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 grew up, we saw it there from the beginning. No one planted or cared for it, but it grew well, so the people of the land at the head of Nghe An thought it was a "gift from heaven". Could it be that it was a compensation from nature for this land with much rain and sunshine?

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

Perhaps in the memory of many people in Quynh Luu, Hoang Mai, rau lot is associated with a difficult time. In the days when life was still difficult, 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 to sell.

Thanks to the baskets of jujubes sold, collected throughout the season, we can have enough money to buy books for school 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”, can go through the difficult days together, to continue the 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 its natural characteristics but also its preparation method. People hardly cook it in soup or stir-fry it, but mainly use it to make salad. The way to make the salad is also quite strange. The vegetable must be cleaned and boiled at least 2-3 times to make it cooked and less salty. 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 a 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-style 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 hard work 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 dishes full of protein. Not only that, it also appears in banquets. That makes the fate of the "wild vegetable" less sad, less resentful.

For those who have lived in the 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 the sighs of mothers 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 a full basket of rau lot was picked. 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 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!