Culture

I am lucky to be born into a true food culture. Vietnamese love food even though they can be ethnocentric about it, they love food. Case in point I was in a local Pho Restaurant recently and Anthony Bourdain’s No Reservation was on the TV. The restaurant was about half full and it was the episode where Bourdain is in Hong Kong. People were sort of paying attention about the culture of Hong Kong but when the show focuses on noodles everyone started to watch. Bourdain then showed a true artisan. A small middle aged man in a cramped space was making noodles by hand using a bamboo stick to work the dough. Everyone was mesmerized with ohhs and ahhs. “Look at those noodles” said one patron. “I remember noodles like that at the Big Market in Saigon” says a grayed haired man with expressions usually reserved for first loves. I too was watching the television. Even a young teenage girl was watching intently knowing that this was something important. It was a nice moment.

Here is the part of the episode. About 5 minutes in you see the noodle making.