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| The herbs that create the aromatic flavors of Hue cuisine |
Eating is one of the most essential needs of life. Each country and region is blessed with precious ingredients to create its cuisine. People everywhere find pleasure in the dishes of their local area.
In Hue, the Nguyen Dynasty, which lasted for 143 years (1802 - 1945), meticulously built and nurtured a culinary treasure to perfection. As the Capital of Vietnam, countless delicacies and exotic dishes from all over the country gathered to be presented to the Emperors. Over the years, thousands of dishes have been “Hue-ified”, “cooked in Hue style”, or “Hue-style”, from luxurious delicacies to rustic and simple ones. The art of seasoning and cooking of Hue people is a treasure trove of ingredients, especially local spices, to create delicious dishes that are not only delicious to taste and smell but also visually appealing.
Fortunately, Hue is blessed with “heavenly weather” with two relatively suitable rainy and sunny seasons, the water sources of the Huong River, the Bo River, the O Lau River, the Truoi River, and many canals, streams, ponds, lakes, Tam Giang Lagoon - Cau Hai Lagoon, etc. And the “geographical advantage” is the rather fertile land thanks to careful cultivation. Every year, after heavy rains that cause floods, a significant amount of alluvium is deposited, especially there are no earthquakes or tsunamis... And “human harmony”, as Hue people are simple, gentle, diligent, hard-working, intelligent, and creative... All three factors have created precious materials and skillful hands for Hue to be known as the land of the best cooking in the country, a culinary capital, not just “eating in the North, and dressing in the South”. It is also oil, fat, sugar, salt, pepper, onion, fish sauce, shrimp, fish, vegetables, and fruits... but why are the dishes here so captivating?
Tam Giang Lagoon - Cau Hai Lagoon is a rich source of nutrients. These are inorganic nutrients found in the water and the bottom of the lagoon. In this lagoon area, there are 30 - 40 species of delicious and fragrant fish with high economic value such as grouper, scatophagus argus, siganus canaliculatus, rabbitfish, mullet, and striper...; and there are also 12 species of shrimp such as lobster, giant tiger shrimp, penaeus semisulcatus, penaeus merguiensis, metapenaeus ensis, and whiteleg shrimp..., often found in family meals, eateries, restaurants, and hotels...
Along with that are clean, fragrant, and delicious vegetable and fruit villages stretching from the city to the hamlets, the most famous of which are favored by housewives and chefs are Thanh Trung (Quang Dien) and La Chu (Huong Tra) vegetable villages... formed for hundreds of years. In Thanh Trung safe vegetable village alone, people plant, harvest, and transport from 4 to 5 tons of vegetable per day to sell them in markets, and supermarkets... inside and outside the city. In Thanh Trung, every house has a vegetable and fruit garden in the front yard, not to mention the vast vegetable fields of lettuce, onions, coriander, herbs, amaranth... of the collective. In the garden, every house also plans vegetables that make up delicious plates of boiled vegetables, fragrant bowls of soup, and countless herbs that grow without planting, such as piper lolot, peperomia pellucida, and oxalis corniculata...
Thanh Trung Village is where Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh was born and lived in his childhood before he became a monk at Tu Hieu Pagoda. The vegetable village of his childhood with its land, plants, grass, and its fragrance left many indelible imprints on him, especially the purple-stemmed herbs. In the final part of his Dharma talks, the Zen master often reminded everyone: If anyone has a piece of land or a yard, they should plant aromatic herbs to have a fragrant living space. Especially, when spring comes, in the gentle weather, we come to the porch, the fragrance of flowers blends with the scent of herbs, giving us peace and happiness.
More than ten years ago, I went to Ho Chi Minh City Traditional Medicine Hospital, directed by a son of Hue, Dr. Truong Thin. In addition to being a good and dedicated doctor, Dr. Thin is also a sculptor and a musician. In the hospital, he has a small room to stay in while working with the night shift doctors and nurses. Every night, around 8:30 PM to 9 PM, he plays his saxophone with songs by musician Trinh Cong Son to help patients fall asleep, such as “Ha trang” (White summer), “Mua hong” (Pink rain), “Cat bui” (Dust), and “Chieu tren que huong toi” (Afternoon in my hometown),...
Dr. Thin has set aside a small area of land to make a garden, plant medicinal plants and flowers for patients to relax. In particular, the garden has countless piper lolot herb. He said: “Living and working here, many times I miss my mother so much, I miss her vegetable garden, I miss the bowl of hot jackfruit soup with fragrant piper lolot herb cooked by my mother, so before leaving hometown, I picked a few piper lolot herb to plant here...” Being touched by his heart for his parents, I was silent, picked a handful of piper lolot leaves, rubbed them in my hands and smelled them. But strangely, the piper lolot herb grown in Sai Gon have no taste, not as fragrant as the piper lolot leaves in hometown. The piper lolot here cannot add flavor to the bowl of jackfruit soup or the bowl of green banana soup like in Hue.
Many a time when walking among the villages of Hue, I smell the fragrance of rice, bamboo, lotus, star fruit, lemongrass, lemon, vegetables, and coriander... When I visit the vegetable stalls on Nguyen Thien Ke Street, Ben Ngu Market, I feel joyful and strangely happy with the aroma of various freshly picked vegetables that the old ladies, and younger women are selling. Hue people are very particular about ingredients and spices.
When I go to the market, I often hear soliciting like: “La Chu vegetables, Thanh Trung vegetables, our own vegetables, freshly picked home vegetables, and Cua Trai and Cau Ngoi river spinach,...”, and the buyers ask: “Is this lemongrass from our garden or from other places, do you have Hue fragrant herbs?' (purple-stemmed fragrant herb from Thanh Trung and La Chu villages), “Is this coriander from our garden or from other places, are these lotus seeds from Tinh Lake or from other places...?” I have some friends in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City who often call and say: “I'm craving Hue's delicious dishes, please send me: banana blossom, fragrant herbs, coriander, lotus seeds, nuoc jellyfish, ro fish fermented sauce,...”. I freeze delicious shrimp and fish of Hue and the above-mentioned items to send to my friends.
As one of the major tourist hubs of the country, Hue has been attracting visitors in its own way with its unique cultural, historical, green, and culinary features. Among the many visitors from Australia, Troy Nankervis, a journalist, expressed: “Hue, a less bustling city compared to Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, and Da Nang... but worth a stop.
It was the first time I enjoyed a Hue-style home-cooked meal. It was a delicious meal of a lifetime, the food was very fresh and light, and the restaurant owner decorated the dishes with sprigs of fragrant herbs and coriander... It looked very beautiful. It was impressive as soon as I entered the restaurant, and I felt happy with the aroma of lemongrass and herbs, and the dishes focused heavily on flavor...”. Nankervis also said: “After this experience, I will continue to write about Hue to introduce it to a wider audience and friends...”.