are now organising a children’s forest food camp to reshare the knowledge documented. The camp will provide outdoor learning spaces where small groups of children can connect and learn from nature and observe the diversity of edible forest species firsthand.
Interested in viewing the full booklet? Contact Dang Kien on dtkien@speri.org and she will share it with you.
Opportunities and Obstacles in Sharing My Work
Encouraged by our successful research and under the advice of by Cory White, I submitted an abstract about our research to the XXVI International Conference of the Society for Human Ecology conference’s call which took place in Belgium at University of Mons, June 16-19, 2025. I was happy to learn that I had been selected to present my findings for a presentation. I next applied for the Global South Colloquium Fund (an outreach programme from Third World Quarterly journal) to support my travel from Vietnam to Belgium which I was happy to learn was also accepted. However, unfortunately, I failed to obtain the visa from the Embassy of Belgium here in Hanoi which meant I was unable to attend the conference. The reason for the visa rejection remains unclear. Although I could not present at the SHE Conference in Belgium, I write this blog post with the aim of sharing my fieldwork research process and findings with the hope that they will contribute to ongoing discussions in this area.
Next Steps and Collaborations
Our research is now in its final two stages of knowledge documentation. The first involves refining the list of 17 edible species into a shorter list for nutritious food that is easy to use in cooking. We will present this list to children as a public learning outreach resource. The second stage includes a broader compilation of the 31 edible species, each accompanied by a simple description and information for genes banks.
Through this article, my team and I wish to highlight the importance of edible forest foods and encourage other scholars to explore this under-researched topic further.
We are currently seeking collaborations and support to establish community gardens in and near the Ba Vi area (near Hanoi city) and also Da Lat, Lam Dong province areas. We also invite researchers to join us who are interested in analysing forest food species for their nutritious value for humans’ wellbeing, and their potential role in restoring ecosystems.
If you are interested in taking part or collaborating with us, you can contact me on dtkien@speri.org.
Acknowledgements
I wish to express my sincere thanks to Cory Whitney who inspired and supported me in my research on edible forest foods. I want to thank the villagers and colleagues who shared their interest and support. I am grateful to Sara from Sweden for directing me to the Global South Colloquium Fund grant, and to David Green for the travel support. I would also like to thank Mira Mookerjee and the other colleagues at the Global Souths Hub for encouraging me to write this article and share our research journey with you.
About Kien Dang
Kien Dang is the Programme Coordinator of the Land Use Policy Analysis for Poverty Alleviation (LUPAPA) under Livelihood Sovereignty Alliance (LISO). She focuses on local initiatives in forest governance, empowerment and development for indigenous ethnic minority youths in eco-farming.
