Hola Fruit Lovers -- Vietnam beckons !!

Manasi Chakrabarti

I was reading an online newspaper of Vietnam. It repotrs that the annual southern food festival (from June to October) of Vietnam has been started . Among the participant countries, India, Thailand, Japan and Brazil have taken part in a colourful parade show in the opening ceremony. The Tourism Department says that a number of activities will be held including the contest on southern delicious and safe fruits.

'This Festival also includes a floating market where more than forty boats sell 150 types of fruits with up to 30 per cent off market price ' - the report continues.

When I finished reading, I recalled the fruits and the Festival, the orchard, the floating market of Cái Bè in Mekong Delta -- a joyous memory !

Well , when fruit is concerned, the southern part of Vietnam is special. Thanks to the region's warm weather with long hours of sunshine, high average temperature and humidity throughout the year, Southern Vietnam is the largest fruit supplier of the whole country .

Like any other tropical countries, fruits of Vietnam are very nutritious providing rich source of carbohydrate , vitamins - specially A and C, minerals and fibres. Their tastes are often either extreme sweet or extreme sour, and many come with a particular rich fragrance and vibrantly eye-catching colours.

Because of abundance of fruits, Vietnam uses them in various ways: either eating raw, or making juice, salad, jams and delicious desserts. In northern Vietnam and central highland areas, where the temperature is cooler with four separate seasons, farmers also grow temperate fruits such as apple, strawberry, cherry, grape, peach, or pear.

Particularly in making desserts, fruits are always used generously. One of the popular desserts is Chè Chuối – Banana with sago pearls and coconut milk / cream ; this is a sweet soup . Then there is Chè Sương Sa Hạt Lựu or – Rainbow Dessert.

Chè- refers to every traditional Vietnamese sweet beverage, dessert, soup or pudding. Along with various kind of beans , jelly and fruits like longan, mango, durian, lychee, jackfruit , coconut cream are being used to make these Chè. Coconut is used in most of the desserts, candies and cakes. Coconut flan with caramel, baked coconut rice pudding, banana soup with tapioca and coconut, husband and wife cake -- are very tasty indeed !

Then almond jelly with lychees, jackfruit and strawberries, candied coconut ribbon, candied orange peel, mandarin sorbet , lemongrass ice cream, banana cake – these are all famous Vietnamese fruit preparations.

Fruits are also sold in country and town markets in reasonable price. Sometimes you may find them on roadside too.

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Let us go to Cái Bè in the Mekong Delta. Firstly book a tour from Ho Chi Minh city. They will take you to orchards where you may see the fruit growing process , try fresh fruits from garden ; and then to the Mekong delta to visit the Cái Bè floating market, coconut farm and listening to Tai Tu music .

Cái Bè is a charming small town with colorful fruit and vegetable gardens, traditional crafts, a French church from 1935 , and an impressive traditional house. This region is home to cải lương, a form of Kinh/Vietnamese folk opera.

Cái Bè is a river-land mixed area , a rural district of Tiền Giang Province in the Mekong Delta region . The date of her floating market goes back to the Nguyen Dynasty in the 19th century.

This Cái Bè floating market bears all the characteristics of the locals’ life . This seems to be an inseparable part of their daily lives. Many traders on this region live on the river and spend their whole life on boat generations after generation.

From 3 A.M. , rafts and boats are starting to crowd here. Regional farmers bring their fruits along with vegetables and goods to sell them to local dealers who in their turn, sell the products to shop owners in the neighboring towns and to wholesale dealers from the big towns.

All big boats have pole called cây bèo . Each and every owner of big boats hangs her/his goods on cây bèo to give direction to people of small boats and to attract customers.

On the floating market , one also find floating restaurants, floating bars, floating gas stations, and many other floating shops. Boats also operate like taxi, very convenient for tourists around the region.