Interesting culinary features
Quang people also distinguish very clearly that: “half-day meal” is a meal in the morning, around 9am to 10am. A meal from 3pm is called “afternoon snack”. Meanwhile, in Hue, people generally call it “half-day meal”.
Also in Quang Nam, but in many places, instead of calling it "half-time meal" to indicate meal time, they use the phrase "eating and drinking water".
Sometimes I sit and think, anyway, after eating, we have to drink water, why do our grandparents call the snack "eating and drinking water"? Well, sometimes language is just a habit, the only way is to try to learn the language of Quang people to understand the situation.
Strangely enough, the two meals of “mid-morning” and “afternoon” also have distinct portions. The “mid-morning” meal is often much more sumptuous in both quality and quantity than the afternoon meal.
For example, brunch usually has savory dishes like Quang noodles, banh beo, banh duc, banh goi... while afternoon snack tends to have sweet dishes like sweet soup, cassava, sweet potato...
Even for workers, a snack is good to have, but not a big deal… The indispensable presence of this snack in rural life has become a rather interesting culinary culture of the people of Quang.
In the past, meals only had vegetables and fish sauce, so hired workers and even family members looked forward to the day they went to work in the fields so they could have a satisfying mid-morning meal.
Just imagine, around mid-morning, the sun rises above the bamboo tops, the cassava tubers we just ate for breakfast fly away with the field work.
The limbs began to feel tired, the body needed more energy to function… then there it was. From afar, the silhouette of a person carrying two baskets covered with banana leaves on both ends was seen groping along the narrow bank of the field. That was the signal that the homeowner was bringing the workers a mid-morning snack.
Countryside
Meals in the fields, anyone who has ever tasted them will never forget the rich flavors of the countryside. The feeling of sitting in the middle of a windy field, filled with the smell of ripe rice and mud, eating a bowl of Quang noodles, a couple of bowls of banh beo or a few banh goi, banh nam... with the village harvesters is so interesting.
At that time, the poor people made Quang noodle soup with flying fish, a delicious, nutritious, and cheap “national” fish, or snakehead fish that had just been caught yesterday. The well-off families made noodles with shrimp and meat. But in the end, there was a lot of noodles and little filling, mainly to fill the “protesting” stomachs of the farmers who were so strong that even a buffalo could fall.
Eating in the fields, the best part is that there is no formality, no need to be reserved or polite. When your hands and feet are covered in mud, you just need to wade into the ditch to wash them, even wipe them on your pants a few times before you can hold your chopsticks.
After eating, have a bowl of green tea, rest a bit to "get down to rice" or gather around to listen to the village's comedians tell stories before going back to work in the fields.
People say that farmers now have a very leisurely life in farming. The new countryside has come all the way to the village. Plowing, hoeing, sowing, and harvesting are all done by machines, so farmers only do odd jobs. That is why plowmen, planters, and harvesters have no place to live.
Even the custom of “working together” has gradually disappeared, so the landowners no longer need to treat their workers to a mid-morning meal or afternoon snack. As for the tractor and combine harvester drivers, when taking a break, they ride their motorbikes to the village entrance to eat beef noodle soup or rice noodles… because few people bring their own food.
That is why the mid-day meals in the fields are now just a memory of home. And if you wish to have a meal similar to that again, it is difficult to have the same atmosphere as before.
Those lingering memories make the "country bumpkin" in each of us stir, wanting to leave the stuffy eateries, luxurious restaurants, air conditioning to find a bit of the old scent...
The trend of temporarily leaving the cramped city to return to the countryside with mother-cooked dishes has stimulated demand for tourism and rural cuisine. In Hoi An alone, there are many cafes and restaurants with views of vast rice fields.
Here, visitors can sip coffee and enjoy Quang Nam dishes with a strong local flavor amidst vast rice fields, feeling as if they have gone back in time to a distant time. There, an old mother stays up all night making noodles and wrapping cakes to prepare a mid-morning meal for the harvesters and planters tomorrow…
Source: https://baoquangnam.vn/an-nua-buoi-giua-canh-dong-3140479.html
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