What should I eat this Tet holiday?

(Baonghean) - I was slurping down the last bite of instant noodles when my mother called:

- Your friend is coming home for Tet this year, what food are you craving so I can send some over?

- Mom, can you send me some beef jerky? The store-bought kind, the homemade kind isn't as good as the store-bought kind!

- No, absolutely not. Do you know that the dried beef sold in stores is all made from rotten meat, marinated with chemicals and artificial colors, and eating it can cause cancer?

- Then Mom, you should send me some shredded pork floss?

- My family has been avoiding pork lately; they just seized 2 tons of rotten pork, son!

Reluctantly, I said, "Then let's go with instant noodles." No sooner had I finished speaking than my mother launched into a lecture about how 100% of instant noodle samples, both domestic and imported, that passed inspection contained a substance that causes kidney stones. Even something as simple as eating seems to be causing so much trouble!

In reality, Vietnam has never been known for its food safety and hygiene, so let's be honest about the facts. Foreigners visiting Vietnam inevitably experience "culture shock" at the sight of makeshift eateries set up right next to dusty, traffic-filled streets and even garbage. The "stomach shock" is probably even more severe, as a foreign friend of mine once suffered from severe diarrhea after eating at a street food stall. Since then, foreign tourists visiting Vietnam have likely added stomach ache and digestive aid medications to their list of essential items. To be fair, even Vietnamese people like myself have experienced diarrhea after traveling abroad, let alone foreigners.

This isn't to say we should boycott Vietnamese cuisine. Objectively speaking, conditions in Vietnam don't allow for the same stringent standards as abroad. Differences in income, prices, living standards, and above all, differences in production and market management—all of these factors define the characteristics of goods in developing countries in general, and Vietnam in particular. Simply put, "you get what you pay for," and "cheap goods are often of poor quality," which is understandable. But the problem is, even when people are willing to spend a lot of money, they still can't find a supply that meets the standards of the demand. That's why many well-off people still complain about not knowing what to do, buy, or eat in Vietnam that's worth their money.

That's just talk, but how can you live without eating? As my friends in Vietnam often joke, "Eating will kill you, and not eating will also kill you, so let's just eat and die to satisfy our cravings." This doesn't mean we condone or support unethical production and trade practices, but rather it's a way of "living with the problem." Solving this issue requires interaction between both buyers and sellers. Sellers and producers need to conduct their business with integrity and conscience, because ultimately, they are consumers in another link of the economic chain. If they cheat today, who knows if they won't become victims of other unethical traders tomorrow? As for buyers, they shouldn't be tempted by cheap prices or short-term gains, forgetting the greater good: their own health, their family's health, and, more broadly, the health of the overall economy. The role of control, regulation, and direction naturally belongs to the competent authorities; the issue becomes a triangular puzzle where missing one corner makes it an unsolvable riddle.

Returning to the conversation between me and my mother (and the bowl of noodles!), when my mother warned me against eating instant noodles, I realized an obvious truth, just like any other international student: instant noodles have been, are, and will continue to be indispensable to our survival. I don't know how many cubic meters of gravel I've accumulated in my 20 years of life, from the time I first started eating instant noodles until now – a kind of accumulation, preparing for a future house-building plan. What kind of house? Probably a tomb, if the food safety situation in our country doesn't improve at all. But the pressing question right now is: What will I eat this Tet holiday?

Hai Trieu