Childhood flavors from the sidewalk

Central region's banh beo tray evokes childhood memories in the heart of the city

The smell of memory

The more we are exposed to a flavor, the more we tend to like it. Perhaps that is why childhood dishes or mother's cooking often become the most delicious flavors in many people's memories.

Childhood is probably the stage where everyone can be satisfied with the purest heart. A snail sandwich. A bunch of bear cakes with cream filling. Sticky buns, pig ear cakes or a glass of sweet and sour tamarind ice. Just that is enough to make children happy all day.

When we were a little older, we eagerly awaited the meals our mothers cooked. It was sour soup with crucian carp, stir-fried morning glory with garlic, or scrambled eggs with minced meat. These simple dishes carried the flavor of the past, making us miss them so much.

One day, seeing somewhere on the side of the road an ice cream cone cart, in a winding alley a restaurant serving authentic local cuisine, or a shabby sidewalk stand selling corn and roasted sweet potatoes with a glowing charcoal stove, my heart felt like it was on fire.

Childhood snail cake at a street corner.

Amidst the hustle and bustle, the sidewalk is like a momentary stop for the vehicles making a living. It is a refuge for some wandering lives using the flavors of childhood to make a living. And it is also a space that revives the nostalgic flavors of the previous generation.

Smell of the city

Having been attached to the city for nearly ten years, I don’t know since when, the sidewalks and streets have gradually become my favorite destinations. There are days when I come home late from work, passing by a brightly lit cart on the side of the road, emitting the fragrant aroma of banh thuan, I suddenly miss the days before Tet when I mixed flour and made banh thuan with my mother, and then my legs can’t walk anymore.

Or one day, after waking up from a light sleep, I suddenly craved some Central Vietnamese banh beo (rice cake) and decided to take my bike around the corners of the streets to find the taste of my childhood. I went down to a sidewalk restaurant and ordered a dozen hot bowls, and suddenly I felt like the city was my hometown.

The taste of food is something that people do not only use their tongue to taste. According to Ms. Kathrin Ohla - Head of the research team at the German Institute of Human Nutrition - the perception of flavor requires a combination of all five senses: sight, hearing, smell, touch, taste.

Tamarind ice cup or spicy cake package on the sidewalk as a child.

In other words, flavor is influenced by what we see, hear, smell, touch, and finally taste. Therefore, the taste of childhood in Saigon cuisine originates from the diners' longing eyes.

Next comes the childhood jingle of an ice cream bell or the sizzling sound of pancakes falling from a frying pan. Then comes the fragrant aroma of baked sweet potatoes or steamed buns. The soft touch of flan or coconut jelly. Finally, the sweet and sour taste of a home-cooked meal, prepared by mom.

Only when seeing, hearing, smelling, touching, and tasting, can one fully feel the combined flavor of buried memories. I remember once standing there, just watching the candy seller pull each thin thread into a crispy piece of cake. Along with the noisy car horns, the flavor of childhood suddenly intermingled with real life right on the street side.

If the city is a land of many colors, then the cuisine here is the hydrangea rooted in that special area. The variation in taste of each dish and drink according to the personal and regional mark becomes a very unique existence in memory.

The taste of the city is not only limited to the touch of the tongue when tasting sour, spicy, salty, bitter, sweet. But more than that, it encompasses the colors of the food, the sounds of cooking, the aroma, the emotions, the flavors. It is a whole crystallized from experience and expectation.

Therefore, for each person, the taste of the city has its own unique, unmistakable flavor. As for me, in the heart of an immigrant living far away from home for nearly a decade, the taste of my childhood with the smell of my hometown is the beloved taste of the city that cannot be mixed with any other city. So that when I am far away, I miss it, when I am close, I love it!

Source: https://baoquangnam.vn/mui-vi-tuoi-tho-tu-via-he-3155467.html