A vendor organizes rice paper for sale at a market in Can Tho, in the Mekong Delta. Photo by AFP/Roberto Schmidt
Stuffed,
rolled, baked or fried: rice paper rules in food-obsessed Vietnam, where diners
have spurned factory-made versions for homespun ones, propping up a thriving
cottage industry in the Mekong Delta.
They're
a staple on dinner tables from north to south, eaten fresh with fish, fried
with pork, or baked on an open flame and eaten like crackers - a popular bar
snack.
But
regardless of how they're prepared, one thing most people in Vietnam agree on:
homemade is always better.
"It's
better than the factory version, try it, it's tastier," Nguyen Thi Hue
told AFP, offering a baked coconut version at her roadside snack stop in
southern Can Tho Province.
She
sources her "banh trang" in nearby Thuan Hung village, known for
producing some of the finest in the Mekong Delta, long renowned as the
"rice bowl of Vietnam".
Nguyen Thi Hue cooks rice paper over a makeshift charcoal stove at the exit of a ferry crossing near Thuan Hung Village in the Mekong Delta. Photo by AFP/Roberto Schmidt
Ha Thi Sau pours a rice and sesame mixture onto a hot fire stove as she and her daughter make rice paper at their home in Thuan Hung Village in the Mekong Delta. Photo by AFP/Roberto Schmidt
Some
families earn a living making rice paper, even as factories have popped up
producing creative flavors like salted shrimp, coconut or versions made with
the notoriously potent durian fruit.
"Customers
prefer those produced handmade in the village. We don't use chemicals, they're
just natural," said 26-year-old Bui Minh Phi, a third-generation rice
paper maker in Thuan Hung.
He
can earn $65 per day spinning the trade, or double that during the busy lunar
new year period.
It's
a common sentiment in Vietnam, where many diners eschew fast food joints for
home-style restaurants serving pho noodle soup or banh mi sandwiches like their
grandmothers might have made it.
Rice
paper making is a matter of family heritage for many like Ha Thi Sau.
On
a recent morning in Thuan Hung, she tutored her daughter on the age-old
technique she learned from her aunt: pour the sweetened batter - a secret
family recipe - onto a pan, before transferring to a bamboo mat.
The
operation remains a family affair: Sau's son-in-law feeds the fire with rice
husks, while her 83-year-old mother washes dishes on the river bank. Though
other jobs are available in her village -- once a rural backwater now dotted
with modern cafes and mobile phone shops -- she doesn't dream of abandoning her
trade.
"I've
been making rice paper for so long, I don't want to leave it for another
job," she said, as the scent of coconut wafted in the air.
By AFP