Vietnam Diaries (Day 17): Nostalgia

Vietnamese cuisine is very delicious, even with a vegetarian's constraint. It is flavourful. It has great texture. It is fresh, even when served on the streets. It has vegetables, meat substitutes like soybeans, tofu that are either boiled, sauteed, fried. It is served with rice or noodles or soups, or as a combination of either two of these. Occasionally, you find them in a Banh Mi (sandwich in a baguette), a Bunbao (large, stuffed dim sum), Banh Xeo (crispy pancake). 

A Noodle Bowl with Soup (Veggiebox in Phong Nha)

A Ban Xeo with Egg (at the famous and inexpensive Bánh khoái Hồng Mai in Hue)

This was a typical rice meal that was most authentic and deeply loved by locals (at Lien Hoa in Hue)

An Egg Banh Mi - the safest meal at local stalls for a Vegetarian

I have also fallen in love with all forms of Vietnamese Coffee - black, white, egg or coconut coffee. They are served cold or hot  (barring Coconut Coffee which is always cold). Some variations may seem a little too sweet with the condensed milk.

Coconut Coffee, Egg Coffee, Milk Coffee served with a drip filter (in that order) 

They also have a variety of local draught beers, which are often cheaper than packaged water. Given I am not much of a beer drinker, I tried only 2-3 variants through my stay, which were interesting but in my mind, nothing close to Belgian, Czech or German Beer. There is also local wine which I found to be really strong.

Nothing like a Cold Beer with a Great View after a Fun Morning under the Warm Sun

Rice wine in the three jars - usually flavored with ginger, fried bananas or sometimes even snakes (eeks, didn't try)

And then there are interesting desserts which I haven't yet exhaustively experimented with (my mission for Ho Chi Minch City before getting back to the gym).

A Bean Curd Dessert with an Assortment of Toppings

A Fried Vietnamese Banana Pancake (must try!)

Avocado Smoothie (Sinh To Bo) - I don't recall what these seeds were called, but they were an amazing combination

Everything said and done, it is not Indian. There is something magical about the way we make our Indian dishes that this cuisine just can't match - maybe it is the jeera or rai ka tadka, maybe it is the fresh and diverse masala, maybe it is the rich gravies in our curries. I hate to say this but I was even missing our dals and sambhars. Most importantly, our chapatis and rotis have no substitute in any global variants of breads.  

After two weeks of mostly local food, I was craving Indian food. The visit to the mud bath and mineral pools made the hunger even worse. I set my mind on finding good Indian food in this small Vietnamese tourist town called Nha Trang. I found two places that were beyond my travel budget, but then, there is always room for indulgence. Logically, I chose one that was closer to my hostel and that had more positive reviews from Indians. 

Walking in, I heard the songs 'Ek Ladki Ko Dekha' and 'Main hoon Don'. I had a server who was from Himachal and spoke fluent Hindi. After over two weeks of travel and especially with my last two stops barely having any English-speaking tourists (there has only been a transactional conversation with hostel staff), I was absolutely thrilled to have all these add-ons over and above the food. 

Coming to the food itself, I didn't have high expectations. Most Western tourists describe the taste of Indian food in reviews on only a spice meter (very spicey, less spicey, etc), which in my mind makes it very unidimensional. However, I must say the dal, sevai kheer and paneer were quite close to what one may find in an average India multicuisine restaurant. Even the chapati and naan would pass a minimum score. They served appam instead of papad with a north Indian meal, which is technically incorrect. And one gravy which was supposed to be in cashew gravy was a bit off. Nonetheless, I chose to keep the purpose of having this meal at the center and savoured every bite.

Given into the Desi at Heart temptation: A North Indian Thali

An Important Disclaimer for my Food Nazi Friends: I know there are no averages - so, for instance, please don't get started on paneer from Punjab vs. Delhi vs. Mumbai vs. Bengaluru. I am giving into my Nationalist Foodie Sentiments. 

It has been only fourteen days, but I experienced nostalgia today. I am not a huge fan of many things Indian, especially in recent times. At the same time, I realized I do value our food and more than that, a shared context or at least a shared language for a conversation. 

Underlying these intersections and distinctions are our extremely diverse cultural roots. They make our country one that you can rarely fully experience and thus, rarely get entirely bored of. And given we have been a country that has had invaders for over 500 years (even if you don't count the Aryan migrations), we have been historically much more open to accepting diversity (barring the recent times).

Zooming out, I am hopeful that a decade, in comparison to five centuries, maybe too short a time to change the ethos of our people. I am hopeful that I will have more things to be nostalgic about in a few years from now. Everything said and done, I know that good Indian food will still remain at the top of that list.