Huế

Whenever I crave a tasty, spicy, fresh, and healthy breakfast, I turn to clam rice (cơm hến). If the famous Huế beef noodles were the king, clam rice would be a queen in disguise to people in Huế –  the former capital of Việt Nam. One will need more than two dozen ingredients to make […]

A Quát is a kind of ritual dumpling that is only made of glutinous rice and wrapped in tiger grass leaves. They are popular among the Pa Cô and Tà Ôi communities. These A Quát dumplings often come in pairs and are tied together with banana midrib.

Perhaps lotus is the only flower which could bring serenity and purity to my heart. It even cultivates in me a habit of waiting for summer every single year because this season comes with pretty lotus blossoms and tasty delicacies made from different parts of lotus. My neighbor, dì Na, cooks lotus rice every summer […]

The Huế people who underwent many natural disasters as well as wars and even epidemics, learnt how to appreciate mediocre foods, to include different kind of edible wild vegetables into their meals, and to reduce food waste. Some of them even took extra steps when using food scraps to make delicacies which were so mouth-watering […]

Once an American friend teased me that I was too salty, I almost wanted to fire back, “Well, I’m also chua cay (which means “sour and spicy”, or “unpleasant”) because I have been eating too much dưa and mắm since I was a little girl,” but I held it back as I didn’t think he […]