The way back to the homeland

SGGP 08/12/2023 11:02

The thatched-roof house built by his grandparents in 1973 was renovated by Le Xuan Chien (born in 1998, Sam Son, Thanh Hoa) to avoid the sun and rain but still retain the old features. He also rekindled the "warm and cozy" kitchen with rustic dishes in the peaceful countryside.

The simple kitchen of Xuan Chien and his grandmother. Photo: NVCC

Go to return

Chien is one of the countless young people today who decided to leave the city and return to the countryside to create vlog channels about food and village life. He said that after finishing high school, he went to vocational school for 3 years and then joined the army. After completing his military service, he decided to return to his hometown.

“I worked as a kitchen assistant in Hanoi for a while, but found the hustle and bustle of a foreign land unsuitable, so I left the city to return to my hometown and work as a chef. At that time, I thought about creating my own channel to promote the cuisine of my hometown and the old countryside. That's how Bep Que Choa was born,” Chien confided. He made his first videos in late February and early March. Up to now, after about half a year, the channel has more than 151,000 followers on Facebook and more than 114,000 followers on TikTok.

Returning to the countryside also starts from the desire to be close to relatives, the hometown scenery is a common point of most of the current village culinary Vlog channels. The owner of the Ut ve vuon channel - Kim Ut is a journalism graduate. After 2 years of working in the city, she decided to leave the city to return to the countryside, attached to the gardens, vegetable beds, fish... in her hometown. Even the person behind the Khoi lam chieu channel - Nguyen Thi My Duyen once won the title of Vietnam Jewelry Queen 2017 and represented Vietnam in Miss Global 2019.

When asked about the growing trend of vlog channels about rural cuisine, Dong Van Hung, from the channel Am Thuc Me Lam, said: "In my opinion, these are positive things, helping to inspire people about a positive life about family, food, people, society, and countryside". Le Xuan Chien also said: "Videos like this will spread the unique beauty of Vietnamese villages, conveying homeland values ​​as well as positive messages of life to everyone". However, according to Xuan Chien, in this trend, there are also some channels that more or less distort Vietnamese customs and traditions.

Make a difference

Currently, vlog channels about rural cuisine are quite popular. Some of the channels that are receiving a lot of attention are: Khoi lam chieu, Ut ve vuon, Bep que choa, Anh nong dan, Thon nu official, Am thuc dong hao, Bep nha minh... Most of the owners of these vlog channels are young people, many of whom are from the 9X generation who have decided to leave the city and return to the countryside.

According to Xuan Chien, at first, the channel Bếp quê choa recreated the old scenery and dishes associated with childhood. He encountered mixed opinions, most people said that young people don't know anything about the old days. At that time, he decided to change direction: "After a while of thinking, I decided to switch to making content in the direction of staying with my grandmother, cooking for her to make her happy. I think this content of filial piety is also more suitable for young people like me. Since then, I have received many positive reactions. The happiest thing is that people see their image in it, although sometimes there are still malicious comments," Xuan Chien expressed.

Or like the Ut ve vuon channel, in addition to country cuisine, the content is also diverse with jobs: making brooms from coconut leaves, picking water hyacinth to weave baskets, weaving hammocks from banana stems, making eggplant... Most of the channels that are loved by viewers have their own characteristics from the experiences and individual transmissions of each person. Mr. Dong Van Hung confided that he always learns every day so he is not afraid of running out of ideas. Looking at the number of hundreds of videos posted, rarely repeated on the Am thuc me lam channel is a convincing answer.

To achieve the result of a video library with diverse content is a very hard labor process. The characters have to accept wading in the fields, catching fish, catching frogs, gardening, farming... to more difficult jobs such as: cutting trees, building a kitchen, pulling soil to make a house foundation, mixing mortar... As Mr. Dong Van Hung shared, there are videos that take 6 months to complete and most of the filming process is done by him alone. With Xuan Chien, he has an additional younger brother to support the video filming process. Many fans also ask Xuan Chien to let them experience the countryside scenery and dishes cooked by him.

Source: https://www.sggp.org.vn/neo-ve-nuong-nau-noi-que-nha-post701280.html