When Quang people honor Quang noodles

Quang noodles are included in the National Intangible Cultural Heritage List.

From Tam Ky, a long-time colleague called back and informed with the familiar "life-changing" way of speaking: "That lousy dish has become a legacy."

Hearing this makes me want to laugh, because of the arrogant and insolent gestures that Quang people are used to showing, it is overflowing in that voice and that silly laugh, the way of "criticizing" that no one can match but is truly proud and joyful.

It can be said that each person, each land, even down to a tiny hamlet, always has its own pride, optimism, and immortality in food, drink, and even in certain laziness. The indigenous culture, through every detail, every “crumb” of life, exists and flourishes from generation to generation.

Quang Nam people are one of the most “strange people”, when they specialize in saying the opposite, “talking back and forth” about the things they love, the things they are proud of. Anything that makes them happy from the bottom of their hearts, bringing tears to their eyes, can also become a funny story, a humorous way of making others laugh, laugh to be moved, then bow their heads in praise.

Like a bowl of Quang noodles, a rustic dish that can be found in every corner of the lives of the Quang people, whether in the locality or far away in the highlands and islands. In the corners of the market or on the street, when people see the sign "Quang Noodles", they will immediately see a "Quang Nam man" who is simple and straightforward, with a humorous and playful voice and a calm face as if nothing strange happened; an old lady or a "Kuàng Nôm" woman who speaks each stuttering sentence, making others panic and laugh strangely.

Quang noodles, therefore, like Quang people, always retain their simple, rustic soul, can be tolerated in any way and can be eaten in any way, “can never die”. Each bowl of noodles is a variation in countless rustic choices, with natural vegetables, seemingly random bowls and dishes, and the rich flavor of Central Vietnamese food, touching it, you can feel a whole space of humorous and loving life.

Quang noodle artisan.

Quang noodles, described by many researchers and book artists, have a history of formation many years, many years in the history of reclaiming land from the south of Hai Van pass, following the footsteps of the armies conquering the land of Champa, then taking root and blending with the land and people to become flesh and blood.

A bowl of noodles is a witness to the most difficult stages of a person's life, breaking the ground to find food, with the first pots of broth containing all kinds of meat, fish, shrimp, crab, etc., all put in, making it very salty, so that it can be easily mixed with vegetables, leaves... to create a dish that fills the stomach, saturates the stomach, and makes one want to continue.

Quang noodles are rice paper noodles that have not yet dried, intended for rainy days when we are hungry, but at the moment there is nothing else to eat, so we grab them, tear them apart and mix them with the filling to get through the meal.

Gradually, the simple people, the good mothers and wives, have become more sophisticated in each pot of broth, each handful of raw vegetables, each fully rolled noodle sheet...

How much sweat and effort, how much love and care, has filled each little bit of care to become a dish, so that after a long day of hard work, the husband and father can return home to a full meal.

Quang noodles, so whatever is available, is one of the most versatile dishes, with chicken, duck, pork, beef, or just noodles dipped in soy sauce.

Cultural researcher Le Tan ( Hue ), a “foodie” who admits he has a connection with many traditional dishes from many regions, commented that Quang noodles are a diverse, unpredictable mass of folk ingredients, which, through skillful hands, unique thinking and especially the passionate love of the people of Quang, of the women of Quang Nam, become a folk delicacy, a symbol of care and love.

Quang people have tried to count how many types of Quang noodles have been created over the past few hundred years, but until now they are still counting, and Quang people are still "arguing" about whether to call it noodles or noodles...

The joyful moment of the people of Quang when their traditional dish was listed as intangible cultural heritage, was truly remarkable, not from any noisy honor, but from… arguments, through the way of information that constantly teased people.

Behind those sounds, there is a heart dancing with joy with wishes and desires, hoping to make the homeland's cuisine famous, and tears suddenly flowing because of remembering my mother lighting the stove every afternoon, my father coming home from the field at noon sitting cross-legged on the doorstep and hastily eating a bowl of noodles to satisfy his ravenous hunger.

That Quang noodles or Hue beef noodles, that Nau rice vermicelli or Tra Khuc don ton, are all the imprints of a hundred years of blood and sweat of our ancestors that have been condensed into shape, and permeate the hearts of every person when they think of their homeland. So that today’s Quang people, right in their homeland, mention their homeland, and in faraway places, proudly pick up chopsticks to mix a handful of vegetables with “rin” nhon my fish sauce, happily tell jokes, happily show off, having another heritage in their hearts.

Quang Nam honors Quang noodles, or each Quang Nam person is proud of their hometown cuisine, is an opportunity for love to spread, for each person to naturally talk about the past, and wish to have more, life's imprints, human imprints, with each place they set foot, filled with the word love!

Source: https://baoquangnam.vn/khi-nguoi-quang-vinh-danh-my-quang-3139409.html