The Story of Vietnam Through Food

In the summer of 2023, I received a call from Joshua Zachariah, Owner of Danu Social House. He said that he had a friend I should meet; that we would have much to talk about. A few days later, I had a call with that friend—Joseph Tam, then Chef-Owner of Tam Vietnamese Street Food and Cafe. We shared stories about our connection to Vietnam and talked about our love for its food. I told him about food I ate growing up, recalling fresh rice paper rolls, bright yellow crispy pancakes filled with bean sprouts and sliced pork belly, the pho broth whose flavour intensified over the week. He poignantly observed that many Chinese families from Vietnam had adopted its cuisine in a way that wasn’t nearly as true for Chinese communities who had settled elsewhere.

The conversation reminded me of my visit to my father’s hometown, Tangra, Calcutta. There, while the Hakka-Chinese community has menus adapted for locals, it has for the most part held onto its food identity. Indian cuisine and culture had in no way penetrated Hakka-Chinese cuisine the way Vietnamese food has so seamlessly integrated into the Chinese way of life in Vietnam. I can recall all the ways I grew up Vietnamese through the food I ate with my mom but never felt the same pull to my dad’s life in India.

Perhaps some of this can be explained by my mother’s natural extroverted demeanour, which when contrasted with my father’s introversion, gave the Vietnamese part of my mother’s identity an amplifying horn. Or maybe it’s the fact that my father was the only one of his family’s generation to leave India. My access to my dad’s lifetime before me was through him only. I have countless memories of making fresh spring rolls with my aunties. Each aunt would show us their methods of rolling the perfect spring roll. We’d sit around the table comparing our work before devouring those scrumptious scrolls that burst with fresh aromatics, herbs, and that sweet and tangy nutty sauce.

For months to come, Joseph and I continued to chat about ideas for food as a creative community building and learning tool. Both of us, the first generation born in Canada, felt a sort of calling to share our perspectives through food and storytelling with our community. Let’s do an event, we said. The Story of Vietnam through Food was that event.

When we launched ticket sales, we were surprised at the traction beyond our immediate circles. Had we tapped into a whisper of desire to know more about our roots through food? Around the same time, pop-up events were becoming more prominent in the Toronto food scene. We were one of those pop-up events—limited, iykyk experiences. Below are the informational cards that I created as a keepsake and conversational guide for diners.