Vietnam Family Day - an occasion to remind everyone about the value of home, of lifeless but profound connections. And among all those symbols of cohesion, perhaps nothing is simpler and more durable than a family meal.
However, in the middle of the charming city, where everything happens hastily, family meals - a seemingly familiar thing - are gradually being pushed back from daily life.
When the cycle of work, study and personal concerns worships each person, meals that used to be a moment of gathering, a place to start and end a day become a luxury.
For about a year since I enrolled in the Foreign Trade Academy, I have not had the opportunity to eat with my family. In the first weeks of my studies in the North, I felt sad and just wanted to go home right away; there were times when I cried because I missed family meals.
Meals are only about 15 to 30 minutes but they are extremely valuable to me - Phan Ngoc Quynh, a student at the Foreign Trade Academy shared.
A tight schedule, heavy workload; preparing a full meal yourself becomes one of the luxuries for students who are studying and working. The quick meals are on the roadside, the street corner is makeshift, then continue to get into the rotation of exercises, extra work, exams...
"Every time I talk about family, at meals, I feel special emotions, it is a desire to return to that familiar meal" - Quynh recalled.
For his friend Vu Nguyen Anh Khoi from Hai Phong, he had a childhood spent traveling back to his hometown every two weeks. Meals with grandparents were a familiar part of memories.
Now, after studying far away, Khoi can only return to her hometown during holidays, Tet or summer vacation. I still remember the COVID-19 pandemic, I was busy in Hanoi worrying about many things, so I could not return to my hometown once - Mr. Khoi confided.
Khoi shared that the older he got, the fewer he gradually ate meals with his grandparents. "Now I just hope to have a delicious meal with you. And to say that I love you very much".
In a world of increasingly many choices, family meals seem small but are more valuable than ever.
A full meal but not necessarily with flavorful painted dishes; but just enough eyes, laughter and the presence of loved ones.
So, if possible, go home a little earlier, to sit down together and eat a full meal with the family; that simple thing is the deepest thing.
