Cameron Stauch - Vegetarian Viet Nam

Before eating, monks and nuns pray, shaping the right hand in a symbolic mudra position to aid digestion and metabolism, and to honor the bounty of food and those who prepared the meal.

VEGETARIAN VIT NAM

Cameron Stauch

Copyright 2018 by Cameron Stauch

Photographs on copyright 2018 by Evan Sung

All rights reserved

First Edition

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Book design by Jan Derevjanik

Production manager: Julia Druskin

COVER DESIGN BY JAN DEREVJANIK

COVER PHOTOGRAPH BY EVAN SUNG

The Library of Congress has cataloged the printed edition as follows:

Names: Stauch, Cameron, author.

Title: Vegetarian Viet Nam / Cameron Stauch.

Description: First edition. | New York, N.Y. : W. W. Norton & Company, Inc., [2018] |

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2017048498 | ISBN 9780393249330 (hardcover)

Subjects: LCSH: Cooking, Vietnamese. | Cooking, Southeast Asian. |

Vegetarian cooking. | LCGFT: Cookbooks. | Cookbooks.

Classification: LCC TX724.5.V5 S73 2018 | DDC 641.59597dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017048498

ISBN 978-0-393-24934-7 (e-book)

W. W. Norton & Company, Inc.

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For Ayesha, Lyla, and Kiran

Two Cao i sisters praying with the Divine Eye in the background.

A Buddhist lay believer cooks bnh kht , a mini rice pancake filled with lentils and mushrooms, for a celebratory meal at a temple in southern Vit Nam.

CONTENTS

In late 2012, on a visit to Si Gn (also known as H Ch Minh city), I woke up early, threw on some clothes, and headed toward the street food stalls on the outskirts of the citys markets. Hungerand a desire to investigate the stalls well-loved breakfast specialtiespropelled me.

Zigzagging my way through a residential alley, I came upon a woman stirring a large, stainless-steel pot filled with ph , a traditional breakfast soup, its steam pouring forth in billowy clouds. Several diners sat nearby, hunched over large bowls, chopsticks guiding noodles to mouths. Seconds later, I joined them.

Tangles of rice noodles drowned in a clear broth, expertly scented with star anise and cinnamon. I added cilantro, Asian basil, bean sprouts, and slivers of fresh red chile, then hit the ph, with a liberal squeeze of lime. Leaning forward, I breathed deeply and took it all inthe fragrant steam, the communal meal on the street, the entire scene. When I finally loosened the noodles with my chopsticks, discovering oyster-shaped mushrooms, tofu sticks, carrots, and daikon, thats when I realized: the soup was vegetarian, not a shred of chicken or beef in sight.

On the same trip I encountered an elderly woman selling vegetarian sandwiches (called bnh m chay ) from her roadside cart. She smeared mushroom pt on a split baguette, topping it on one side with tofu balls in tomato sauce. On the other side she added cucumber, pickled vegetables, spring onion, cilantro, chile, and toasted sesame seeds. She sprinkled the tofu with cellophane noodles that had been dusted with toasted rice powder, then squirted soy sauce over it all. Like my vegetarian ph , her sandwich rivaled any meat-filled creation Id ever had then or have had since.

I adore how Vietnamese cooks adjust the flavors of dishes to create a dance of salty, sweet, sour, and spicy. Each diner further personalizes these tastes, deploying squirts of lime juice, slivers of fiery red chile, dustings of toasted ground sesame seed. The more I learn about Vit Nam, the greater my admiration for its people and their culinary ingenuity.

Vegetarian Vit Nam features healthy, modern, simple yet sophisticated recipes Ive collected as a chef eating and traveling the length of Vit Nam. These dishes were a revelation to me because they were naturally vegetarian and mostly gluten-free and vegansomething I did not expect to find in my travels through an otherwise meat-loving country. This compendium of recipes, stories, and images celebrates this relatively hidden part of Vietnamese cuisine while also exploring how Vietnamese cooks use local ingredients to create and adapt traditional dishes based on seasonal, cultural, political, and religious influences.

WHY VEGETARIAN?

North American vegetarians and vegans often embrace these alternative diets for environmental, health, or moral reasons. In Vit Nam, religious traditions hold greater sway. Buddhism, specifically the branch of Mahayana Buddhism with its vegetarian traditions, has greatly influenced the distinct character of meat- and seafood-free Vietnamese cuisine.

In Vit Nam, theres no separate vegetarian category of recipes and foods. Rather, the boundary between whats considered vegetarian and whats not is more fluid since vegetarian dishes are generally replicas in look and taste of their meat and seafood relatives. Centuries ago, Chinese monks reportedly did not want to make meat-eating visitors uncomfortable by forcing vegetarian meals on them. Instead, they cleverly replicated meat and seafood dishes through creative use of tofu and wheat gluten (seitan). This culinary approach reached Vit Nam, where it was adopted by those cooking in Buddhist monasteries, royal courts, and eventually in home and restaurant kitchens.

MY BACKGROUND AND MOTIVATIONS

Im married to a Canadian diplomat. For a chef like me, one whose curiosity is both longstanding and deep-seated, following my wife around the globe and building our lives in some of the worlds most vibrant culinary landscapes affords me an extremely rare opportunity: to devote myself fully to researching, exploring, tasting, and understanding local foodways. I dont fly in and fly out after a week or two. While in a new country that Ill call home for several years, Im immersed. And the knowledge I gain about a countrys culture, geography, and history helps me better understand its cuisine. The more information I acquire, the better I appreciate how and why the populations of certain regions eat the foods they do. This process makes me a better cook, a better eater, a better traveler. It also directly informed my approach to writing this book.

I embarked on this project to translate my discoveries into practical, flavor-packed recipes for the home cook. Im drawing on skills Ive long used as a trained chef. In between stints of living overseas when I lived in Canada, for six years I was part of the kitchen team that cooks for the governor general, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth the Seconds representative in Canada. Like those cooking in the White House kitchen, were required to prepare a variety of foodfrom daily family meals to creative state dinnersthat best represent Canadas culinary landscape while also honoring the flavors of the visiting nation. During these events one of my roles was to prepare meals for guests with dietary restrictions, accommodating those who may be vegetarian or gluten-free or who may suffer from serious food allergies. With each meal or event, I refined my skills in vegetarian global cuisines, drawing upon the dishes and flavors Ive encountered while living overseas.