Zahorán Gábor Tamás (second from right) is making coconut root salad with shrimp and meat - Photo: TRONG NHAN
International exchange activities with Vietnamese universities are not rare, but with secondary schools are quite new.
First time knowing how to prepare seafood
Almost every day, the Hungarian students and lecturers will study together with the Vietnamese students and lecturers. In each session, the Vietnamese lecturers and chefs will teach them a new dish. From familiar dishes such as beef noodle soup, chicken noodle soup, vermicelli with grilled pork, spring rolls, seafood hotpot, to more unusual dishes such as fried goat with galangal, steamed bamboo chicken with fish sauce, soft-shell crab with XO sauce...
Zahorán Gábor Tamás, a culinary student at the Békéscsaba Vocational Training Center, said that each Vietnamese dish is a unique experience for him because it is very different from Hungarian cuisine. For example, the way of seasoning is richer and more sophisticated. In the beginning, Gábor said he did not know how to combine salt, sugar, and fish sauce to get the right taste of his Vietnamese lecturer.
You think the most interesting dishes are seafood. In Hungary there is no sea so seafood dishes are quite poor, instead traditional Hungarian dishes only focus on pork, beef and vegetables. Therefore, in the lessons of making shrimp, crab, snails... Gábor and his friends were often surprised when they first witnessed the techniques of preparing and processing these foods.
"Especially when I had to prepare live crabs, I was quite scared, but finally after being instructed, I knew how to do it. This was the first time I learned these techniques," said Gábor.
Karasz Zóra, a culinary student, said she was quite surprised that many Vietnamese dishes were quite spicy compared to the general Hungarian standard. Pepper and chili are used a lot in salads, stir-fries, hot pots... Zóra noticed that almost all Vietnamese dipping sauces have a little chili added.
Zóra said this was the first time she had "gone abroad" to participate in a culinary exchange, and to a place as far away as Vietnam. But according to Zóra, having studied culinary arts, experience is inevitable.
"Experience not only in but also outside of school. For example, in Vietnam, street food is very diverse and we also learn a lot from it," Zóra shared.
Mr. Hegyi Béla (left) and Mr. Horváth Ferenc use a translation machine to communicate in Vietnam - Photo: TRONG NHAN
The Story of the Translator
Mr. Hegyi Béla, F&B (food service) manager and Mr. Horváth Ferenc, kitchen teacher at Békéscsaba Vocational Training Center, are two teachers who have been studying with the Hungarian students for the past three weeks.
Neither of them was good at English, and of course, they didn’t know Vietnamese. So before leaving for Vietnam, they bought themselves a translation machine, using Google’s translation software to translate two-way between Vietnamese and Hungarian.
The machine is an indispensable part of each class of Mr. Béla and Mr. Ferenc. When they want the Vietnamese chefs to repeat important parts, they will press the button, record and "signal" these lecturers to speak slowly so that the machine can translate.
On the contrary, if they want to say something, they hold up the device as if it were a microphone, and then the device will play a translated Vietnamese voice for the Vietnamese lecturer and students.
Mr. Béla smiled and shared that it may sound complicated, but he had learned almost all the details in each lesson with the translator. He boasted that for each lesson, corresponding to a dish, he recorded details on his phone from ingredients, cooking methods to small details to note. He took pictures and videos of each step to have more documents when he returned home.
Mr. Ferenc also took the translation machine to a number of food festivals during his stay in Ho Chi Minh City, including a large food festival that brought together almost all famous dishes from all three regions. He considered this a lucky opportunity for him to be able to enjoy the culinary characteristics of many regions of Vietnam at the same time.
Overcoming the language barrier, he was able to ask chefs at events about their cooking secrets. "My favorites are seafood dishes and Vietnamese beef and chicken pho," Mr. Ferenc shared.
Open up job opportunities in Europe
Ms. Vo Thi My Van, principal of Saigontourist College of Tourism and Hospitality, said that the academic exchange with a vocational school in Hungary will be implemented for the first time from 2024.
After a group of students and lecturers from Hungary came to Vietnam to learn about Vietnamese cuisine, it is expected that in September this year, a group of students and lecturers from the school will also go to Hungary to experience studying there.
According to Ms. Van, international connections help students have the opportunity to learn, exchange and open up job opportunities in Hungary in particular and European countries in general.
Believe in your path
Gábor said that becoming a professional chef and experiencing many countries has been his dream since he was a child. Gábor said that when his family learned that he was studying to be a chef, some relatives advised him that this career was quite hard and stressful.
You can also sympathize when knowing that in Vietnam, many parents often advise their children to choose other paths if they want to study culinary arts because they are afraid that their children will have to work hard but the salary will not be high.
"I think it's the same everywhere, the important thing is that you know what you want and follow your own choice. When you have a passion, you should follow that passion. People around you can give you advice, but the person who decides your future is you" - Gábor said.
"Persistence and creativity, I think this is the secret to success for young people studying to be chefs like me," Gábor added.
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