Eel – A dish with a strong culinary character of Nghe An countryside, processed into many delicious dishes such as: braised eel with banana and bean, eel rolled with lemongrass and chili, stir-fried eel… but the most popular and favorite are still eel soup, eel porridge. From the dishes of the "third of August" when farmers had free time, farmers brought bamboo tubes to set up and go fishing to add "freshness" to their meals, eel gradually became a specialty of Nghe An countryside. And then, eel porridge, eel soup stepped up to the level of delicacies, becoming a unique delicacy of Nghe An, which is the desire of visitors from afar to enjoy when coming to Nghe An.
Nghe An people far from home, even though they are in the West, in a foreign land, in their nostalgia, there is always a lingering taste of spicy eel soup, of a bowl of steaming eel porridge mixed with the seductive smell of shallots. To satisfy their nostalgia for their hometown dishes, many people freeze eel to take away, occasionally enjoying it but unfortunately not having the full flavor. This is what prompted the young CEO Tran Ha Nhung of NAP Food Culinary Development Company Limited to research and develop a product line of instant vermicelli, porridge, and eel soup under the brand name NAP Food (Proud of Nghe An).
From experimental products, made only to send to relatives and friends to use. “At first, it was just hand-carried boxes brought abroad by friends and relatives to eat, then from these relatives, it spread to the surrounding community. Overseas Vietnamese and foreigners "tried" the products and found them delicious and suitable to their taste, so they wanted to order them. Grasping the needs and tastes of customers, the company researched and connected with companies, store systems, and supermarkets in other countries to sign export and distribution contracts,” CEO Tran Ha Nhung shared. And since June 2021, NAP Food's instant packaged eel products have been exported to Australia, UK, Korea, and Japan with a quantity of 12-15 containers/year...
Up to now, eel products of Nghe An NAP Food have conquered the domestic market and signed many export contracts abroad. Specifically, currently, eel products of NAP Food have been officially exported to the markets of Australia, Japan, Czech Republic, USA and are currently negotiating trade to export to China, Singapore. In addition, eel porridge, soup, vermicelli are also available in England, France, Korea through unofficial channels. On average, each year, NAP Food exports over 2 million products such as soup, vermicelli, instant packaged eel porridge abroad, bringing in tens of billions of VND in revenue.
To get that "sweet fruit" is not simple, in addition to the effort to achieve the 3-star OCOP standard as a "passport", to export, especially to "difficult" markets such as the EU, the US... requires a breakthrough investment in both quality and design, passing strict inspections. Ms. Tran Ha Nhung said: "The export potential of Nghe An eel specialties to these countries is very large, very potential. The export of eel processed products of NAP Food Company to the EU market is considered a great step forward. Because this is a market with high demands on product quality, labels, especially food hygiene and safety and other technical barriers".
Therefore, in addition to the selection of fresh ingredients without chemical residues, the eel must be of the standard wild eel; the rice used to make vermicelli and porridge must be of the countryside, and the shallots and turmeric used as spices must also be of the standard countryside flavor. In particular, during the processing process, the company has applied the most advanced technology so that the eel dishes do not lose their characteristic flavor, such as freeze-drying, dehydration, etc. Thanks to that, NAP Food's packaged and instant eel products still retain their characteristic flavor, the standard flavor of Nghe An specialties. In addition, the OCOP entity itself must also have a strategy to promote and market the product and promote trade in many ways, connecting with foreign markets through different channels.
In early April 2023, good news came to Nghe An when the bamboo and rattan hanging lantern product of Duc Phong Company Limited (Nghi Phu Commune, Vinh City) was recognized as a 5-star OCOP National Product. Unable to hide his joy and pride, Mr. Thai Dai Phong - Director of the company said: "From a product of a traditional craft village, it is now the only product of Nghe An that has achieved 5-star OCOP. The 5-star OCOP certification is not only a "passport" to help lantern products circulate in the international market, but also the highest certificate demonstrating the country's recognition of OCOP products. Achieving this certificate is an opportunity for us to approach new partners and new markets with a new position.
To export bamboo and rattan lanterns – a traditional product of Nghe An village – is a long story, going through decades of persistent dedication of a veteran who once worked abroad – Mr. Thai Dai Phong. “After a long time working in Germany, returning to his homeland to make a living with the traditional bamboo and rattan weaving profession, he encountered difficulties on all sides when there was no product output, low income, and people quit the profession. At that time, in the 2000s, I thought about exporting bamboo and rattan products. However, to export, the issue of design, product quality, and green export criteria must be put first,” Mr. Thai Dai Phong recalled.
With perseverance in research and the will to achieve the export target, this director did not hesitate to spend money to open training courses for the village weavers to update their knowledge and designs suitable for the market. In addition, the company has applied scientific and technological advances to production. These include anti-termite disinfection and investment in purchasing machinery and equipment. By 2007, the company had implemented quality management according to ISO 9001:2000 standards and was granted a certificate of conformity by an international organization in 2008. Quality management according to standards in production helps the company reduce production costs, improve quality and lower product prices. Along with that, he cooperated with the people of Quy Chau and Que Phong to build a sustainable, stable, high-quality bamboo raw material area with FSC certification.
The company also participates in many domestic and international fairs, from which to learn and research product marketing. “In business, especially traditional crafts, developing raw material areas associated with market development strategies and building domestic and international brands is a matter of survival for businesses. Duc Phong rattan and bamboo products always have a harmonious combination of traditional and modern features, maintaining the sophistication and uniqueness, demonstrating the talent of Nghe An rattan and bamboo artisans. Achieving 5 stars does not need flowery words anymore, because the achievement and pride are not only of Nghe An. Currently, the company's rattan and bamboo hanging lantern products are present in the markets of 34 countries around the world" - Mr. Thai Dai Phong said.
Sesame rice paper is also a hometown gift of the people in Do Luong and Thanh Chuong areas. The cakes made from rice and sesame seeds grown in the fields of their hometown, according to the women and mothers present at the village markets, are just a "snack" of the villagers, a livelihood for a few households working in the village. No one thought that the rustic sesame rice paper would become an OCOP product, with a star, a barcode, "dressed" in a luxurious, beautiful paper box and one day exported to Japan, Taiwan, Australia... That is the hard work and constant efforts of the young couple Nguyen Ngoc Phuong and Nguyen Ba Thang (Nhan Son commune, Do Luong district) - who chose to start a business with the local product, sesame rice paper. “Rice paper is a specialty of my hometown, Do Luong has a hundred-year-old rice paper craft village; however, I have witnessed my villagers working hard in the fields, making rice and sesame seeds; then grinding flour, sweating to make each cake, and drying it. Then they themselves have to carry the cakes to the market, fan them and sell them retail to customers everywhere. And if it were just like that, rice paper would only stop being a traditional craft,” said Nguyen Ba Thang.
Therefore, when choosing to start a business with local products, Phuong and Thang were determined to "change the life" of sesame rice paper. The young couple born in the 90s invested in a modern factory, the stages from making flour, making rice paper, drying rice paper are all automated by production lines and machines with an output of up to 40 million rice papers/year, creating jobs for 50 local workers. In 2020, Luong Son sesame rice paper products were recognized as 3-star OCOP products at the provincial level, and were supported in building product brands and labels. Phuong and Thang determined that this was the lever, the initial foundation to realize the dream of bringing village rice paper to the world. On the one hand, they strive to improve quality, improve designs, and invest in packaging. On the other hand, to find outlets for their products, in addition to expanding domestic market share, in recent times, Phuong and Thang have sought every way to connect and market rice paper products to other countries. Initially, through local children working abroad, sesame rice paper - a specialty of Do Luong was exported through unofficial channels, mainly to the Taiwanese and Thai markets.
In 2021, through a partner company in the export group, the first rice paper cakes of Do Luong were exported to the Japanese market with a quantity of half a container. Mr. Nguyen Ngoc Phuong said: “The Japanese market requires very strict products, from traceability of input materials, quality, design, accurate weight to each gram, especially food hygiene and safety. In 2022, the company exported 1 million sesame rice paper to Japan, worth 2.2 billion VND, distributed in supermarkets and grocery stores in Japan. This is the opening direction for Do Luong rice paper to "widen the way to export", reaching markets in other countries. In mid-September 2023, the US partner agreed to import Luong Son rice paper into the retail system in the US and in the near future, we will expand exports to Korea and European countries. Currently, not only rice paper, but Do Luong and Yen Thanh banh chung are also exported informally, contributing to increasing revenue and employment for Nghe people.
