Return to Nghe An to enjoy 'heaven's blessings'

Following their mother to the water spinach fields along the dike is a familiar image to many children in some rural areas of Quynh Luu, Hoang Mai town... Photo: Nhat Thanh

Rau lot is a wild vegetable that usually has purple stems and leaves similar to portulaca flowers, growing along salt fields, brackish water shrimp and fish farms, or along rivers. No one knows when this vegetable first appeared. We only know that when we were growing up, we saw it there since time immemorial. No one planted or cared for it, but it grew well, so the people of this land at the head of Nghe An thought it was a “gift from heaven”. Could it be that it was nature’s compensation for this land of much rain and sunshine?

The water spinach grows in clumps, and one must bend over patiently for an hour to pick a full basket of vegetables to bring home. Photo: Nhat Thanh

Perhaps in the memories of many people in Quynh Luu, Hoang Mai, rau lot is associated with a difficult time. During the difficult days of life, many people went to pick rau lot, most of them were women and children. One day at school, the remaining time many children gathered their childhood joy and went to the salt fields to pick vegetables to eat and sell.

Thanks to the baskets of jujubes sold, collected throughout the season, we can have enough money to buy school books or some supplies because jujubes are usually cheap. For families who are really struggling, a meal with a jujube salad mixed with peanuts can make the children feel “enough”, able to go through the difficult days together, so that they can continue their dream of going to school during those days.

Loquat leaves can be harvested year round, but are best in mid-spring and early summer. Photo: Nhat Thanh

The special thing about the jujube vegetable is not only in its natural characteristics but also in the way it is prepared. People hardly cook it in soup or stir-fry it, but mainly use it to make salads. The way to make the salad is also very strange. The vegetable must be cleaned, boiled at least 2-3 times to cook it and reduce the saltiness. When mixing the salad, squeeze out the excess water, mix it with some herbs, lemon leaves, sugar, chili and some roasted peanuts. There are two things to note: the vegetable must be boiled and no salt must be added.

When enjoying, you can eat it with rice paper, rice noodles, vermicelli or simply it is a clean dish in the family meal. When eating, you will feel the crunchiness of the jujube vegetable, the aroma of herbs, the rich taste of peanuts and the indispensable sour and spicy taste of the standard salad. All blend together to create the richness of this Nghe An salad. Perhaps the richness is not only due to the saltiness of the sun and wind remaining in each vegetable stalk. But that richness is also associated with the hardship of the people here, associated with the peaceful yet fierce memories of many people living along the salt fields.

A plate of green jujube salad adds delicious flavor to family meals. Photo: Nhat Thanh

Nowadays, people eat rau lot with many different feelings. For people in the land of Nghe An, a plate of rau lot in the summer will make the meal more harmonious among the protein-rich dishes. Not only that, it also appears on the banquet table. That makes the fate of the "wild vegetable" less sad and less resentful.

For those who have lived in salt fields and shrimp and fish ponds, eating rau lot is a way to find memories of childhood. A childhood with scorching summer days, with mothers sighing when the family's meals had nothing but a few small fish, a plate of vegetables and sometimes bursts of laughter when at the end of the day they picked a full basket of rau lot. And for city dwellers, eating rau lot is like enjoying a gift from the countryside that is both clean and full of love and meaning.

Today, water mimosa seems to no longer be a food of the poor, but has "risen" to become a specialty in urban meals. Photo: Nhat Thanh

In the late spring and early summer, the water mimosa will grow faster. Along the salt fields and river banks, we see the image of women patiently picking each stalk of the vegetable. Then those baskets of vegetables will be sold, although the economic value is not too high, but surely, if you keep saving and collecting, it will help make meals more delicious, will make this "heavenly gift" reach many people across the country!