Pet or Food?

we were at a hero mother's home. the title of 'ba me viet nam anh hung' - hero mother - is given to women who contributed and suffered much during the warring years. the profile of a hero mother varies from one to another. for example, one may have lost all her 12 sons in the wars, while another may have fought physically herself. this house we visited, the hero mom is 83, living with her husband who spent 12 years as a POW. their only son died while fighting in one of the wars. apart from a framed certificate declaring her 'heroism', which she hangs on the wall of the house, the hero mom and her husband receive 200,000 dong (13 USD) monthly from the government. compensation? this little piggy looking at us dolefully lives in their kitchen, wondering how big it's going to grow before it lands on the couple's dinner plates.