Attractive right from the name
"When the water is not weak, it calls for water to stand, when the fish are not worshiped, it calls for linh fish".
The hundred-year-old story in the upstream area of the Mekong River partly speaks about the long-standing attachment of linh fish to the land and reveals the myth of the unique name of the fish species. With a body not too big, even very small, linh fish is famous for being a heavy fish in the Mekong Delta aquatic group.
Regarding the name linh fish, there is a theory that this fish only appears once a year when the continent welcomes floodwaters from the upper Mekong. When there is flood water, linh fish will appear in the natural river system of the Southwest region, should be called upstream fish. After reading the farm, the fish became linh. The second theory is that this fish species is... sacred.
Researcher Nguyen Van Kiem, author of the book "Tan Chau 1870 - 1964", said that according to the thousand-year-old rule, on the 10th day of the 10th lunar month, linh fish from the river, when they are born, the ditches rise onto the water surface, locally called fish rising. With this spiritual orientation, there is also a theory that this fish is instinctive to flood water. When the flood came, fish appeared, when the flood receded, fish were also few in the wild. More specifically, every time there is a heavy rain, this fish is almost lost. However, there is another theory that this title was issued by the king.
Forming a cultural chain...
As per the ancient rule, on the 5th day of the 5th lunar month, the water in the Mekong River beginning to "turn" began to "turn", the Mekong Delta welcomed the flood season with red, alluvial water flowing from the upstream Mekong, which was also the time when linh fish and its water flowed to the mainland. Without care, they feed on their own, grow quickly and especially become flock.
Due to the overwhelming output of aquatic products during the flood season, people in the upstream area also formed specialized fishing gear for linh fish at each growth stage. Still a net, net, bottom and a giant (large-scale fishing gear, caught in large quantities)... but in the upstream areas of An Giang, Dong Thap... many details have been improved with the name linh fish to suit the fishing of small-bodied fish, but in large quantities. And each type of fishing has different worship and pilgrimage activities...
Because they only eat exotic animals and constantly move according to floodwaters, although their bodies are small, linh fish have very special meat quality. Green, delicious, soft, sweet... linh fish is also a culinary inspiration and has become the fish that the chef invests in processing the most specialties. From warehouse, frying, grilling whole-wheat soup, to processing into sausage, all bring excitement to the person enjoying it.
That is not to mention the entire chain of Linh fish growing technology to make famous fish sauce: Linh fish fish fish fish fish sauce. But the most special and famous is still linh fish in braised fish sauce. Maybe today, braised fish sauce is available in all regions of the country, but only when eaten with fresh linh fish and braised fish do you really feel the charisma and richness of the dish. Everyone has every feeling and it is difficult for any word to describe it, but everyone shares the same feeling of being... tormented.
Dishes with linh fish also open the creative journey of accompanying vegetables. Perhaps coined by many generations, linh fish dishes are served with domestic copper vegetables such as guns, lentils, Chinese cabbage, Vietnamese penny sticks, lentil stems, copper water spinach... And depending on the type of preparation, there is a suitable way to prepare vegetables.
If you have the opportunity to come to the Southwest to enjoy linh fish specialties, everyone will definitely appreciate and love the flowers of many generations that have formed and given wings to the rustic dish to fly to the cultural level.
