'Lost' in the culinary paradise of flood season

The annual flood season brings alluvial water to the fields, bringing fish and shrimp from upstream along the Mekong River to the Mekong Delta.

The flood season in the West is full of joy and vitality for the people of the river, the season of catching natural aquatic resources, from which dozens of special dishes are prepared, making visitors linger to return.

Hundreds of Western cuisine dishes from fish

What is the most typical dish to eat in the West during the flood season? It is difficult to give a complete and accurate answer. It depends on the taste of the diners. However, the dish that many customers seek to enjoy is probably the dishes made from linh fish.

'Lạc lối' giữa thiên đường ẩm thực mùa nước nổi - Ảnh 2. — Braised linh fish with water lily and sesban flowers... - Photo: DANG TUYET

Linh fish alone can be processed into dishes: fried in flour, braised in bland, cooked in sour soup, hotpot with fish sauce, sweet and sour hotpot, grilled with betel leaves, braised with fish sauce, made into fish sauce, fermented with fish sauce (with large fish at the end of the season)...

Gourmets choose the flood season to visit the West a few times to eat braised linh fish with water lily or sesbania flowers... linh fish cooked in sour soup with water lily or sesbania flowers...

But this season there is not just one type of fish, there are countless freshwater fish, each type has a different way of preparation and flavor.

Our ancestors from the time of reclaiming the land of the South have concluded correctly: first is grilled, second is fried, third is stir-fried, fourth is boiled.

Grilled snakehead fish wrapped in young lotus leaves - Photo: DANG TUYET

Grilled dishes include: grilled snakehead fish, grilled loach, grilled field mouse with salt and chili... the aroma wafts across the fields. Boiled dishes are also diverse with field crabs, boiled apple snails with salt and chili.

Delicious dishes with rich alluvial flavor

The above dishes are daily meals of the people in my hometown in the West, now becoming specialties on the dining tables at tourist areas and restaurants for visitors to enjoy.

Dishes to treat you during the flood season - Photo: PHUOC THANH

Also here, after a day of working hard in the fields, in the kitchen on the side of the house, there is often a hot meal with just a bowl of braised fish, a bowl of sour soup with water spinach or sour soup with lotus and sesban flowers, dipped in linh fish sauce.

Just that is full of flavor.

Stir-fried river shrimp with water mimosa flowers brings an unforgettable sweet taste - Photo: PHUOC THANH

That's why when visitors from far away get lost, they are sometimes invited to a home-cooked meal of soup and braised fish and are reminded of it forever. The love for our homeland's rivers and streams continues to spread far and wide.

Coming to the cuisine of the flood season in the West will make diners "lost" because they do not know which dish to eat first and which one to eat later, grilled or braised, go to a specialty restaurant or "eat rice" at a farmer's house.

But no matter which experience you choose, it will certainly be the most beautiful memories associated with the beloved flood seasons, full of love and the rich flavor of the alluvial soil of the South.