Eating to Remember

Legend has it that the ancient Vietnamese King Hung Vung called together his three sons and said, "I would like each of you to provide for me a dish of food, you must search for the ingredients and make the dish and serve it to me on the last day of this Lunar Month, and on the basis of this dish I will decide who is to be the ruler of our Kingdom."

His sons searched near and far for the ingredients to make their dish.  The first son took to the sea and brought back a bounty of delicious seafood for his father.  The second son went up to the forest and brought back to his father rare meats, mushrooms and fruits from the forest.  The third, and youngest son, went outside of the palace gates and to the rice paddies.  He brought back a simple dish consisting of pork, mung beans and sticky rice wrapped with banana leaves.  He told his father, "Rice is the most precious and valuable of all food found in this Kingdom, yet it is also the most abundant. I have prepared a dish that represents my love for you and our beautiful Vietnam...I have cooked a square rice cake, stuffed it with cooked bean paste and ground meat in the middle and called it Banh Chung. This will symbolize the earth we live on."

Noticing the wisdom behind his youngest son's dish, he named his youngest son the King of Viet Nam.  Continuing with this tradition, every year during Tet (Lunar New Year), Vietnamese at home and abroad cook and eat Banh Cung in order to remember their connection to Viet Nam.  This year, my uncles, cousins and I gathered at my grandmothers house 2 days before Tet to cook Banh Chung.  Continuing our family tradition, I stayed up all night with my uncles to tend to the fire as the Banh Chung cooked.  As we sat around the fire, a bottle of Johnny Walker was passed around along with Beer Saigons.  We shared stories, caught up on life, and talked about old family memories.  At 3am, we tasted the first Banh Chung of the season to see if it was ready!  We all gathered around my eldest uncle present as he peeled back the banana leaves and cut the Banh Chung into small pieces.  Then using our chopsticks, we all took up the pieces, dipped it in fish sauce, and savored the first bite.  It was an unforgettable experience to know that I was participating in an event that has been passed down the generations, eating to remember the land of my birth.