Cross-Cultural Foodways (Vietnam - A Tale of Two Cultures)

Lotus (hoa 花 sen 蓮）is often considered as Vietnam's national flower 

Hạ Long Bay from Indochine Cruise

Traditional Vietnamese bamboo fish traps.

Locally known as đó or rọ (簍？魚簍)

Cross-Cultural Foodways

Hanoi trip in July turns out a fantastic source for more food-anthropology discoveries. Some findings adequately explain Foodways between Taiwan - SE Asia and beyond.

1. Fruit - Palate Cleanser - Traditional Dessert

Tráng miệng (dessert) - tráng (rinse/cleanse) 冲/衝+‎ miệng(mouth). Traditionally, meals in Vietnam often ends with fruits (to refresh palate and rinse mouth).

IN VIETNAMESE, tráng has a few common meanings depending on the context. It can mean to rinse or to coat or spread a thin layer (paste) such as bánh tráng 餅 (Vietnamese rice paper)

IN TAIWAN (in particular south) - Traditional full 11-13 banquet courses are divided into two parts. Fruits (palate cleanser) is served midway (半席). Midway (半席) practice is mentioned in recent publishing sensation Taiwan Travelogue - although midway 半席 dish served in the era was often not fruit but Cantonese dim-sum type of food.

2. Mì ăn liền (Instant Noodles) 

liền 連 continuous = fast (instant)

(liền liền liền 連連連 means ‘Hurry up!’ “Faster! “ 快點！）

ăn (versatile) here means ‘to consume’

mì - something-made-of- flour or noodle 

Noodle packaging made from cement sack paper (水泥牛皮紙) -
common use food packaging in Vietnam.

3 & 4 Sticky, Crispy and Chewy Rice Food 

Cốm 𥺻/青（？）If it means green then it's probably 青.

Taiwanese and indigenous 青 is green. Mandarin is blue.HERE (Note 59/60)

Another possibility I browsed online could be chữ 泔  (something like rice water from washing rice). No intention to dwell further or follow-up on the subject but an observation to note.

nếp 稬 sticky rice giòn 脃 crispy, chewy

Sticky (Rice) 黏/貼/按 - I think possibly the followings are linguistically related with nếp and each other.

Hokkien/Holo

"Q" texture- Crispy, Chewy.

I wonder if Taiwanese obsession "Q" texture and Vietnamese giòn are linguistically related. Possible. 

About "Q" - 

Victor Mair (on Taiwanese ‘Q’) notes that the Hokkien/Taiwanese word for chewy or springy texture, khiū   (often spelled as khiu or khiô) (I believe Victor means 曲), perfectly matches the pronunciation of the English letter "Q".

"6. 'Q' Origin 1. k’iu 曲 bendy, bouncy   2. cui 脆 crisp, succulent" - 

"Robert Matthews, a former university instructor, alludes to a rare Chinese character, 飲蚯, pronounced kiu in Mandarin. It is a fusion of the characters yin (drink, 飲) and qiu (sip,蚯). I have posted the source HERE"

I personally am inclined to agree with Matthews’s Cantonese version. Especially now that I have Vietnam experience. 

5 & 6 Edible Wild Greens (Pangcah People) Errors

Error one - Bulung means leave. Bulung Sawah means leaving the farm (??).

Error two - 'noodle taro' 麵芋
By chance, I discovered errors - either by author (吳雪月) Chinese original, invited American writers or by English translation.

Bulung means Leaves (noun botanical leaf) NOT Leave (verb to depart)!

Bulung means leaf in several Austronesian languages spoken across the Philippines and Indonesia). Sawah is (puddled) field (paddy field).

Error two - 'noodle taro' 麵芋
NOT  ‘noodle’ 麵條. It is 麵糊  - gelatinous, sticky, starchy paste texture.

Exactly the SAME translation error made in 'Taiwan Travelogue' (novel). Details HERE. 

7. Forage and Fermented Leaves 
The Yi 彝 People (China)  - The LôLô People (northern Vietnam) 

The LôLô people (northern Vietnam).

The Cham people are seafaring Austronesian(HERE HERE)

Food Cuture of the Yi 彝 People (1994 賈銀忠 Sichuan) Reference

(For thousands of years, the Yi people of the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau and Sichuan (such as the Liangshan Mountains) have relied on foraging and fermenting wild leaves for food security. These foraged leaves are typically lacto-fermented, stored in sealed clay jars, and transformed into highly nutritious, sour-tasting pickles and fragrant soups that form a staple of the Yi diet. ) 

(The Lô Lô ethnic group, residing in the mountainous regions of northern Vietnam, uses foraged leaves extensively in their culinary and cultural practices. Their traditional "fermented leaf wine" (rượu lá) is made by fermenting various forest leaves, herbs, and roots with sticky rice, creating a culturally significant highland specialty often served during festivals and gatherings”) Wikipedia

In 1956, Mao gave minority 夷 people a new name after accepting 夷 people appeal that 夷 is disrespectful referring to primitive barbarians. The new name is 彝 means  prosperous society.   HERE

8. Vietnam - A Tale of Two Cultures 

Bánh Chưng 蒸 (north) (as verb 蒸 steamed 蒸粄; as noun the sticky rice tamales) 

Bánh Tét 節 (south) (節 festival; seasonal celebrations/special occasions 節粄)

Vietnam being slim and long - this time at Hanoi (north), compared with the experience at Da Nang (central) - there are two cultures.

9. 百越  百粵  Bai-Yu - Etymologically the Same

越 (Viet in Viet-Nam) and 粵 (Guandong/Guanxi region. Often Hakka in Taiwan) are etymologically the same. Pronounced YU (like 於/雨).

百越/百粵 wikepedia

10. Mongol Invasions

Stuffed dumplings map through Mongol Empire 13-14th century

(HaLong Bay's intricate network of limestone islands and caves provided cover for the Vietnamese navy and famously enabled General Trần Hưng Đạo to prepare the decisive underwater wooden-stake traps that destroyed the Mongol fleet in 1288. wikipedia)

There is reason to think some of these estimated 20,000 Yi People (LoLo in Vietnam) and/or Yunnan minority ‘stayed’ or being abandoned in Vietnam in the 13th century. I have never (I would not have) thought of this possibility until now.

(During the first Mongol invasion of Đại Việt (Vietnam) in 1258, the invading Mongol-led force under general Uriyangkhadai included approximately 10,000 to 20,000 Yi and other Yunnanese tribal auxiliaries alongside about 3,000 Mongol core cavalry...) (Estimates by historians like Christopher Atwood and Keith Taylor place the auxiliary numbers during Uriyangkhadai's advance into Đại Việt at roughly 10,000 to 20,000 Yi and local Yunnanese troops supporting a smaller core of 3,000 to 5,000 Mongol horsemen...) Wikipedia

11. Archeological Significance - Ha Long Culture 

Two Hungs are unrelated - just we happened to be 'impressed' with the same place and history. OF COURSE , Archeologist Dr Hsiao-Chun Hung's findings are results of deep-dive research and investigation over decades. Mine is wildly trivial - just an impression HaLong Bay made on me from 5-days in Hanoi.

(Abstract "To clarify these issues, the micro-plant remains of phytolith and starch from three Neolithic sites in Ha Long Bay were extracted and analyzed. This study validates the earliest evidence of co-cropping in northern Vietnam, involving the cultivation of rice together with foxtail millet at 4000 years BP or slightly earlier." "Meanwhile, the Ha Long people, mainly composed of indigenous hunter-gatherer descendants, continued to utilize a wide range of their preferred plant resources such as taros, yams, and acorns, while they absorbed and incorporated new elements such as millet and rice into their food system. This study provides solid information to understand the diverse economic systems among different cultural groups in Vietnam."）

12. Banana Flower Salad  - Betel Nut Flower Salad

While bananas are a very common fruit in Taiwan who once earned the name  'Banana kingdom'  - banana flower food aren't common except in SE Asia specialty markets. 

Chuoi is 蕉 banana. Hoa is 花 blossom. 
Nộm or Gỏi (south) is Vietnamese salad (none-western)

Betel nut flower/young shoots food (stir fry, soup or salad), on the other hand, became common in recent years. Although in Taiwan often promoted and served as 'indigenous food', betel nut flower food traced its culinary tradition back to Song dynasty, and most likely brought into Taiwan by Han immigrants (documented in Qing literature).

Served in Taiwan

Information from my earlier research on this food 

The 'bud' can be enjoyed in two parts:

1. The fronds 半天花 opened up like flower.
2. The tender tips 半天筍 a delicacy taste like young bamboo shoots.

In Su Dongpo's poem, betel nut flower is enjoyed in 3 ways - pickle, cold plate, or lightly stir-fried. (Su being famous for his red-lip a result of excessive betel-nut chewing.)

In Lien Heng's description - tips crunchy and refreshing, like young bamboo shoots, cooked it with pork. As for the name 半天 (literal mid sky - Presumably for the tree height)

1. 半天花
宋代詩人唐庚云：「斫破夜叉頭，取出仙人掌。鮫人滿腹珠，鮰魚新出網。」這首詩描寫的就是割取木魚子的情形。由於棕櫚花苞很像魚腹，而在剖開黃色苞片後裡頭尚未發育的一顆顆小花就像魚卵一樣，所以才稱之為木魚子。
2. 半天筍
至於被稱為「半天筍」的檳榔頂芽更是清甜甘脆、味美無比，連橫《雅言》：「半天筍，檳榔也。幹高兩三丈，葉如鳳尾，搖曳空中，遭風摧折，取其葉心，切片炒肉，較之春筍，味尤甘脆……故非樹倒難扶，未易嘗此奇味也。」

13. Hanoi HUGE Betel Nuts 

Huge betenl nuts (grown in northern Vietnam)
used for ornaments and religious offerings

14. Canistel, also known as eggfruit or chesa 仙桃 - 

One of the several plants Japanese introduced to Taiwan from Meso and South American  in the 1900s.

Chesa is attached to religious symbolism in Vietnam. 

(Canistel, also known as eggfruit or chesa, is native to southern Mexico and Central America. Introduced to the Philippines around 1915, it has since spread to Taiwan, Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia, and India. The bright-yellow fruit is valued for its dense, sweet, custard-like flesh, which resembles a hard-boiled egg yolk.)

15. Plumeria 雞蛋花 番仔花 緬梔花

Introduced by Dutch in 17th century (1640s). Known for making wreath in Polynesian communities and SEAsia.

番仔花 Taiwanese name. 番仔 when referred to objects introduced from foreign lands, often historically referred to Dutch or Spanish. 

Bali Indonesia  -  considered the cultural symbol and unofficial national flower of Bali

16. Bamboo- tube collect water - 汲水 for indigenous Taiwanese. HERE HERE
Bamboo tradition and migration which I saw in Dan Nang (central Vietnam) once again significant in Hanoi. 

Vietnamese and Atayal language 
Some linguists claim Vietnamese and Atayal language similarities -  They probably do. 
 - Their written language looks similar romanticized by European missionary and linguists. 

 - There appears (historical) loanwords tradition - that probably similar too.