Street Food S01E07 Ho Chi Min City, Vietnam
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Short filmTranscript
00:00You
00:30I
00:44I'm so thankful for snails
00:46I
00:59Thanks to them I was able to put my son through school
01:05You'll call they carried me and my family through hard times
01:08I
01:16Will never give them up
01:38When you talk about Saigon you talk about a very unique culture
01:52It's very chaotic
01:58It's changing constantly
02:02But it's also very laid-back at the same time
02:05There's a culture of eating outside drinking outside hanging out outside
02:19And in the city of 10 million people almost 1 million make a living by selling on the street
02:26So street food is a vital part of Saigon
02:31It feeds the people
02:35Walking around the streets, you'll find people selling foods on every corner
02:43Saigon Saigon is the cradle of street food
02:51A lot of people from various origins have moved to Saigon
02:56The traditions of the Chinese who settled here had a huge influence on the cuisine
03:00The traditions of the Chinese who settled here had a huge influence on the cuisine
03:06And then came the French style
03:09Then the Americans afterwards
03:12Our cuisine is connected with both culture and history
03:16banh mi for
03:19broken rice
03:20They're very popular
03:22But I would say snails are the most popular street food in Saigon. You see snail
03:28restaurants everywhere
03:31That's our culture
03:33something that we love
03:37In Vietnam when you say let's go get some snails you don't just get snail you get shrimp you get crab you get clams you get
03:44scallop
03:49And Truc she has so many dishes and she only has a little portable gas stove with one
03:56charcoal grill by herself doing everything
04:01The taste is just exactly how I remember when I was little I
04:07Grew up with ladies like that the provider for the family
04:11It takes a lot of strength and a lot of sacrifice
04:17People like Truc they are the real Saigon
04:30I
04:50Sleep for only a few hours every night
05:01I
05:04Have to work no matter how exhausted I am
05:08You know, I have a dream for my son to have a better life than his parents
05:13My husband takes me to the market as early as 1 a.m
05:18If we arrive late the place will be picked clean
05:23People of the snail business are so miserable
05:26Yeah, they have to get up at midnight to make it to the wholesale market and
05:32Pick every single snail
05:35They put their heart and soul into the dish
05:55In
06:05Indian market the freshness of the food is very important
06:16Substandard ingredients will not make my dish taste good
06:25I
06:28Don't you can tell me what do you do? Yeah, I knew
06:31tonight you know
06:34Yeah, but the teacher
06:38Yeah, I don't I don't
06:47Open I'm up
06:50I
06:56Went going to the market I buy clams and then crabs and scallops
07:02But mud creepers are my favorite
07:06Because whenever I have this dish I think of my dad
07:14My dad loved to cook
07:17You know, he likes snails and mud creepers were his favorite of all
07:24My dad was a laborer
07:27Every month on payday my dad and his buddies would hang out to cook and drink and dad liked to make mud creepers
07:35Whenever they'd hang out
07:41People always loved that dish
07:46Oh
07:48Dad taught me how to season it
07:53He called me in while he was cooking and asked me to help him stir-fry
08:01That's my most memorable thing about him
08:16I
08:23Gone street food bears marks of our culture
08:30One good example to mention is bahn mi
08:35You know that bread didn't originate in Vietnam
08:40French colonists brought bread and pate to Saigon mostly to cater to the French
08:47But over time the people of Saigon with their way of absorbing things have made it their own
09:07In Vietnam bahn mi is highly demanded
09:13You can have it for breakfast lunch or dinner
09:17My family has been running this bahn mi stall for 81 years
09:30Back in the day, my grandfather used to carry a pole on his shoulders to sell his food. It was a really hard time
09:39Then he started selling on this street using a cart to go around
09:44We've been selling here since then
09:47On the baguette the baguette has a dense crumb
09:50So when you take a bite the filling slides out while the bahn mi holds everything together. It's also crispy and spongy
10:01Our family's bahn mi is completely homemade from the pate to the lunch meat the meatballs the chicken and everything
10:10My grandfather developed his original recipe
10:13And we haven't changed the recipes since then
10:33In Saigon most people love in something called hams
10:39Hams like an alley
10:43The sense of community there is so it's so bonded everyone helps each other
10:57He learned when I've lived here in Kovac Street my entire life
11:06In the old days this neighborhood was spacious the houses were small
11:10All of my neighbors were poor
11:14But even though times were hard
11:17We shared everything
11:20We stood together we didn't turn our backs on each other
11:27The father's worked in a factory while the mother's worked in a market
11:33We barely had enough to eat and nothing more
11:39I
11:42Quit school after finishing the ninth grade
11:46As I was seeing my family struggle
11:51Mom and dad were supporting so many kids
11:57Look I had three younger siblings at that time
12:01I decided to quit school and get a job. So my three younger siblings could stay in school. I
12:06Gave up school to help my family, and I never regret that
12:16Good evening
12:17I have asked for this time for the purpose of announcing that we today have concluded an agreement
12:24To end the war and Vietnam
12:26In the 80s after the war life was hard
12:31There was very little to eat
12:33To get decent quality rice was hard
12:38We could only work with what we had and that was gum Tom
12:42Come Tom means broken rice
12:48I
12:50During the rice grinding process the farmers collect the small pieces of rice that broke off
12:59These broken pieces of rice are so small that it's not easy to cook them
13:04But when properly cooked broken rice tastes better than the regular one
13:09We
13:11We have to make sure that the rice is cooked properly
13:14But when properly cooked broken rice tastes better than the regular one
13:24We eat come down with sunny-side up egg pickled daikon real pork chop and fish sauce
13:32Everyone loves it and
13:35That's what unique about Vietnamese cuisine
13:37we take something that people didn't want and
13:41And turn it into one of the most popular meals in Saigon
14:01After I quit school I worked at a seafood processing plant
14:08The company had a dorm
14:12I had dozens of doormates and we had fun together. We would all chat until everyone went back to their room to sleep
14:20I like being independent
14:23While working at the seafood plant I met this guy
14:30He was very outgoing unlike other people
14:35He was kind even to my siblings when he came to visit my family
14:42We became an item
14:47We had only known each other for three months, but he asked me to marry him
15:04And
15:09That year we had a son
15:12The seafood plant was so far from home
15:16My father said you two should move out there
15:24My husband and I went looking for nearby jobs close to our home to our son
15:31I worked at a bamboo leaf processing place on Dien Bien Phu street
15:35But after I'd been there a few months the company went bankrupt
15:43My younger sister suggested opening a small business
15:50Back then this whole alley had only one coffee stall
15:57And I thought of my dad's mud creepers
15:59I
16:04Was determined to start selling snails
16:09On my first day in business, I was so nervous
16:16I didn't even know how to make the dipping sauce cooking the mud creepers was all I knew
16:22My dad's mud creepers
16:26First saute some garlic in the oil
16:29Then add the snails
16:34Once the coconut milk is added it will bubble up and smell wonderful
16:40I saw that it sold well
16:44People came to eat and gave compliments
16:48And I started to believe in myself
16:51And that made me so happy
16:59So
17:21Most people from all over the world know about pho
17:26It seems to be deeply rooted in our subconscious and culture
17:30Vietnamese people consider pho an essential part of the cuisine
17:36Pho originated in northern Vietnam, but nowadays people are selling pho all over Vietnam
17:41People are selling pho all over Vietnam
17:57In the past my father was a soldier in the army of the republic of vietnam before 1975 he cooked for big shots in saigon
18:05After the war ended in 1975 the country went through difficult times
18:12People from Hanoi migrated to Saigon, so my parents decided to make this Hanoi style chicken pho
18:22People often mistakenly think that pho is a soup or that pho has to be made with beef
18:30But pho is just the noodle
18:34Whether you add beef or chicken it doesn't really matter
18:41In the early 1980s we used every part of the chicken even its intestine
18:52At that time people wanted a lot of fats in their pho
18:57But today it seems that the economy is well developed people became really careful about what they eat
19:07They worry about their cholesterol
19:11So we reduced the fat our broth is almost transparent
19:16Saigon has changed a lot
19:21And you can see that in a bowl of pho
19:41I
19:48Didn't have money when I first opened my snail stall
19:53So I took a loan
19:57I paid 200 000 dong per day for interest
20:05The loan sharks came here to collect every day
20:12Whenever I couldn't pay them they would show up and start yelling
20:19And I had to compromise to pay them double the next day
20:23Only then would they leave
20:28I was so scared
20:33And I was pregnant again
20:35So
20:41During my second pregnancy
20:47My husband and I struggled so badly
20:56We could barely pay for our son's daycare fee
21:03I didn't even have money for the market
21:06So
21:11My newborn son died just four hours after he came into the world
21:21I was devastated
21:25That kind of pain was beyond words
21:30I had to close my business for a while
21:35So
21:47After losing our child I was consumed by endless sorrow
22:03I didn't know what to do
22:06I
22:15So I went to the pagoda to pray for my baby's soul
22:30I felt at peace once I stepped inside
22:35My mind cleared up
22:41That's enough I told myself
22:47This sadness leads to nowhere
22:51I still have my firstborn son
22:58I can't just stay depressed and stop working and abandon him
23:01I can't just sit here and let him go
23:06So I decided
23:09To resume my business
23:12So
23:29My husband and I didn't have much money we were still in debt at the time
23:34There were months that we managed to make ends meet
23:38And there were months that we fell way behind
23:41When you see someone struggling you help them out
23:47My neighbors tried my food and spread the word about my place
23:55My business started to improve
23:59Still mud creepers was the only dish I could cook
24:04My neighbor said my menu was too limited
24:08So I learned step by step
24:11I added more and more dishes to my menu
24:17I tried hard to make the best dishes
24:21As I was experimenting I learned what tasted good and what didn't
24:26In the end I developed more than 15 recipes
24:35After a while I started saving I stopped borrowing
24:42Gradually my business grew better
24:47I was able to provide for my son by cooking
25:00At first I only cooked to survive
25:07But now we're settled and we're able to earn some money
25:12As our son grew we worked hard to save money to put him through college
25:19And I'm proud of that
25:28To survive in Saigon you have to make something good you have to be creative
25:33And she's just one out of a million people just like her in Saigon
25:37They bear the responsibility of carrying street food on their back
25:46There is no other place in the world like Saigon
25:52If there were no street food in Saigon, then it wouldn't be Saigon
25:58And all the people that sell the food I feel like they are heroes
26:07So
26:37I tell my son
26:44You should study hard
26:49Find a career
26:54So you can have a better life than your parents today
27:02I was so glad when my son entered college and excelled
27:08It made our hard work worthwhile
27:11I'm truly happy about that
27:37So
28:07So
28:37So
29:07You
29:29You
29:37You