In my mind, Hanoi is a
weird place. It’s weirdness comes from the incredible contradiction inside this
land. In particularly, in the middle of the crowded street with incessant noise
from vehicles and smoke, all of a sudden, you found strange bamboo frames on
the shoulders of women or small carts carrying countryside fruits, to
and fro, in such a peacful manner. Nowadays, even though Vietnam has developed
with skyscrapers next to each other and the Old Quarter are less mossy, the
bamboo frames are still there, a vestige of the past in the middle of modern
life, people have still been in a habit of picking up and preserving trivial customs imbued in personal subconscience like watching
vendor carts of fruits to tell which season has come…
Summer also quietly comes to Hanoi when small bikes silently on
the other side of the road carry buckets of seasonal fruits,
heralding for sale to signals the arrivals of the
most exciting days of the year.
1. Nhót - Elaeagnus latifolia fruits
Such reddish, stout and succulent fruits make anyone mouth
watering by just thinking of. It’s nothing difficult to find smiley women or
men carrying basket of so cute reddish fruits behind. They lie there well-behaved and quitely but look gorgeous enough to warmly solicit anyone passing by.
People love it not only because of its eye-catching beauty and
fragrance, but its special flavor, sour and sweet, reminding of peaceful
childhood when black trousers were whitened to remove scab covering outside. Just a small bite is
enough to feel the summer scent running through from the tip of the tounge to
weasand, then staying there at the bottom of one’s heart to suddenly wake up when
summer alarms.
2. Máºn - Plums
This easy-to-eat fruits are so familiar that people find it hard
to get through without eating one or two plums, even green and sour, at the
beginning of the season. Round, purple plums not only follow street vendors
along any road or corner of Hanoi but they are also sliced into red pieces,
mixed with sugar and chilli salt, showing up on tray, making it irresistible to
any craver who’s fallen in love with its
beauty.
Tasty flavor of plums in summer time mainly owes to the mixing
technique of ladies and sisters. With the same amount of salt and chilies, it’s
still striking different from home-made plums.
3. Dâu tằm - Mulberries
An image that you can not miss in early days of summer in Hanoi is
round baskets full of black mulberries. Succulent berries with sweet
and delicate flavor are also typical fruits of summer in Hanoi.
4. Sấu –
Dracontomelon
Dracontomelon
is one of the most famous fruits of Hanoi. Differing from the above fruits,
dracontomelon is really sour and often served as a souring agent or a candied
treat. At the early stage of dracontomelon, it is either cooked with soup or
made into siro. Especially, dracontomelon can be cooked with pork and herb,
making a delicious dish in Hanoians’ traditional meals. Peeled then sugared or
salted dracontomelon fruits are the favorite junk food of many people. This
process also helps preserve the dracontomelon for a longer time to allow
consumption even up to a year when properly stored.
Sugared
or salted dry dracontomelon (Vietnamese: Ô mai sấu) is often bought in bulk by
tourists as a Hanoi specialty. Meanwhile, the northern people in general and
Hanoians in particular prefer using Dracontomelon fruits in sour soup, duck
hotpot and especially fruit juice from sugared dracontomelon. In Hanoi, the
most beautiful street is Phan Dinh Phung, both side of which stand dracontomelon
rows, providing shade for either sunny or rainy days.
Cóc in Vietnamese is not only one
kind of summer fruit but also an amphibian creature known as ‘toad’. So be
careful if you go to the market and ask to buy ‘cóc’ in Vietnam. Despite the
name similar to an ugly animal, this fruit is enjoyed by most Vietnamese ladies
in summer owning to its sourness and good effect for health.
In Vietnam, the fruit is eaten
raw or mixed with chili salt; the flesh is crunchy and a little sour. Study has
revealed that 100g of ambarella provide 3.2mg iron to supply 18% for the human
body. With high contents of fiber and protein, the fruit also stimulates
digestion and appetite. That explains somehow why our young ladies become addicted to ‘cóc’.
Though rustic, bamboo frames on
the shoulders of women is a familiar sight of Hanoi. Besides fruits, the bamboo
frames can carry different things: vegetables, even beverages and household
items. "What street vendors sell could change from season to season: summer is
for tofu and che; in fall there are guavas, pomelos, persimmons; crab soup
vermicelli and grilled corn in the winter and plenty of flowers in spring.
These bamboo frames can be the
main income for a whole family. They represent the worries of the people who
doesn’t have a very well-off life in this modern city. They work hard everyday,
every hour to get by, and they deserve respect. We sympathize with them and
help them as much as we can. As long as there are still vendors who knows to
keep the streets hygienic and don’t do business in prohibited areas, street
vendors will always retain as one of the most important culture of Hanoi.''