Random thoughts about fish and eels

(Baonghean)Through press information, it is said that among the 12 Vietnamese dishes recognized by the Asian Record Organization as dishes with Asian culinary value, there is Nghe An eel vermicelli dish, suddenly I feel nostalgic...

Talking about eel vermicelli in Nghe An, we must first talk about eel vermicelli in Vinh. Perhaps nowhere else has as many eel vermicelli and eel porridge shops as Vinh. Vinh people eat eel vermicelli and eel porridge like Hanoi people eat pho. Eel vermicelli is delicious to the international level, but without eel catchers, there would be no eel vermicelli! Thinking about that, I suddenly miss the fishing and eel catching profession in my hometown.

My hometown Yen Thanh, in addition to the specialty of Du rice and Rong sticky rice, which was said to have been offered to the king, is also famous for its fish and eels. Perhaps due to the abundant water and food resources, Yen Thanh fish and eels are much bigger and tastier than many other places. When the Vach Nam drainage canal was built, about thirty years ago, the Dinh River was dry, people caught grass carp weighing up to half a quintal, called "cu ca", the meat was very delicious, especially the fish intestines, many people said they had never seen anything more delicious.

In Yen Thanh, there are many families that have passed down the profession of fishing and making fishing tools. In my village, there is a man named Cu Nhuong who is famous for weaving traps and fishing nets. During market days, fishing tools: traps, nets, traps, and baskets… cover a corner of the market. Cu Nhuong’s traps and baskets are still the most popular. The commune official threatened: If you weave traps and baskets, you are helping those who destroy the cooperative rice fields! Cu Nhuong laughed, and the commune official laughed too. In difficult times, people are more sympathetic to each other.

Also in my village, there is a man named Dau who is very good at catching eels. He catches eels without any tools. Walking on the shore, looking around, tilting, then suddenly I see him wading into the field, picking up an eel, sometimes as big as an adult's big toe. Mr. Dau said, looking at an eel, you can tell which one is carrying eggs. He never catches an eel carrying eggs. He said, let it lay eggs, there are still some for you to catch, don't eat all the gifts from heaven.

I heard that Mr. Dau learned the eel catching profession from the people of Ru Dat. Ru Dat is a small village in Long Thanh commune (Yen Thanh), my mother's hometown. No one knows when the eel catching profession started here, but when I was young, I saw the Ru Dat people catching eels all over the land. The whole village went to catch eels. They went empty-handed, carrying only eel bags. I remember the winter days, near Tet, the sky was soaked, looking from my house to the field in front, I saw the figures of people rising and falling in the rain. My father said: The people of Ru Dat go to catch eels! When I was in high school, studying in Vinh, every time I took a bus to the city, I saw a few hard-working female farmers with eel bags next to them. When I asked, they said they brought the eel to Vinh to sell to eel porridge and eel vermicelli restaurants. When the bus arrived at the station, the fruit vendors got off the bus, the cyclo drivers asked, they shook their heads. Looking at them staggering on the street, my eyes were stinging.

In my hometown, there are many people famous for catching fish. Besides Mr. Dau, there are also Mr. Hoach, Mr. Son, Mr. Hoang... each with their own talent. Mr. Hoach is good at catching fish at night, Mr. Son is good at catching fish during flood season, and Mr. Hoang specializes in river fishing. Strangely, everyone is very healthy but no one lives long. Perhaps the job of catching eels and fish requires a lot of rain and sun, going out at night and day, and diseases can easily infect people. And also, no one is well-off.

One time I went back to Vinh, I was drinking with an old school friend, with the specialty dish of braised eel with banana stem. While drinking, I suddenly saw a woman carrying a bag of eel to sell to the restaurant owner. I asked where she was from? She said Yen Thanh. I asked again: Are there still many eels in Yen Thanh? She said: Smart people, hard to find, my husband and my eldest son traveled all over the place for a whole week to get that many! We came all the way here to sell them for a good price. It's almost Tet! Before she could finish her sentence, she walked away. She still had that unsteady figure on the street.

Sitting drinking specialties with friends, I feel choked up.

Phan Xuan Luat (Phu Yen Radio and Television Station)