LTS: With hundreds of households making sticky rice and 3 individuals being awarded the title of artisan, Phu Thuong is a rare craft village that still produces sticky rice every day, sending tons of sticky rice throughout the city.
To have experience in cooking delicious sticky rice and build a brand like today, generations of people in Phu Thuong have cultivated and learned many skills in each processing stage.
The ancients had a saying: "Ga village has a banyan tree/There is a cool river to bathe in, and there is a profession of making sticky rice". The people of Ke Ga village in the past, now called Phu Gia village, in Phu Thuong ward (Tay Ho district, Hanoi) are famous for their profession of making sticky rice. For many years, when hearing about Phu Thuong sticky rice, people remember the sticky, fragrant rice grains.
People born and raised in Phu Thuong are always proud of the cool water of the Red River and the fertile alluvium of the rich rice fields, the fragrant smell of the dikes in the past. These things have made Phu Thuong people love cooking sticky rice, devoted to the profession and built the profession to develop as it is today.
Ms. Nguyen Thi Loan (66 years old) - President of Phu Thuong Craft Village Association said that since she was a child, she witnessed her grandparents and parents waking up early every day to cook sticky rice in steamers, then carrying them on their heads to sell on the street. She also gradually learned the cooking method that her father and grandfather left behind. Currently, she no longer wanders around selling sticky rice on the sidewalk like before, the profession has been passed down to her children and grandchildren.
Ms. Loan said that every 2-3am, the whole Phu Thuong village turns on the lights, gets up to cook sticky rice, and by 4:30am, people spread out everywhere with baskets of sticky rice on their carts, selling it all over the streets. Each person sells at least 20-30kg of sticky rice every day.
According to Ms. Loan, the special thing that makes Phu Thuong sticky rice brand, making diners remember it forever, is the water and rice used to cook the sticky rice. In addition, what only people born in Phu Thuong know is the family secret.
Sticky rice must be soaked for 6-7 hours from the previous afternoon depending on the season. During the winter, the rice will be soaked longer to ensure the stickiness when cooked. The soaked rice will be put into the pot to cook. Each family has a different secret to cooking sticky rice. Some people choose to cook sticky rice the night before, then steam it again the next day. Some families only steam the sticky rice once.
To make sticky and fragrant sticky rice without water condensing at the bottom of the pot, temperature adjustment and timing techniques are very important. Therefore, sticky rice can be left all day without becoming dry and hard.
Mrs. Loan’s younger brother, sister-in-law and children are now taking over the family’s sticky rice cooking. On holidays and Tet, the whole family has to cook together to meet the orders. Although it is hard, everyone is proud to be able to make a living from their ancestors’ profession. According to her, many people in the village have built houses and bought cars thanks to selling sticky rice for many years.
Having been in the profession for over 50 years, Ms. Loan is extremely proud of Phu Thuong sticky rice. Witnessing the changes and development of the village over the years, Ms. Loan shared: “I am grateful to my grandparents and parents for passing on the profession to me and my children and grandchildren, and for keeping the profession for Phu Thuong known to many people as it is today.
I am proud that Phu Thuong sticky rice was recognized as a National Intangible Cultural Heritage last year, so that I and the villagers can devote ourselves to the profession passed down by our ancestors."
Wandering from 5am
On a January day in Phu Thuong craft village, Ms. Nguyen Thi Tuyet Mai (53 years old) shared about her career and life as a long-time sticky rice seller.
Every day, Ms. Mai diligently wakes up at 3am to cook sticky rice, and at 5am loads 20kg of sticky rice onto the truck and takes it to Trung Kinh Street (Hanoi) to sell. This is a place she has been attached to for more than 10 years. The “neighbors” on this street have long been her close friends.
Her sticky rice baskets usually have sticky rice with gac fruit, sticky rice with peanuts, sticky rice with corn, etc. and side dishes such as pork floss, sesame, beans, dried onions, etc. Each package of sticky rice she sells usually costs 10,000 VND. Each basket is lined with a layer of foam and aluminum foil to keep the heat in.
Sticky rice is placed in sedge sails, a basket divided into 3 compartments. Thanks to that, even when it is cold, the sticky rice still retains its heat, warmth, and aroma. Phu Thuong sticky rice is so delicious that after eating it once, you will want to eat it again, it is quite cheap, and it fills you up for a long time, so many people love it. By around 9am, her sticky rice stall is completely sold out. She can go home to rest and prepare for the evening.
In 1988, because she failed the university entrance exam, Mai decided to return home to follow her parents' profession. "I remember the first time I decided to sell sticky rice on the sidewalk was in 2011. Through an acquaintance, I was introduced to my current address and found it quite satisfactory.
At that time, I was alone so I was quite shy. I asked the owner to let me sit and sell and unexpectedly, that help made me attached to this place for more than 10 years. There are customers who consider me an acquaintance, if they don't eat in the morning, they feel something is missing," she shared.
Previously, her customers were mainly students. Now that the school has moved, the number of students renting rooms in the alley has decreased, so the number of customers coming to her is not as high as before. Many times, Ms. Mai also thought about changing the location of her shop to have more customers, but she couldn't because everyone here loves her very much and treats her like family.
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Ms. Nguyen Thi My Hanh (45 years old) is also the third generation in her family to continue the Phu Thuong sticky rice cooking profession and is now one of the famous sticky rice cooks in the village. Ms. Hanh said that since she was in secondary school, she helped her parents cook sticky rice. With a love for the traditional profession, she is passionate about cooking sticky rice, considering it the main job to help her family earn a living.
For the past 28 years, every morning at 5am, Ms. Hanh carries a basket of sticky rice to sell on Thanh Xuan Bac street (Thanh Xuan, Hanoi).
“Every day I wake up at 3am to prepare sticky rice, and at 5am I start to put it on the truck to take it to the selling location. Every day I sell about 30kg of sticky rice, and only return when it is sold out. At first, finding a place to sell was very difficult because I had to survey the location and negotiate whether I could sit or not. After that, I had to try selling to see how many customers there were. When I felt that the customers were good, I continued to sit,” Ms. Hanh shared.
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Every job has its own hardships, and so does the sticky rice cooking job. After many years of working in the profession, Ms. Hanh said her health has been affected quite a bit. Every day, she has to stay up late, wake up early, and sit on the sidewalk to sell her goods until 9-10am. Whether it is sunny or rainy, she is not afraid because there are regular customers waiting.
After selling everything, she got in the car to go home to eat and rest. In the afternoon, she soaked rice to prepare for the evening and night. Because of that, her health declined a lot. Sitting in one place for a long time, shaking rice, carrying sticky rice… caused her vertebrae to be affected, causing her vertebrae to slip. Luckily, her husband was always there to support her and help her with the heavy work.
Now he will do all the heavy work. She is in charge of transporting sticky rice to sell.
“Without my husband, I would not have been able to do this alone. It is so hard and difficult, but for the sake of making a living, I always keep in mind that I must try my best to preserve the traditional profession of my ancestors. I am always proud that I am a child of Phu Thuong, honored as one of the best sticky rice cooks in the village,” she said.
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