My nephews and nieces work far from home in the South, and every free evening they chat with their family via Zalo. When Tet comes, they miss home and want to go back, of course. But one of the things the guys often say is they miss their hometown food.
One day, he dreamed: "Oh my, if I come back and have sour fruit (a type of fruit usually grown on alluvial sand along the river, abundant in Quang Tri, only in the summer, can be cooked in soup, eaten raw or pickled) stewed with beef tenderloin, it would be the best. I crave it so much. Just talking about it makes my mouth water...".
One of them wished: "Eggplant, fig, sour star fruit, herbs with beef tripe dipped in crushed shrimp paste with chili, spicy garlic, and a little ginger, when you come back, you have to eat that first...". My wife kept writing down a menu of dozens of Quang Tri dishes, as if the children would only come back to eat, not visit or have fun. They said that, but when they came back, they ate and drank a lot, then their leave ended and they left again, then they remembered and called back... and so on...
There are no delicacies, but the culinary flavors of Quang Tri hometown, although mostly just common dishes, have sunk deep into the memories, becoming the nostalgia of many people living far away from home. Talking about culinary culture is not to exaggerate, but it has become a specific and profound nostalgia, holding people like an invisible but strong thread of nostalgia for their roots.
By the way, we should not belittle food to show off our high morals. Even Confucius abandoned the state of Lu because of a few pieces of goat meat, let alone others... You really can't joke about food...!
Located next to the ancient capital of Hue, Quang Tri cuisine cannot help but be influenced by the culinary system of the ancient capital. Most of the dishes are similar to each other, except that the dishes of the Imperial City are more sophisticated and elaborate, while Quang Tri is more rustic and simple. But because of that, it creates its own flavor and nuances that are not easily mixed.
There are many examples such as vermicelli with pork leg, braised fish, sweet soup, banh beo, nam, loc... Even Mai Xa clam rice bowl (Gio Linh, Quang Tri) is not like Hue clam rice, although not rich or sophisticated, it is still rustic, rustic and delicious in the style of... Quang Tri.
However, there are still some main ingredients that Quang Tri seems to excel in, such as wet rice noodles and vermicelli. Until now, when I invite Hue friends to eat wet rice noodles or Quang Tri vermicelli, I still receive compliments that it is more delicious than many places in the ancient capital.
Phuong Lang wet rice cake (Hai Ba, Hai Lang, Quang Tri) has been in Saigon for quite a while and has "made waves" in the country's largest city, and is well-known by many people. The wet rice cake here is made from selected rice, processed according to experience and a special recipe, creating a white, soft and chewy cake that you can eat a lot without getting bored. Add pork and vegetables, boiled and dried in the belly, and dip it in broth or My Thuy fish sauce, and who can refuse?
Like Bun Song (Thanh An commune, Cam Lo, Quang Tri) which has been famous for a long time. The noodles are soft, chewy and have the sour smell of soaked rice, of wet rice cuisine, leaving an unforgettable olfactory memory.
In the past, when life was still difficult, people only needed Song noodles to eat with fish sauce sprinkled with lots of chili powder or crushed chili and garlic, and they didn't care about any delicacies. But if you eat noodles with a pot of Cua Viet tuna braised with green and red chili like a countryside painting, you sit around slurping and exclaiming because it's spicy and delicious, surely the king would not like it more.
Not to mention the vermicelli noodles dipped in special pork floss, chili, garlic and lime juice, no matter where you go, you will still try to find your way back to your old village to have a memorable meal. Well, that's fine, no need to be so fussy.
But even though they are made from rice and are closely related, banh uot is banh uot, bun is bun, they cannot be mixed together, let alone confused. That is to say, Phuong Lang banh uot is famous all over the world, but the place where it makes bun is not as famous as banh uot, and Song bun is remembered by everyone who has gone far, but the way this place makes banh uot is not as good as other places. Cuisine has things that are easy to feel but not easy to explain.
In its own culinary heritage, let's stop for a moment with a unique Quang Tri dish that all other provinces and cities can only imitate, which is lemongrass offal.
Emphasizing that this dish is lemongrass offal, means focusing on the ingredients: offal must go with lemongrass, must be wet with lemongrass and other spices such as chili, pepper and indispensable shrimp paste. As for offal release, it refers to the cooking method, although saying that is not exactly correct, before and after all it is still lemongrass offal.
After the lemongrass is marinated, you can add the crushed root and mix it in. Wait for the pot of water to boil, then add in the pig's blood and roasted peanuts, add in the leaves, and the dish is not congee, not pho, but a bit like soup. It can be eaten with rice noodles or noodles or eaten alone. If you drink alcohol in the cold winter weather, no one wants to go back to the dry summer.
Nowadays, in Hue, Da Nang and some other places, there is lemongrass offal, but if you want to eat it deliciously, you have to go all the way to Quang Tri to enjoy it in its true and complete sense. Remember that congee powder and lemongrass offal, if missing the nem, will certainly be less appealing. It must be the nem root, the nem leaves to be really delicious. By the way, I think that nem calling nem as shallot or chien seems inaccurate and forced. But I hope to discuss the name of this spice later.
Now, Quang Tri, in addition to Dien Sanh flour congee, Quang Tri town's offal congee, Cua chicken... also has many other favorite dishes such as Bau Trang jumping shrimp (Vinh Tu, Vinh Linh), river swallow in Vinh Long (Vinh Linh), Lao Bao buffalo meat (Huong Hoa)...
Each dish is unique, rustic yet delicious. "A delicious bite is remembered for a long time..." as the old saying goes, it is not an exaggeration. When you stay, you can never forget, but when you leave, you miss it even more, you miss it so much, the delicious dishes of your hometown linger on your tongue... deeply imbued with the soul, love and flavor of your hometown.
* Article from the Central Highlands Spring Labor publication - 2025
