The Vietnamese Market Cookbook by Anh Vu

Author:Anh Vu
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Random House

Social Cooking

(An Choi)

If pubs are the heart of British social life, then in Vietnam the bars selling fresh draught beer, bia hoi, are where friendships are made, deals struck and secrets shared. The accompanying bar snacks, known as nhau, are the perfect pep-up on a long evening’s drinking. Unusually for a girl, Anh grew up knowing this food from an early age.

Anh is the fourth daughter in a family of girls. After giving birth to three daughters in succession, when Anh’s mother fell pregnant again she was convinced she was going to have a boy. She told her husband, who was stationed in Laos with the Army, to come home for the birth of his first son. When another girl was bom, he just packed his bags and returned to duty, refusing to see her or give her a name. Anh’s name, literally meaning ‘big brother’, was given to her by a family friend.

But like most fathers, Anh’s had his own way of doting on her – his was to train her in sports. Every week he would take her to the Army Club’s swimming pool. While she did laps, he would wait patiently for her at the bia hoi across the road where, with a cold beer in hand, he would munch on roasted peanuts and a bowl of fresh chillies.

Back then, nhau bar snacks were very simple. In modern Vietnam, they now come in every conceivable form, from lobster to hog roast.

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