When coming to the house of Mr. Nguyen Van Phong (born in 1960 Nam Dinh) - the main character of Lao Nong Vlog channel, the scene appearing in the video with millions of views was everything filmed, authentic, simple. From the smoke-black kitchen, the pond shade is covered with green longan, then to the small vegetable garden that is bearing fruit, with star fruit and flowers...
Eagerly chatting with us while the main character was away from home, Mr. Nguyen Van Luu - Mr. Phong's son, and also the successor of Lao Nong Vlog - said that choosing the topic of rural cuisine comes from his interests.
My father and I both have one thing in common: we like to cook. My father cooks very well, and I have been a cook in Ho Chi Minh City for 16 years, said Mr. Luu.
After nearly 2 years of building Lao Nong Vlog channel, Mr. Luu recalled that in the early days, without experience, the father and son worked hard all day to film only 2 videos.
Just a pot, a bunch of vegetables, to cook for daily meals is simple. However, when creating videos, you must do it to make each frame most meticulous and easy to view. Therefore, Mr. Luu and his father had to film many times.
Untold story, there was a sound of a motorbike exploding in the distance, Mr. Luu said: "The old farmer has returned". Still wearing green clothes, seeing customers coming, Mr. Phong came over and smiled brightly and then went to the porch to rest, playing with his dog.
"My father is a farmer, and now he still drives a manual transmission, plays the kite... so when filming in the direction of rural cuisine, it is very natural. The way to cook rustic dishes is familiar, so now it is possible to film 5 videos a day," said Mr. Luu.
Taking the initiative to film a video of vegetable fish soup for the upcoming day, Mr. Phong and Mr. Luu were just busy, one set up a camera, the other busy preparing a basket of bamboo and wood. After the "3... 2... 1... 1..."... command signal started to ring", Mr. Phong picked vegetables, caught fish, and caught fire as usual.
Sharing about the recipe for cooking rustic dishes, Mr. Phong said that the cooking method still retains traditional features, such as "the soup must be chopped and chopped thoroughly to be less enthusiastic, or the squid bones must be stewed to avoid covering the hood so that the squid does not muster and remains green".
In addition to the peaceful countryside space, the favorite thing for the audience in vlogs is the items associated with rare childhood memories today such as bowls, iron pots, fatty stomachs...
As soon as he booked the camera, Mr. Luu added that the video "Shopping Depot of the Season" (reaching 25 million views on TikTok) was very meaningful to him. The video idea comes from the days of planting and plowing, when farmers are finished working, they often cook meals fully, that is, have meat and vegetables.
The song "Ha fat dong ta" chosen by Mr. Luu for the video is also associated with the familiar field space, where the grandparents and mothers are cloudy in the memories of many people.
According to Mr. Luu, when the posted videos are loved by many audiences, he and his family are very happy. In addition to sharing traditional dishes, the vlog channel is also a place to recreate many simple, nostalgic moments of rural life with the image of a gentle, gentle farmer.
After a period of tireless video production, in 2024, Mr. Nguyen Van Luu was voted by the Vietnam Digital Communications Association (VDCA) as a Promising Digital Content Designer.
Every week, he regularly posts videos on social media, and when the season comes, he goes to the fields. However, Mr. Luu said that his family's main job is raising eels. His eel farm, after about 7 years of construction, is now a place to supply breeding eel to all provinces in the North.
Eel breeding was raised by Mr. Luu in the field next to the house, then hatched in the barn. Until the standard size, eel breeds will be sold to eel farming facilities. The time from incubation until the eel is sold is 3 months, the standard 500 heads/kg.
Each crop, Mr. Luu's facility supplies the market with about 20,000 breeding eel, with prices ranging from 35-40 million VND/edecent. If the weather is right, each eel crop will yield nearly a billion VND, said Mr. Luu.
