Fish sauce hotpot, a dish that has long been a favorite of the people of Vi Thanh - Hoa Luu region.
In meals, rice is always the main staple food. Rice is milled from paddy; paddy is harvested from crops planted by farmers in the local area. Following rice, the Hoa Luu - Vi Thanh region has an abundant supply of nutritious food such as: pork, chicken, duck, fish, shrimp, eel, frog, etc.
During the pioneering period, many forest and aquatic products such as wild boars, civets, snakes, turtles, horseshoe crabs, birds of prey, water birds, and even crocodiles, became common food items in meals and drinking parties.
Around the home garden, in the fields, or along the edge of the forest lies a treasure trove of natural or cultivated green vegetables. These include water spinach, water morning glory, water hyacinth, water chestnut, water spinach, amaranth, water mimosa, water taro, water spinach, watercress, water spinach, and more. Homegrown vegetables include herbs, gourds, pumpkins, cucumbers, melons, taro, and yam. For seasoning, there are various types of chili peppers, bananas (both whole and young), onions, ginger, black pepper, sawtooth coriander, and culantro.
With an abundant supply of food at hand, housewives skillfully prepared dishes using the simplest methods: boiling, cooking, grilling, frying, braising, etc. Gradually, through their skillful hands, housewives also created many other dishes using creative methods such as steaming, braising with fish sauce, etc. Later, they even created the distinctive fish sauce hot pot.
A common feature is that all three ethnic groups eat three meals a day (breakfast, lunch, and dinner), with the Chinese having porridge for breakfast. For farmers, in the past, lunch served to support laborers working while standing. They often ate rice with raw or steamed fish sauce, or sticky rice with beans and sugar, instead of rice. They usually cooked extra rice in the morning so that when they were hungry at lunchtime, they could eat leftover rice or fried rice.
Over time, the meals of the people of Vi Thanh - Hoa Luu have evolved, with soups becoming the main dish, including sweet vegetable soup with fish, sour snakehead fish soup, and the most popular sour eel soup. Later, the sour soup became more creative and varied. Besides everyday dishes, there are occasionally special, sometimes more luxurious, dishes such as shredded chicken, braised pork and shrimp, fried catfish with ginger fish sauce, and minced snakehead fish cakes. During Tet (Vietnamese New Year), braised pork (braised in soy sauce) is a must-have on the offering table, and on death anniversaries, bitter melon stuffed with meat is added.
Through cohabitation and cultural exchange, the three ethnic communities have developed similar and different tastes and preferences. For example, both the Vietnamese and Khmer enjoy eating freshwater fish, fermented fish paste, and dipping them in fish sauce; however, the Khmer prefer a more distinctive type of fermented fish paste: prahoc and siem lo. Meanwhile, the Chinese do not eat fermented fish paste or dip it in fish sauce, but prefer dried salted sea fish (sea fish salted and aged) and dipping it in soy sauce. In their early days, the Chinese often cultivated fields of potatoes, radishes, and mustard greens, which gradually became popular side dishes, and the Vietnamese also enjoyed them.
In modern times, dishes have become more elaborate and luxurious. They are only prepared for special occasions such as: "Cù lao" (a type of hot pot), mixed hot pot, Thai hot pot, steamed fish, chicken stew, chicken curry, etc. The Chinese have established restaurants that roast pigs for offerings during agricultural and worker festivals, and family gatherings.
Besides meals, the residents of Hoa Luu - Vi Thanh also hold drinking parties when chatting with relatives and neighbors or entertaining guests. Sometimes, after catching a snake, a turtle, a few mice, or birds like egrets and herons in the fields, they readily cook and prepare them into a feast, inviting everyone to join in the fun. Often, when there isn't enough food, they just pick a few unripe bananas, dip them in fermented rice, and still have a cheerful drinking party.
Since ancient times, due to the abundant food resources in the Hoa Luu - Vi Thanh region, many delicious and nutritious dishes have been created. People from the highlands are often surprised to find that the locals are accustomed to eating snakes, turtles, weasels, birds, and rats, and are very fond of dishes made with fermented fish paste, such as raw fermented fish paste, stewed fermented fish paste, steamed fermented fish paste, or fermented fish paste hotpot.
In particular, the people of Hoa Luu - Vi Thanh also enjoy making and eating cakes after meals as a form of snacking or light meal. Popular cakes include banana cake, tapioca cake, rice cake, leaf-wrapped cake, etc., along with various sweet soups such as mung bean sweet soup and sweet potato sweet soup, which are often prepared and served at home, especially at parties and gatherings.
The first birthday celebration must include sweet soup and sticky rice; the death anniversary requires sticky rice cakes and glutinous rice cakes; weddings have trays of cookies and sponge cake. On the fifth day of the fifth lunar month, people wrap sticky rice cakes in bamboo leaves; the Khmer people make flattened rice flakes; and the Chinese make rice cakes and beef cakes (eaten with roasted pork).
REFRESHING TASTE
Source: https://baohaugiang.com.vn/am-thuc/am-thuc-vung-dat-vi-thanh-hoa-luu-133856.html
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