A fruitful collaboration on food waste with Food Bank Vietnam

By Linda Liu, FLPC Student

As I walked through the doors of the Ho Chi Minh City Airport into the roiling heat and saw the smoggy horizon, I felt a curious sense of déjà vu. I recalled clearly the smog-filled skies, the motorbike-crowded streets, and the friendly faces of my childhood. Though I grew up in the United States, I was born in an isolated region of China, Shanxi Province, and lived there until I was seven. Vietnam reminded me so viscerally of my childhood. That immediate sense of familiarity stayed with me, and I felt as if I had known the place and people my entire life.

During J-term in 2025, I got the wonderful opportunity to travel to Vietnam along with Michaela Greenlee, a student from the Harvard Public Health School, and clinical instructors Trevor Findley and Regan Plekenpol.

We spent much of our first days familiarizing ourselves with the busy and bustling neighborhoods of Ho Chi Minh City. We marveled at the number of motorbikes, we ate gallons of pho, and we discussed how we were going to approach the upcoming meeting with our partners.

We were greeted on our second full day in Vietnam by our partners at Food Bank Vietnam: Mr. Khoi, Jolie, and Mr. Van. Wearing matching bright green polos, they presented an enthusiastic and united front, an impression that was only strengthened as we got to know them better over the course of the week. Food Bank Vietnam has 23 warehouses across the country, encompassing most geographical regions and population centers. Food Bank Vietnam has undergone remarkable, rapid growth, as the Food Bank was only founded in 2016 but has already attained impressive scale and reach. They have at least ten different programs and initiatives, focusing on women in food, water access, emergency food support, and more, with more launching every year. We got to participate in one of those launches, a highlight of our trip, as I detail below.

During that first meeting, we hammered out some priorities for the next portion of our collaboration. Though the Food Bank already had initiatives targeting school-aged children, they were curious to learn about what other types of documents like infographics they could provide to the schools to use as materials for workshops. They were also eager to explore options to tailor guidelines and manuals for different food-related sectors and industry-specific groups. We also discussed strategies for increasing public awareness of food waste prevention initiatives, the need for date label reform, and the potential for a Good Samaritan law exempting corporations and individuals from legal liability when donating food.

The next time we met, we attended an event organized by Food Bank Vietnam at an orphanage called SOS Children’s Village in Ho Chi Minh City. The event was for “Tet Sum Vay,” held around the Tet holiday to organize activities for the children and prepare and serve traditional Tet foods. We split watermelons and cut Banh Chung with gusto. I especially loved talking to some of the kids about their dreams and future plans. One boy who approached us wanted to be a journalist and conducted an impromptu interview with us on the spot. We also took a tour around the village with our Food Bank partners, and it was so fun to see their affection and advice for the children. It was clear that their mission was driven by compassion and a desire to fulfill not only the material needs of those less fortunate but also the spiritual, emotional, and social needs as well.

We then traveled to the Embassy Language Center in Cam Ranh, Khánh Hòa province to attend the launch of the Food Edu program, complete with musical and dance performances by the children at the Center. The Food Edu program is designed to bring awareness and knowledge of nutrition to the community, specifically to students and local residents. The program will organize workshops and provide materials, among other services, to local residents. We also participated in the packaging of a thousand Banh Chung at the school to be distributed to children in the mountainous regions of the province. Maybe we couldn’t make guarantees that the Banh Chung we made were as good as the ones the children and teachers made, but it was fun to learn how to wrap the banana leaves around the filling of rice, mung beans, and marinated pork. This collaboration with the Food Bank gave us excellent insight into how they prioritized outreach to schools and communities, and their deep roots in rural and suburban areas. The joy of Tet was palpable, and everyone was in high spirits as we wrestled with banana leaves and banana twine.

Aside from our work, we also had time to partake in culinary and cultural adventures around Ho Chi Minh City, the Mekong River Delta, and Nha Trang. In the Mekong River Delta, I drank snake wine and held a real snake. We also tasted a rainbow of fruits: mangosteens, durian, longan, and pomelo. In the streets of Ho Chi Minh and Nha Trang, we ate (or a little past!) our fill and experienced new flavors like sugarcane juice and Bún bò Huế (those of us who were brave also tasted snails). At the War Remnants Museum, I ruminated on the impacts of the Vietnam War on the Vietnamese people and their struggle and resilience in the face of grave injustice.

Generosity of spirit doesn’t begin to describe the warmth and altruism we experienced while working with our partners in Vietnam. The care and attention to detail they paid to all levels of their operation, from the individual child to the organization of large projects and initiatives, was so heartening and so instructive to see. We learned so much on this trip that we’ll be able to apply in other country contexts. I personally will carry the things that I learned and saw in Vietnam with me as I look forward to my next adventures, both in food policy and in life.

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Author’s Bio: Linda Liu is a 3rd year student at Harvard Law School. This is Linda’s second year with the Food Law and Policy Clinic. She is passionate about legal and policy systems impacting food waste and access to food globally. At Harvard, she is an Article Editor for the Journal of Law and Technology and a member of APALSA. Before law school, Linda worked for 2 years in the DC area as a consultant. Linda graduated from Dartmouth College in 2020 with a double major in Economics and History. Outside of law school, Linda enjoys watching basketball, trying new sandwiches, going to art museums, reading, and swimming.