PRESERVING TRADITION THROUGH TASTE: CULTURAL MEMORY IN DONG DELICACIES

Traditional foods serve as powerful mediums for encoding cultural values, historical transitions, and communal identity. This study investigates the role of Dong delicacies in preserving and communicating cultural memory, with a focus on their symbolic and semiotic dimensions. Grounded in the migratory and agrarian history of the Dong ethnic group, the research explores how everyday culinary practices—especially those tied to ritual and celebration—function as embodied narratives of place, identity, and continuity. Through a semiotic analysis of representative Dong dishes, the paper examines how food operates not only as sustenance but also as a coded system of meaning that reflects local worldviews and cultural resilience. The study argues that these culinary forms serve as living archives, encoding social relationships, environmental adaptations, and intergenerational memory. Ultimately, Dong cuisine emerges as a site where heritage, identity, and cultural distinctiveness are continually negotiated and reaffirmed.