Taste
Tu Lam temple affects the body through taste by serving vegetarian Vietnamese food every sunday to all visitors for free. Pictured on the left are some of the food they serve. Food is important to a place's affect as food “creates place by contributing to cultural identity, economic opportunity, and social structure, suggesting a co-constitutive and dynamic relationship" (Joassart-Marcelli and Bosco 3). This delicious Vietnamese food is made vegetarian because it adheres to Buddhist beliefs and practices of not harming animals and people. Therefore, the temple helps ground the public's belief in Buddhism by helping them practice Buddhist vegetarianism. The temple's food also helps reinforce a Vietnamese cultural identity to the visitors because all of the food is made by volunteers in the kitchen as they serve tens of visitors each sunday.