Adventure Eating

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After 8 months here, I finally found some Vietnamese friends who took me on as their ‘foreign friend project.’ They are helping me to see and experience Vietnamese culture from a local perspective. It’s easy to experience the touristy side of Saigon. However, I have found it hard to really integrate into daily life here.

I’ve desperately wanted to integrate into and talk to the locals, eat crazy street food, and understand some of the cultural oddities that I encounter every day, but that’s hard to do when you don’t know the language. You don’t need to know Vietnamese to be able to get around simply, but you do need to know it to have and understand real day-to-day cultural experiences.

That’s where my friends Lee and Tuyet come in. By chance, I met them at a coffee café. There was a power cut in my neighborhood, and it forced me to go to a coffee shop. Lee, an American Vietnam Vet, and Tuyet, his wife from Dalat, Vietnam, are a lovely couple; I can’t stress this enough. Tuyet lost her sight when she was 7 years old. That alone fascinated me as I find Saigon a terribly difficult city to navigate with sight – I can’t imagine how she does it!

Ever since the day we met and exchanged pleasantries and phone numbers, they’ve been on a mission to show me the amazing food of Vietnam. They started this adventure by taking me to a local market and showing me how to cook up a Vietnamese seafood feast. They also introduced me to durian – the king of fruits.

This week, we went out to a night market on a rainy night, and I tried more things that I had never dreamed of being edible!

First, we had yummy clams, followed by baby snails in a coconut sauce. The coconut sauce was amazing and unexpectedly sweet. I was surprised, though, that the snails came out in their little homes – their shells. Tuyet demonstrated how I was to get the snails out of their home – by sucking…hard! Sure enough – with some effort – out they came, and they tasted pretty good!

A while ago I introduced Tuyet to the concept of beer mixed with tomato juice – so she repaid the favor and introduced me to beer mixed with Coke. I was skeptical – but it actually tasted good – kind of like a refreshing ice tea. Since they already put ice in beer served in Saigon, it didn’t seem that odd to then simply add Coke too.

Finally – after our fresh grilled fish – yum – we walked to a smoothie place. I let them order it for me, and they decided upon a durian/avocado smoothie. Hmmm – these are two things that I would never order in a smoothie alone – let alone mixed together! But I was game to try it. We sat out at a little table on the sidewalk, and they brought us three smoothies. The durian smell was suddenly present in front of me, and it was not very appetizing. I made a big sigh and thought,…ok – you gotta try it. I’ve decided that I’m one of those rare people who doesn’t have a strong reaction to durian. Most people love it or hate it…I don’t love or hate it. I find it to be a strange taste, but nothing that gives me the gag reflex. Then again, durian burps aren’t very fun.

I survived the night and was stuffed afterward! I look forward to our next adventure!