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| A factory making loc cakes in Hue |
A journey from South America
Cassava is an easy-to-grow food crop that quickly spread worldwide due to its optimal starch production, providing carbohydrates at the best price. History recorded that cassava's origin is in the tropical regions of South America; specifically Brazil, which exported the first cassava cuttings around the world - the Manihot utilissima species.
From Brazil, cassava was brought west, then to Central Africa. Merchant ships brought cassava tubers on board as food for the crew, and Arab traders brought it to the African continent. As the Atlantic became more widely known, after the Portuguese sailed around the Cape of Good Hope, discovering the route to the East Indies, sailing ships often had to stop at the Brazilian coast to take full advantage of the wind currents. From there, they became familiar with the cassava plant and transported it to Indian Ocean ports. The cassava plant reached Goa (western India) in the late 16th century. It was Mabé de la Bourdonnais, from Brazil in 1735, transported the first cassava cuttings to the French Isles when he was a Governor. It was planted in La Bourdonnais' garden on his private estate “Mon Plaisir”, which later became the Jardin des Pample-mousses. This garden was acquired by the East India Company in 1737, and the following year, this company sent the cuttings to Reunion Island on the sailing ship Griffon.
From the French Isles, which was once a naval base in the Indian Ocean, cassava was quickly spread everywhere: to Java in 1740 but received little interest until it was mentioned in a Dutch newspaper in 1828. Cassava was also brought from the French Isles to Ceylon (the former name of Sri Lanka) in 1786. However, in 1794, cassava cuttings, transported from South America, arrived in Calcutta (West Bengal, India). In 1840, cassava was grown in Penang, and in 1855, cassava flour was produced in Malaysia; from Malaysia cassava entered Vietnam around the late 18th century. By the early 19th century, the cassava plant found its way from folk food into royal meals of the Nguyen Dynasty with two dishes: white cassava cake and red cassava cake (according to the Hoi dien).
Returning to the Americas after nearly 5 centuries
Thanks to its ease of cultivation and suitability for high and dry terrain, providing an effective food source, cassava quickly became popular throughout Vietnam. By the early 20th century, the development of plantations and industrial crops by the French increased the area and output of cassava for export, especially bitter varieties for processing into starch products (sweet cassava was used for direct consumption).
In folk life, harvested cassava is eaten fresh or dried for use as food, animal feed, or industrial products. Specifically in Hue, because the harvest occurred before the rainy season, the tubers were prone to rot, while there was not enough sunlight to dry them. Folk knowledge of preservation helped Hue people create a method of grinding and soak it in water to filter out toxins and plant residues, from which it was named bot loc (tapioca starch).
The bot loc was then stored in water, which was changed daily or every two days, became an essential food during the lean season, with three main types: bot loc, bot mu, and bot lon. Notably, the frugal and elegant elements of Hue Imperial Capital helped diversify it into many vegetarian and non-vegetarian dishes, from boiling, grilling, cooking, frying, and stewing, creating a unique culinary experience: porridge, noodles, cakes (sweet, non-vegetarian, vegetarian), stews, and sweet soups. Among these, loc cake is a typical dish of Hue, distinguished as vegetarian or non-vegetarian, with two types: tran (quai vac, bare without banana leaf wrapping), and goi (wrapped in banana leaf), with various fillings like shrimp, pork, peanuts, la nem (Allium schoenoprasum), and green beans, etc.
From an imported food crop, cassava - bot loc has become a unique Hue culinary cultural heritage, very different from the rest of the country or on the cassava's journey back to its South American origin. This is the result of cultural absorption and transformation, enriching humanity's cultural heritage through the story of the cassava plant - bot loc - loc cake. The export of Hue’s loc cakes to North America, and if potentially onward to South America, will officially complete a nearly five-century journey back to its origin, in a new form and product.
Folk knowledge about the craft of making Hue bot loc, and the system of dishes from cassava - bot loc, an imported plant that has been Vietnamized, and ‘Hueized’ over centuries, is a national or international intangible cultural heritage, why not?