Food, Part 1: Meals at the Center.

One of the most interesting parts of my experience thus far has been the food. First and foremost let me say that the food in Vietnam is incredibly fresh, incredibly local and incredibly real. Three things I value above all when it comes to eating. It consists, mostly, of rice, vegetables (onions, greens, green beans, cucumbers cucumbers cucumbers, chili peppers...), mushrooms, fish and seafood (yes, Amanda, including young squid), pork and an incredible amount of fresh fruit. But, BUT, anything you can find in Vietnam is up for grabs when it comes to eating. This is amazing.

There are certain "departments" of consumption here in Vietnam, for me anyway. Let's see, I would probably separate them into street food, city food, country food, fruit and beverages. So, for this blog post I am going to discuss what I have experienced so far in the most relevant category to my daily life, country food. More on city food, fruit, street food and beverages to come soon but first I must fill you on this. It might be a long one, so stick with me if you can... I promise very rich and exciting experiences.

I categorize city food as different from country food because my experiences in each have been pretty different. Let's begin with my first meal at the Center. After having been in the city for a good week, we head for the Center. The setting is much different.
First impression (and please forgive me, but for the sake of the story it's best that I am honest), it's like summer camp, kind of - outside dining area, flys, kitchen is both outside and inside a thatch-roof hut to the side. We sit in plastic chairs, everyone gets a small bowl and chopsticks. I am eating with the people I will be living and working with for the next two months, who I haven't met yet and I am excited to share a meal with them... There is a huge pot of rice, cooked greens in a broth with some tofu and mushrooms and a bowl of meat...

"What kind of meat is that," I ask.
"It's mouse," says Nghi, giggle giggle.
She's kidding, that's why she's laughing, I think.
"Are you kidding?"
"Kidding, what is that?"
"A joke. It's not really mouse is it?"
"Yes, yes," giggle, giggle.
Yes, a joke? Or yes, a mouse?
Why is she laughing, I think. So I ask again. "Really, mouse?"
She confirms, again, more seriously this time.
Okay, she's not lying. That's mouse on the table.
She says, "Mouse from the country, not the city. You can only eat mouse from the country. City mouse is dirty."
So true.

The other day, after an incredible meal, I watched, in utter fascination, the entire table eat a very common item: a cooked duck egg that containing a fetal duckling. The egg is boiled to perfection inside its shell and then delicately set into a folded napkin, still warm. The top of the shell is cracked open and then peeled off, the juice slurped out and the duckling and yolk eaten with a spoon. They are very high in nutrients and good for shiny and dark hair, as Nghi put it. I am still amazed.

I am not trying to make fun of, or sensationalize, these meals/meats, though, actually, it is quite sensational. I am incredibly impressed with Vietnamese cuisine, like I said, everything is eaten.... most animals and water-dwelling critters. Greens are often found growing wild. Though I don't partake, and do have a guilt complex about this, I am glad to be having the experiences.

I am also grateful for the Center and its acceptance of my eating habits and "attachments," to put it so bluntly. They take really good care of me and I LOVE the food at the Center. I eat every meal with chopsticks, even fish that has more bones than I have ever seen in my life...so much so that Nghi looks at me and says "You look very uncomfortable when you eat fish." And I think: I am. I am trying not to swallow these multitude of bones while simultaneously trying to look as deft as all of you who can spit out the bones into your awaiting chopsticks and toss them to the cats... and I, afraid of swallowing them and having them lodged in my esophagus, am too afraid to do anything other than spit out my entire mouthful, fish and all, looking completley disgusting and very un-ladylike, or just sit there paralyzed as I achingly slowly try to maneuver the fish from the bones while inside my mouth - managing a bite about every 3 minutes... all the while using two long pieces of wood that have only picked up sushi before three weeks ago. Ha! I can only laugh at myself (and be a litte embarassed, it's true).

I am forcing myself to eat every meal at the Center with chopsticks so that I can get better. I can now pick most of the fish off the bones and then dip it in soy sauce, dab it on my rice and get it to my mouth without dropping it. I still can NOT retrieve the bones from my mouth with the chopsticks when they do end up in there. And, I am by far the messiest one at the table. You are supposed to shovel the rice into your mouth from the bowl but somehow it just ends up coming out the side all over the table and me. And sometimes my chin, yes, that long pointy thing attached to my face that is not my nose, ends up in the bowl and instantaneously I have sprouted a beard of rice. It is quite comical at times and though spoons are offered I adamantly refuse.

The two cooks, Ms. Kieu and Ms. Sau, are wonderful ladies and they work harder than anyone at the Center, I do believe. The kitchen is very typical of a rural home - it stays that way so that anyone who comes to cook at the Center from the area feels comfortable, so I learned the other day and was very impressed with. The stoves are open cement bowls, essentially, and for each meal a fire is built for cooking over. Pots and huge wok style pans are blackened from the smoke and the tea kettle lookes just the same. The women chop faster and smaller than Tristan (which is teeny-tiny, by the way) on tree stumps or smaller horizontal sections of a tree. Lemongrass and chilis are picked from bushes nearby and chickens are killed minutes before they go into the pot for dinner. Fish comes from the market a kilometer from the Center where they are purchased swimming in bowls of water. I have had the very best lemongrass sauce in my life, served on freshwater eel, which I did eat (a little more meaty than fish). I love our meals together and I look forward to them everyday...though I rarely understand the conversation, I have learned to say "ngon," delicious, which Ms. Sau asks me everyday. There are pictures of them, the kitchen and the dining area in my picasa web albums if you want to see their pretty faces.

This is a LOOOONNNNGGGG post so I will stop here. There are many stories so stay tuned if you enjoyed...

I hope all of you are well!