One of the latest food trends gaining
popularity in the United States is the “green market.” Usually just once a week
and for only a few hours in the morning, vendors come together in a public area
such as a park to purvey their goods. Indeed, the products in these markets
sell at a premium and are more a high end gourmet variety.
Such
markets attract crowds of mostly curiosity seekers looking for fresh foods
beyond the normal supermarket fare. Expensive artisan goat cheeses and vegan
baked goods are a nice splurge but obviously not the marks of a daily meal.
These markets exist more to tantalize the senses than to sustain our daily
needs.
Once
upon a time before the days of the modern supermarket, sourcing the ingredients
for a meal in America was a daily affair just as in current day Vietnam. We
traveled from butcher to green grocer to bakery for a single meal. Times change
and societies evolve, and the green or farmers markets are a small attempt for
us to reconnect with nostalgia and simpler times, even if only once a week.
What we
try to recreate with our markets back home, the Vietnamese still experience in
true authenticity on a daily basis. These colorful and vibrant collections of
vendors selling the staples of local cuisine truly fuel a nation. While walking
past sidewalks overflowing with meat, live seafood, fruits and vegetables, we
sense and appreciate the feeling of community this sort of shopping fosters.
I think
I speak for many a westerner who visits a Vietnamese street market for the
first time with only our shops back home as a frame of reference. Raw meats
hanging from hooks and piles of unidentifiable animal innards shock us into
submission. Mounds of tropical fruits and leafy greens appear so inviting, and
the hustle and bustle of regular people going about their daily lives
captivates us. We use our cameras to document our fascination, and images are
quickly dispatched back home.
Over
time we finally work up the nerve to buy deliciously fresh dragonfruit, and
soon enough our mounting courage returns us another day to sample previously
unknown delights such as purple perilla and bitter melon. Shedding our
inhibitions allows us to become part of the neighborhood fabric and enjoy a
side of Vietnam we will forever cherish. What was once so foreign and strange
now becomes our new normal and who knows, maybe one day we will even graduate
to buying live shrimp out of a bucket.
In
contrast to Vietnam, a trip to the store in the US can prove a very anonymous
and sterile experience. We push a shopping cart around while self selecting
fruits, vegetables, prepackaged meats, breads and more. Many of the larger
chains even offer a self check out option via automated pay stations. Our
entire shopping trip can be undertaken without any human interaction should we
so choose.
To be
sure, the modern supermarket has arrived in Vietnam via the Big C and Maximark,
yet the time honored street market still thrives and attracts a daily
clientele. Browsing through this slice of traditional Vietnam proves a bit more
of an intimate affair where relationships are built. We find our favorite
vendors and purchase the freshest of fresh from a real person day in and day
out.
We are
lucky to live in Vietnam with the choice of supermarket convenience or the more
intimate and colorful local market affair. In the end no matter where we choose
to shop, Vietnamese and Americans share a common goal of putting tasty food on
the table for our family and friends.
JOHN
RUSSACK
Tuoi
Tre
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