Nhu still remembers when she was a child, her parents brought the whole family from the countryside to live in a hamlet on the outskirts of Hanoi. In the small village along the town but in the eyes of the people in the countryside there is still something distant. She was afraid to look at the children of the city. And her mother did not know any of the neighbors.
One evening, the neighbor came knocking on the door with a bowl of fish stock in her hand. Her mother looked at the whole family and then at the neighbor’s concern, the new family had not yet visited the neighborhood and let the neighbors come over to give food. And she was impressed by the bowl of goldfish, the smell of fish sauce mixed with the mild aroma of fish.
Nhu still wondered why on a cold winter night in Hanoi, the neighbor’s wife gave a bowl of fish stock. Her mother said that perhaps in a fish bowl that smelled of fish sauce, the neighbor’s friend sent a little bit of intimacy from the acquaintances before and after; Salty fish sauce but like a stable human love.
The fish sauce bowls follow each person from small to large, simple but meaningful. Family meals during difficult, simple times with boiled water spinach and some eggplants must also have a bowl of sauce cut a few slices of hot peppers, so that the salty and spicy taste makes people forget the poverty.
Nhu and her sisters kept growing up, then got married, and the taste of fish sauce was still the same. Poverty has stayed in the past but the bowl of fish sauce still follows each small family at daily meals, retaining a little traditional flavor in the modern life. Vietnamese people send a lot of feelings in each dish, but rare dishes contain many emotions, meanings of family and bonds like a bowl of fish sauce.
Several years have passed, in the middle of the bright kitchen with countless modern equipment, imported high-class ingredients, there is still a “solemn” position for the fish sauce bottle. No matter how many years from now, fish sauce is still there with Vietnamese people, with her mother, with her generation, Nhu and her children later. Fish sauce for dipping is also delicious, but it is also stir-fried, cooked, and stored to make family dishes more attractive and attractive.
Down the country, where Vietnamese kitchen is, the fish sauce will be there. The taste of fish sauce with pure anchovy has blown the culinary soul of many regions across the S-shaped strip of land. In that unified common are the new fish sauce and sauce variations; Northern people like dipping sauces with a little bit of lemon, garlic and chili vinegar; Central people often keep the delicious and bold taste of fish sauce, so they do not mix much; Southerners like to add coconut water and filtered water to thin the fish sauce.
Pham Vu Anh Thy – Ryan Pham – a 37-year-old young chef is currently a chef at a chain of restaurants in Australia. Having a passion for cooking since he was a child, until the age of 28, he quit his job to follow his career as a kitchen, he contributed to bring the name of Vietnamese cuisine to the world.
He loves the quintessential Vietnamese culinary values and especially fish sauce, considering it as a journey from the past to the present. Mr. Ryan shares fish sauce that has followed him since his childhood, inspiring him as a chef in the present.
“Most Vietnamese dishes use fish sauce as a sauce, it is the soul of the dish. Since childhood, we have been exposed to spices which are fish sauce. Later, regardless of age, Vietnamese people also have a cup of sauce in family meals. In modern Vietnamese cuisine, I think it is also very difficult to separate fish sauce from family meals or upgraded Vietnamese dishes, “he said.
When compared to other spices, I personally think fish sauce is always at the top. And chili sauce, sesame oil … help the flavor of the dish to be more rich, a “make-up” layer for the dish to be more rich.
In modern life, the story of fish sauce is not only confined to the kitchen of every family. Each dish carries special stories that, if carefully observed, people can see problems about life and social relationships. Fish sauce – a delicious spice that Vietnamese has brought along for decades also contains many meanings and values behind.
Sauce cup is not only a substance that connects the flavor of the dish, enhances the smell, highlights the taste, it also connects each family member. “Maybe out there, you and I are people with different social positions, but if I invite you to my house, we eat the same tray of rice, have a cup of fish sauce next to it, it wouldn’t be How are your relatives and friends? “, chef Ryan Pham shared and explained, if the betel was the beginning of the story in the past, in the family tray,” a bowl of delicious sauce “also started the sharing. split mount.
Life improved, many people prefer to use safe and fragrant fish sauces. The rigor of users with high standards, while expecting to keep the traditional taste but suitable for modern life.
Chef Ryan Pham chooses for his kitchen the product of 3 Mien anchovy sauce, with pure anchovy fish sauce and processed according to a separate recipe. “Choosing a sauce, looks simple but extremely difficult. The delicious 3 Mien dipping sauce has decided 50% of the success of the dish, whether it is seasoning or making a sauce”, he shared.
Among the countless fish sauce products in Vietnam, 3 Mien anchovy sauce is a name loved by many housewives. For things related to taste, when choosing a good dish, people will not change. Perhaps so, the bottles of 3 Mien anchovy sauce on the kitchen shelf of Ms. Nhu have remained unchanged over the years. Her parents like 3 Mien dipping sauce because of its traditional flavor. She and her husband and two children love this sauce because everything is suitable for them, going North to South many times still find this sauce to eat with every dish.
With extracts from pure anchovy fish sauce specially specially formulated, 3 Mien anchovy sauce has golden brown color, rich anchovy flavor, mild aroma, meeting the requirements of users. “delicious and convenient”.
That sauce can be used for all dishes from warehouse, stir-fry, cooking to making sauces without much preparation. Produced by the food company Uniben, the product is certified for food safety and quality, meeting the strict standards of chef Ryan Pham and many modern housewives.
In the past two years, sales of anchovy sauce in 3 Mien increased 10 times. The survey results of market research company Kantar World Panel (Rural) show that more and more Vietnamese households trust to use products from 3 regions.
“It is a long way of trying to find out and crystallize Vietnamese warm flowers wrapped in a 3 Mien sauce bottle”, Uniben’s leader shared and summarized, fish sauce is not only food but also a string attached to bond with family, community culture. No matter how many changes, that small cup of sauce still exists in every family meal, witnessing the changes of modern life.
Posts: Minh Ha
Design: Hang Trinh
Image: Dat Nguyen – ShutterStock
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