Da Nang specialties are not only seafood, but also wild vegetables and rock snails. Once you eat one, you want to eat two. They are more delicious than meat and fish.

Eating wild vegetables... in the middle of the forest

From the edge of the forest near Mui Trau tunnel on the La Son - Tuy Loan highway, through Ta Lang village, Hoa Bac commune, Hoa Vang district (Da Nang), to Coi Tien waterfall is only about 4 kilometers but you have to wade through 4 clear streams.

At each stream, Alang Vu and Tran Van Truong, two Co Tu guides, let the guests rest and pick wild vegetables growing along the stream.

Seeing the curious guests, the guide picked vegetables and explained how to distinguish between fern and fern, between sour leaves and mua leaves.

Then there are the leaves of the Garcinia cambogia, the leaves of the wild plum, the shoots of the Chinese star anise, the shoots of the Chinese clematis, the water fern, the fern... Fern usually grows in patches of green all year round in streams and creeks. We have to wait until the first storms of the season fall, from the mushy roots at the water's edge, the fern shoots out new young shoots.

At that time, the vegetables had a rich, sweet taste. And the water spinach grew everywhere in the forest. The water spinach flowers flew in the wind, vaguely like a small dream... Just like that, the "crash" training course on wild vegetables made the already bumpy mountain road seem shorter.

The road to Coi Tien was white with wild flowers. After passing the slippery rocky slope at 2 pm in the bright sunlight, the whole group burst into tears when standing in front of the 3-tier waterfall that seemed to be pouring down from the blue sky. The locals called this place Lo Coi Tien.

Because the waterfall flows like a giant mill day and night that the fairies have forgotten in the lower world. While the group camped, the two guides went to catch snails and fish to prepare for dinner.

It is difficult to describe the feeling of sitting in the middle of the forest, by the fire waiting for a pot of snails to cook with wild vegetables on a night of the crescent moon hanging over the mountain.

In the ear, the sound of the waterfall rushing from above into the mountain like an echo of the majestic forest. The sound of nocturnal birds flying anxiously across the sky. Without an appointment, almost everyone was silent. The crackling fire in the kitchen brought people back to the primitive world of the past...

The first time experiencing the taste of stream snails cooked with fern, bay leaves, and betel leaves cooked by the locals, Mr. Le Van Thang, an officer of Duy Tan University, kept exclaiming over the dish because it was "delicious to the last drop".

The vegetables are sweet and fatty, the snails are fatty and crunchy. Seasoned with the "divine" salt, chili and wild pepper of the Co Tu people, the dish of braised snails with wild vegetables becomes a memorable dish for many people.

Eat wild vegetables to fight the resistance

The conversation around the fire gradually became more and more intimate. Mr. Tran Van Truong said that fern is a familiar dish of the Co Tu people.

Fern leaves can be boiled, stir-fried, mixed with salt and lemon or with fish, shrimp, snails... To show gratitude to Mother Forest for giving them this precious vegetable, Co Tu folk artists have stylized the image of curled fern leaves carved on poles, on the roofs of Guol houses, or on woven and weaving objects... "My grandparents told me that when the army was stationed in the mountains, they ate only wild vegetables and defeated the enemy," Truong said.

Suddenly I remembered the meeting three years ago with the Hero of the Armed Forces Ho Phuc Ngon and his wife, the female commando Bui Thi Tanh, to get information for an article about the soldiers in the past in the B1 - Hong Phuoc war zone (now Hoa Khanh Bac ward, Lien Chieu district, Da Nang city).

Over a warm cup of tea, the gentle, quiet scent of jasmine, the old soldier's voice could not hide his pride as he told about the days of eating wild vegetables while fighting in the northern Hoa Vang resistance zone.

At that time, the army was stationed in the North Hoa Vang forest, now in Hoa Bac commune. Food was very scarce.

Eating wild vegetables instead of rice was a daily occurrence. Rau tau bay and rau don were two types of wild vegetables that were famous during the two resistance wars against France and the US. The soldiers also pickled the vegetables to eat gradually. On quiet days when enemy planes were not searching, the soldiers went to the stream to catch fish to improve their health. On hot days, having a cool sour soup of stream fish cooked with galangal leaves and wild bamboo shoots was "the morale of the troops skyrocketed".

He also asserted: “In fact, the original name of the flying vegetable was “cai troi”. Later it was called “rau tau bay” because its flowers, when blooming, float lightly in the wind, like an airplane flying in the sky. The name “rau ni” was only created when the French came. Don’t be so far away that our ancestors didn’t know what a flying vegetable looked like to compare!”

After 1975, people who went to build new economic zones in the early days of land reclamation also sought this vegetable as a solution to food and food shortages.

After just a few early rains of the season poured down on the mountains and forests, the vast remaining bomb craters from the wartime had covered the plane fields with lush green. The bowls of plane soup with its pungent, strong, spicy taste were an unforgettable memory for those who reclaimed the land and cleared it.

Forest scent on the table

In Da Nang, Nam O fish salad, Hoa Hiep Nam ward, Lien Chieu district, has long been a "long-remembered delicacy" for domestic and foreign diners because of its special flavor. It is delicious not only because of the fresh herring caught from the sweet waters of Nam O sea, but also because of the accompanying wild vegetables with a full range of flavors: wild coc leaves, lan nganh leaves, tram leaves, dung leaves, and bua leaves...

Mr. Luong Xuan Phuoc, owner of Thanh Truc fish salad restaurant in Hoa Hiep Nam ward, revealed the secret: “These are forest leaves that usually grow at the foot of Hai Van pass, so they have to be picked all the way up the mountain to be fresh and delicious. In addition, some common leaves such as apricot, ginseng, perilla, lettuce,... are also present to enhance the taste buds.”

Nam O fish salad (Da Nang specialty) cannot lack wild vegetables. Photo: NH

Like Nam O fish salad, Kon Tum leaf salad without wild vegetables is considered... a waste. The writer once heard the owner of a leaf salad shop on Tran Cao Van Street, Thong Nhat Ward, Kon Tum City say that it is estimated that each tray of authentic leaf salad from the Central Highlands will have more than 30 different types of wild leaves.

All of these create a unique, sour, passionate flavor that is very unique to the palate, so that when visitors leave, they will forever remember a land of "tear-jerking" forest leaves.

Nowadays, many wild vegetables have shed their rustic status to become urban specialties, even appearing in luxury restaurants.

In the 2016 Golden Spoon contest in the North Central region for 5-star hotels, wild vegetables, long considered "countryside flavors", suddenly became the main ingredients to cook delicious dishes to treat high-class guests.

The team from Grand Sunrise Hotel Da Nang presented a menu rich in local flavors. The chefs painstakingly searched for ingredients and spices such as Garcinia cambogia leaves, pandan leaves, Giang leaves, wild Trang flowers, wild jute... to cook with fish, shrimp, Cau Mong grilled veal, Que Son cassava noodles, and Deo Le chicken. The judges evaluated these dishes as both modern and blending with the flavors of the homeland.

When the forest is empty of vegetables

Last October, I followed the field trip team of the Da Nang City Folk Arts Association to Ginger village, P'rao town, Dong Giang district, Quang Nam province, and listened to the mothers and sisters there talk about some unique dishes of the Co Tu people made from vegetables and forest leaves.

Mrs. Alang Thi Pien, 65 years old, bragged to guests that she had planted some arang ray trees in her backyard that were at the right age to be harvested to make chili salt, made from salt, wild chili, and arang ray leaves pounded together.

Shredded cassava leaves and fern fern are sold together with black beans by the Co T people at Dong Giang market (Quang Nam province). Photo: NH

Mr. Do Thanh Tan, Head of the Department of Culture and Information of Hoa Vang District, Da Nang City, added that in some places this tree is called "chang ray" and is also used to treat bone and joint pain. The first time tasting this unique salt, everyone is confused and doesn't know what it smells like. It smells faintly like grilled crab, but thinking about it, it's not exactly, meaning it's hard to describe!

At the end of April, the group went on a field trip to A Roch village, Lang commune, Tay Giang district (Quang Nam province), and was treated to familiar dishes by the Co Tu people in their Guol house. However, there was a familiar yet strange dish: cassava leaves stir-fried in the Co Tu ethnic style.

Mrs. Zo Ram Do, 70 years old, said that young cassava leaves are picked, boiled, rubbed with salt to reduce the pungency, then stir-fried with salt and chili. When eaten, they have a rich flavor like amaranth. This is an effective hunger-fighting dish in the “homegrown” style, because cassava is grown all year round, while wild vegetables are seasonal.

There are vegetables that are almost extinct, like fern fern for example. Since big storms swept through the streams, this fern-related vegetable has become rare in Tay Giang.

Back to the story of wild vegetables in Hoa Bac (Da Nang). During the season of wild vegetables, while going to the forest or the fields, the Co Tu people in Ta Lang and Gian Bi conveniently cut them into small bundles and carry them to the market. Small traders buy them and sell them at the markets in the city.

Only the mothers and sisters in the village have the “monopoly” to sell rau don. If the villagers do not go to the forest, the market will not have rau don on that day. Therefore, if you want to eat a plate of rau don with the flavor of the mountains and forests, you cannot have it just by asking.

That day, Alang Vu bent down to look at the firewood slowly dying in the fire by Coi Tien stream, his eyes as deep as the night forest, his voice full of regret: "Now the mountains, forests, streams and rivers are being pushed deeper and deeper, leaving no place for wild vegetables to grow. Now, I can walk all day and still not find a basket of vegetables...".

Sometimes I wonder, what would happen if the past lacked the cool green of fern, bay leaves, wild mango shoots, myrtle leaves, and galangal leaves...? Would the love songs of resistance still touch people's hearts when wild bamboo shoots, banana flowers, and star fruit... no longer grow in the wild forest? Perhaps, at that time, there would only be a deep longing!