Human Rights in Vietnam, Airline Food, Recipes + Music from Vietnam

Hope you had a great Fourth of July holiday. That's America's Independence Day celebration for those of you who don't live in the U.S. In addition to gathering with friends in the evening for lots of beer and grilled foods, my husband and I also took time out to read the Declaration of Independence as a reminder of the values of this country. (My husband is a political scientist!) Many of those values are universal, and in fact, were included by Ho Chi Minh in his 1945 Vietnam Declaration of Independence. (Note that he mentions both the American and French Revolutions.)

Vietnam's current human rights record speaks differently, and we'll see how things play out, given the Vietnamese president's recent June 22 visit to Washington, D.C. Leading up to the visit, the Viet-American community was abuzz with speculation. In late May, a small group of Viet-American activists met with President Bush to voice their concerns. The day after the meeting, on June 23, Vietnam President Nguyen Minh Triet met with business leaders at a ritzy Southern California resort hotel. Busloads of people gathered at the resort for two days of protest (video from ABC News included). In the aftermath, the White House invited Vietnamese-American activist Dr. Nguyen Xuan Ngai (a key member of the Democratic Party of Vietnam, a group that advocates democracy for Vietnam) to D.C. for a State Department briefing on Bush's meeting with Nguyen Ming Triet.

Regardless of your politics, a lot has changed in the last 32 years. Those of you who've flown on Vietnam Airlines, a well run state-owned enterprise, will be interested in learning about how they produce their food for the jet set. Graham Holiday posted a link on his Noodlepie blog to an insider's look at the airline's food production process.

But certain things stay the same too, like the persistent corruption in Vietnam. People at every level of society have to battle such inequities. Here's a July 4 story on anti-corruption warrior Le Hien Duc, an 88-pound, 75-year-old grandma in Hanoi.

Indeed, the economic liberalization has brought easier travel, plenty of good food, and tons of exported ingredients to those of us living and cooking abroad. Daniel Tran, whose family owns and operates the Vien Dong supermarkets in Southern California, just told me that they currently carry 20 different kinds of fish sauce, mostly made in Vietnam and Thailand (!!).

Indeed, whether you're Vietnamese or not, there's plenty to explore. In our small pocket of the virtual world, new recipe postings on this blog include one for the classic Vietnamese snack, beef in wild betel leaf (thit bo nuong la lot). I posted the recipe to highlight my mom's instructions for how to efficient roll up the meat into small, neat packets. Summer begs for cooling salads and Rosa from Geneva, Switzerland, sent a link to her Vietnamese grapefruit salad with chicken (goi buoi thit ga), and I made a meatless rendition of a spicy cabbage salad (goi bap cai). Simon, who provoked me to post the chicken pho recipe, reacted to Andrew Lam's piece on the role of ethnic foods in America culinary landscape by sending in his original, fusion recipe for pho couscous (just scroll down posting on Andrew Lam's article).

This past week, I learned a nifty trick for growing moisture loving rice paddy herb (ngo om), which is an ingredient for Vietnamese sour fish soup. All of this has been happening on the blog. Peruse and join in the fray.

Not everything has gone to the blogosphere. If you want another tip from my mama, she gave me a terrific for how to freeze cha gio (fried imperial rolls). Refugees like my family came to America for many things, including potable water and refrigeration!

I'm a supporter of public radio station KCRW in Santa Monica, California. One of the songs on their current playlist is an unusual version of "Ghost Riders in the Sky" done with Vietnamese instruments. It's from an album called The Rough Guide Music to the Music of Vietnam, which includes old folk pieces and modern, Western pieces performed by the country's top musicians.

For all of these reasons and more, I count my blessings.

Comments

[Nobody]

The Vietnamese "Americans" deserve no voice. Who are they to complain? They are people have displayed the ultimate in low caste behavior; hopeleness and escapism. Instead of the fixing problems in THEIR OWN COUNTRY they decide run away to other countries to whore for money. People should make their nation better instead of wanting to run away from it to an easier lazier life.

Running away fixes nothing and condemns a nation to failure.

Vietnam, Thankfully is a much better place now than it ever was before 1975 all due to efforts of the Vietnamese who decided to stand long and not abandon.

[Andrea Nguyen]

Isn't it lovely that there's freedom of speech in the U.S.? You don't have to agree with what people have to say but they have the right to say it.

There are many Vietnamese Americans who are contributing to Vietnam. In fact, the Hanoi government welcomes and encourages their investment dollars. Overseas Vietnamese investment is important. The economic recovery of the country is more complex that merely due to the efforts of people who've stayed (or were left) behind. I don't think that people ran away for a an "easier lazier life" but a better one.

Vietnam is definitely on an upswing and is NOT condemned to failure. Viet history has proven that its people and culture are resilient, despite the obstacles and consequences they face. The world is a transnational place, which is why we can have this conversation today.

[Simon Bao]

Presumably, the above comments must have been posted by someone who is not a descendant of immigrants. Someone whose ancestors did not emigrate to escape religious oppression or chronic poverty in their homeland. Whose ancestors did not emigrate to escape civil wars waged by others, or invasions and "occupations." Certainly, not to escape societies that denied some members land, employment, income, or a means of feeding themselves and their families. Presumably, someone whose ancestors were *not* motivated to emigrate by widespread famine, by national revolutions and upheavals, by the rise of 20th century fascism or communism or nationalism and "ethnic cleansings". Clearly they didn't emigrate in search of simple economic opportunity that wasn't to be found at home.

So whoever posted above better darn well be a Native American, or I'm left to conclude the person is the descendant of a chicken thief or swindler who emigrated simply to escape prosecution. :-)

[JJ Levine]

Excellent blog posting Andrea, thoughtful, informative, a chance for reflection.

[Nobody]

Simon, you seem to be too concerned with polemics to look up what the word immigrant means. There were no Vietnamese immigrants, just pity-seeking, parasitically refugees looking for unearned welfare and other handouts.

Who I am and who my ancestors are is immaterial for it does not change the fact that low caste behavior is low caste behavior. All the reasons you have stated only proves that a weak Vietnamese needs other people to be weak to accept that they choose run away from their own country.

It is easy for the undignified to justify their bad behavior by saying that America is a melting pot or that the only true Americans are the indians. When in actuality, America was founded by Europeans as an expansion of Europe not as some melting for all the needy trash of the world.

[Ty Nguyen]

Let's see..."Stay in Vietnam and watch my family starve to death, or....leave this place and make a better life for my family somewhere else."

Family is always the number one priority not only for vietnamese but for all human beings.

[Nobody]

Good Ty! Family is number one! So I guess that means it's OK to irresponsibly burden foreign governments with your family problems. If you are incapable of supporting your own and need outside charity from complete strangers to whom you are irrelevant then perhaps it you are too stupid or dysfunction to have a family.

I wonder which Vietnam you are talking about. There was nobody starving after the communist liberation however, there were plenty who starved to death under French colonial rule. That was a time when the Vietnamese had nowhere to escape to and had no choice but to fight to preserve and protect their culture and heritage.

[Ty]

If wanting a better life for your family is considered stupid then I'll be happy to be considered stupid. It's hardly been a burden in the United States to accept the vietnamese. All the vietnamese I know have successful careers and have children that have successful careers too. That means they have good salaries and pay more taxes which makes the American government very happy. I realize this upsets you to know this...I'm sorry.

So nobody was starving after 1975? If that's the truth then I guess the reason why millions of people risked their lives and the lives of their families to escape was because they were just too stupid and lazy...yes, that's the reason...

By the way, I traveled to Vietnam in 2001 and noticed the country has developed a market economy...go figure...I guess having to stand in line for rice and toilet paper didn't work out for the communists...go figure.

Boy, they really know how to "brainwash" over there don't they? You must have been fed pro-communist propaganda from the day you were born.

[Ty]

Andrea,

I'm sorry for using your blog to respond to this person but it's funny the way some people are brainwashed in Vietnam. I enjoy your website and all your insights into vietnamese cuisine.

Take Care,
Ty

[Nobody]

Ty, your emotional outburst and accusations make you seem bizarre, unstable and by your own admittance, stupid.

I am neither Vietnamese or a communist and how I feel is of no importance.

In what ways have Vietnamese been successful? They are considered the ultimate scum of Asia. What have they accomplished that is so great, and why is their nation still so riddled with basic problems if they are such great people? The CIA World Factbook indicates the average GDP is $3100 and that basic infrastructure is far from modern.

Your measurement of success means to whore for money in foreign lands whose citizens never invited you in so long as you pay taxes. Though you enjoy American sovereignty hospitality, an important question must be asked: Would America have originally choose you and your people over their own capable citizens?

Plenty of stupid people, as you have stated, recklessly throw away their lives everyday for unworthy and ignoble reasons. There is nothing special or significant about this especially in the case of the Vietnamese refugees. Is it not reckless animistic behavior to put yourself, your wife and children on an unseaworthy vessel that is already filled to 4x capacity and knowingly going without out proper navigation to a violent sea filled with murderous pirates who are just waiting to plunder your ship, rape and molest all the women and children and kill any man who dares to put up his head up a justifiable risk just because you don't want to stand in line for toilet paper?

Communism as you can see in Vietnam, China and Cuba is hardly permanent and hardly the only alternative and having to wait in line a few years is no a big deal for thoughtful, responsible people who are willing to put effort into rebuilding that which is finally theirs.

[Simon Bao]

Andrea, perhaps in a future blog you'd share ideas or recipes for... fish paste. The fresh kind.

Here is why I ask. For the past few years I've spent a lot of every summer at a house on the beach, where the fishing is ridiculously easy and successful. So, I have a LOT of fish. And every time I look for another new way to cook and serve it, I do think to fish paste and go "Ehhh, maybe not."

I have no memory of any good fish paste dishes in Vietnam. Here, 99% of all fish paste I ever run into is either simple Cha Ca Chien, or fish paste balls in soup. I never enjoy the texture or taste of the Cha Ca Chien, it's over-salted or it's overcooked or rubbery or greasy... and fish paste balls seem to hold no virtue in a soup over pieces of fresh fish. I've been served mild hot peppers, sliced in half and stuffed with fish paste and fried - and while I didn't care for them they did give me the idea of stuffing jalapenos with fish paste and frying them. That's a bit better but nothing I'd write a song about. I've even asked friends' moms and sisters about fish paste dishes, and after they finish staring at me all they mention is fried paste cakes and fish balls.

But it's a big country and a big cuisine, and I have to believe that some folks have done inventive, tasty, wholesome things with fish paste. I may be wrong and Cha Ca Chien cakes may be as far as fish paste can go... but I can't think of anyone I'd rather ask than you.

[Andrea Nguyen]

MR. NOBODY, Calling people stupid is unacceptable on this blog. Please refrain from doing so, and from using any other such kinds of personal insult. It is bad form, and frankly ugly. By the way, after 1975, Vietnam's agricultural production dive bombed and the country became a net importer of rice. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, the country was on the brink of famine. This was due to poor agricultural policies that included inefficient collectivization. And if you are not Vietnamese, it is disingenuous (if not rather odd) that you would be so harsh.

The spirited discussion on this topic has certainly pushed a number of buttons and I'd like to think in a positive/constructive way. America had attracted people from many parts of the world for a whole host of reasons. It's not easy to be 'American' -- whatever that term is. The beauty is that we can have meaningful discourse. But I do hope that we can do it in a civilized manner.

Name calling and personal attacks WILL NOT be tolerated here.

How about those fish cakes, Simon? I'll work on something for you . . . in Phu Quoc, I got some fish cake from a street vendor who had just fried them up and I ate it while I walked. She was so proud of her wares but sadly, it was rubbery as you described. Not enough fat. Do you like any particular kind of fish?

[Andrea Nguyen]

NOBODY -- I don't know why I assumed that you're male but anyway, there it is! Be good (or less bad) and well.

[Nobody]

I have not called anyone names (Ty called himself stupid) nor have I made any personal attacks and have kept my conversation quite civilized. I do not need to be Vietnamese in order to comment straight forwardly about Vietnamese or anything else.

So there was a famine. Who starved to death because of that? that just means that the proportion in food rations are lessened for a time. Same thing happened during the great depression of the 1930's.

Famine, war, brutality and poverty are all normal and natural. Every nation is perfect and just the way it should be. Whatever government a nation has is appropriate and suits her people well, for it reflects what they have created for themselves.

It is no great mystery as to why America attracts those who have no tie to the people who created that nation. People come for money and to escape the basic responsibilities back home. It's nice to come to a place that has everything already nicely set up such as welfare, health care, food stamps and free education regardless of the fact that these benefits were not created for outsiders to inherit. If it's not easy to be American then it sure as hell can't be hard.

When the first world accepts the third world in, it also has to lower it's values to meet third world standards, creating an over all decline in quality and principle. But none of that is of much importance to the ones who have all ready, long ago, abandoned integrity and self-respect.

King mackerel is a good one to use for fishcakes. The key is to use a mortar and pestle instead of a blender so that the paste does not get too much air and become fluffy when steamed, boiled or fried. If you want to make it more rubbery then add a teaspoon of gelatin or freeze the paste first before using.

[anh]

Andrea,
The commentor "nobody" is a troll on your blog. You have every right to block/delete comments from this person.

[Simon Bao]

Andrea, most of the fish I like are simply the fish I catch on a routine basis: striped bass, black sea bass, sea trout, summer flounder, tautog (blackfish or wreckfish), bluefish, a cobia or drum once in a while, etc. The usual inhabitants of surf and shallows. All are saltwater, none are freshwater. I'm not sure which of those are best candidates for turning into fish paste - don't know whether a firm fish is better than a flaky fish, whether to use a "fatty" fish or if it's better to add some fat to a lean fish...