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Issue 4 - Good Morning Vietnam |
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Happy Gourmet has recently been able to say Good Morning Vietnam during a wonderful few weeks spent in this vibrant and lush country. From the north to the south and then into the central highlands, we saw a country which has picked itself up to become the second biggest producer of rice in the world as well as being one of its major growers of coffee.
Good Morning Vietnam
Fish Sauce with everything
Happy Gourmet has recently been able to say Good Morning Vietnam during a wonderful few weeks spent in this vibrant and lush country. From the north to the south and then into the central highlands, we saw a country which has picked itself up to become the second biggest producer of rice in the world as well as being one of its major growers of coffee. We saw industrious farmers and their families growing everything from the aforementioned rice and coffee and tea to a bewildering variety of fruits and vegetables and herbs.
No one need starve here they told us and from what we saw this would be right. Terraced fields in the hills, persimmon trees dripping with their orange globes, wonderfully shaped dragon fruit, oranges, bananas, pineapples, herbs vegetables, melons, sugar cane in a country that is incredibly fertile.
Not only is the land bursting with nature's bounty but Vietnam, with 3451 km of coastline, was a revelation for the quality and the freshness of its seafood.
All this abundance really becomes apparent when you go to the food markets which are part of daily life. Just like in Italy or France, everyone buys fresh every day, and often two or three times a day, and it seems as if everyone eats all the time. Bowls of slithering noodles in aromatic broth (pho) are part of the morning ritual and at 6.30am children eat this before the first shift of school. As so much of Vietnamese life happens in the streets, you see the children in their starched white shirts, navy skirts or trousers for boys, getting themselves ready for the 7.00am start. Those children who are in the later time slot of 1pm - 5pm are usually out on the streets selling postcards or books or just helping the family.
Part of our visit to Vietnam was focussed on food - going to cooking demonstrations, visiting chefs, shopping in the markets, trying different foods and learning about the cuisine, which must be one of the healthiest in the world. Light and fresh with great bowls of fresh green leaves and herbs which you use either to wrap around other ingredients or as an ingredient in itself to place with others in won ton sheets or pancakes. Small charcoal burners for grilling chicken, fish or pork come to the table, as do steamboats filled with fragrant broth. For the vegetarians there is tofu cooked in many different ways - a legacy of the buddhist faith practised by many. Always there is fish sauce or nuoc mam to be used as a marinade, a dipping sauce or as a condiment on the table. We learnt to differentiate between a good fish sauce and a bad by colour, taste and thickness.
We noticed that every part of the beast or the plant was used for cooking whether it be from animal or vegetable ranging from fried pig's ears to banana flower salad.
Also exploded was the myth about eating dog. We learnt that no one could ever be fed dog instead of any other type of meat. The price of dog meat - and they are bred specially for the table in much the same way that chickens, lambs or pigs are here - is extremely expensive and is only available in speciality restaurants called Thit cho or Thit cay.
Speciality restaurants are quite usual in Vietnam and one of the best we visited was in Hanoi which served only catfish. Catfish is delicious and this catfish doubly so because it was marinated in a wonderful flavoursome sauce. However, no matter how much we asked, and one of our party spoke fluent Vietnamese, there was no way our host would give us the recipe. Turmeric, garlic and oil were obvious but the rest of the ingredients remained a mystery. The catfish was then threaded on skewers of sugar cane then brought to the table in a pan on a charcoal burner. Also brought to the table were bowls of bean shoots, fine vermicelli noodles, spring onions which all went into the pan with the fish. Once everything was heated throug, into your bowl went the noodles and fish mixture, fresh Vietnamese mint and basil which tastes of aniseed, and over the top the ubiquitous nuoc mam and handful of peanuts. Absolutely delicious.
Hanoi is also home to a wonderful Australian named Jimmy Phan. Jimmy came to Australia on a boat with his parents and was brought up in Melbourne. He went back to Vietnam a few years ago to see the country of his birth and was horrified by the plight of the street children some of whom were half castes and not accepted by any society. He has set up a wonderful restaurant called KOTO which translates to Know One Teach One. In this restaurant everyone who works there from the waiters to the kitchen staff, from the manager to the chef was a street child. Jimmy's plan, which has worked brilliantly, was to train the children in the hospitality industry which he saw had huge potential. How right he was.
His children, who live in houses dotted about the city, are now in great demand by the hotels and restaurants in Hanoi. Box Hill TAFE from Victoria is helping to train them in their own hospitality school, which also teaches the students, English.
It was truly inspirational to visit and to hear about the work of KOTO. Jimmy is always running out of money for his project even though the Australian, Danish, British and Swiss Embassies support him and we plan to have KOTO on our donation list each year.
From Hanoi it was on to the ancient capital of Hué and then to Hoi An, famous for its tailors who can make anything but also famous for its regional cuisine. The specialities in Hoi An are Cao Lau - a pork noodle salad, White Roses - beautiful soft steamed wontons made with glutinous rice flour and filled with pork, and a fried won ton which was covered with a tomato onion mixture looking for all the world like a nachos. We were surprised by the use of tomatoes, obviously French influenced, but used extensively in the cuisine.
Visiting the markets became part of the enormous pleasure of our visit. We came back to Australia with dried strawberries, mulberries, persimmons, artichoke and green tea and other interesting items that we picked up from the markets in Dalat - a town up in the Central Highlands which, because of its cool weather, is able to grow European style fruits and vegetables. This area is where the tea and coffee is also grown. From the Saigon markets we bought kilos of cashew nuts which are the best I have ever eaten and which are incredibly cheap compared to what we pay in Australia.
It was in the main market in Saigon or Ho Chi Minh city, that I saw 32 varieties of rice for sale and 23 varieties of noodles.
We had expected to see a greater French influence in the foods of Vietnam but apart from pastries and wonderful breads and the use of vegetables like tomatoes, it was not all that apparent. What was a revelation was the cost of the meals - we thought we were being very extravagant if we paid more than $US7.00 a head for a four or five course meal!
Vietnam has become a destination of choice for Australians and it well deserves the praise it gets. Be sure that you go there soon whilst it is unspoilt. It has to be one of the most beautiful countries you will ever see, with friendly and hospitable people and with a cuisine that is a delight.
See you next time
The Happy Gourmet
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