The vast fields of my hometown used to grow rice, but now they have been replaced by factories and workshops. I looked around absentmindedly, suddenly craving a bowl of crab soup. Outside the yard, my mother was bending over with each rhythmic sweep of the broom. “I want to go to the market to buy some crabs to cook soup.” My mother stopped her broom and turned to me, her voice heavy: “Who sells crabs anymore to buy, my child?”
I thought I had misheard, but my mother confirmed again that no one in the market sells field crabs anymore. The reason is not because field crabs are cheap, nor because no one catches them, but because around the fields and along the canals, field crabs can no longer live. My mother said that since the industrial park was built, the field crabs have gradually disappeared. No wonder the last time I went back to my hometown, I didn't see my mother cooking field crab soup with some small vegetables like before.
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| Illustration: Tra My |
In the old days, when the whole field was full of rice, there were countless crabs. When the rice was ripe, the rice flowers fell, and the perch, crucian carp, and even the crabs followed them, each one fat and plump. During the harvest season, besides fish, grasshoppers, and crickets, crabs were something that we children loved very much. Every time we followed the adults to harvest, the children did not forget to bring a plastic bucket or rattan basket with them to catch crabs. After a harvest session, following the rice fields, we would definitely catch a bunch of crabs to prepare a delicious meal.
The wriggling crabs, sometimes writhing painfully, are the childhood memories of poor children in the countryside. Crab soup cooked with wild vegetables from the home garden is a cool and nutritious soup, and when mentioned, everyone craves and misses it. We, as children, still remember the grilled crab dish with its irresistible aroma. The fire was lit, and each skewer of crab was clamped with a stick and grilled over hot coals. Opening the slightly burnt shell, the fatty and sweet crab fat flowed out, and when you put your mouth to it and sip, you heard a delicious sizzling sound. The cool sweetness penetrated to the heart. You still craved it until the last crab.
The more I think about it, the more I miss the old days. Field crabs are not only a childhood dish but also a nutritious dish for many farming families.
Nowadays, in supermarkets and food stores in big cities, people still sell a lot of bags of pre-processed field crabs, which you just need to cook when you buy them. But no one knows how many main ingredients are from crabs in those pre-processed packages? And even if you buy it from the store, the crab soup you cook will not be as delicious as the soup you make yourself from crabs caught in the fields. The regret continues, lingering in my heart. And sometimes in my dreams, my mother's words echo: "Who sells field crabs anymore, my child?"...
Source: https://baodaklak.vn/van-hoa-du-lich-van-hoc-nghe-thuat/van-hoc-nghe-thuat/202506/cua-dong-ai-ban-ma-mua-c1f0aa1/
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