It’s been an amazing week with Asian Dumplings coming out and all. But in the midst of all the hubbub, I received two lovely emails from women who are cooking from my recipes to feed their families well. Susie reported that the beef pho (pho bo) noodle soup recipe turned out great and is keeping her two sons very happy; she doesn’t like the MSG used at pho shops so she’s making her own at home. Chicken pho noodle soup is next on Susie’s list. And, she’s tried out the Hainan chicken recipe and ratchets up the flavor by poaching the chicken in stock. Susie – you’re a home cook and mother who rocks!
And then there was this message from Kathy in Los Angeles. Her fervor and enthusiasm overwhelmed me. Multi-racial modern America comes together in Kathy’s letter in a remarkable way. She’s a Vietnamese-Jewish-American mom learning to cook at home because she wants to provide fabulous food for her family. I’m deeply touched that this site has inspired her in marvelous ways. With Kathy’s permission, I’m posting her message for you to read and react to:
The purpose of this email is to simply say thank you for vietworldkitchen! I am a 31 year-old first-generation, Vietnamese mother of two very young babies who has NEVER really cooked until about a few months ago. I always knew I could cook but I never did it as it seemed like such a hassle to cook for just two people. However, adding kids to the equation has changed a lot. It started out with me making dinner on Friday nights for Shabbat (we're Jewish).
Since there are only a handful of Jewish dishes I care to make, or actually CAN make for that matter, I decided that Shabbat was just going to be about me cooking any kind dinner for my family with of course the addition of candles, wine and challah. During these few weeks, I also realized that I NEVER get sick of eating Asian food, especially Vietnamese food. Last week we had Miso-Black-Cod and the week before Mi Tom Cua, which we jokingly call "Kosher-Special-Noodles." So here I am scouring the internet for all these recipes of things that I miss eating as a child, and lo-and-behold, your blog appeared. The sense of joy I feel right now cannot be explained. (My husband thinks I've lost it actually.) I am so excited!!!!
For example, your Da Ua [yogurt] recipe! I have the most vivid memories of scraping frozen yogurt out of recycled baby food jars as a child and the last time I had some was actually in Vietnam 11 years ago! When I ask my mom about them, she doesn't remember ever knowing how to make them--but I swear my memories are real! :) I am looking forward to making your recipes...especially since my daughter only eats VN food and my husband is such a big fan that at our wedding my dad told everyone in his speech how proud he was that his new son-in-law eats mam nem [a sludgy, funky fermented fish condiment], when even he cannot.
Hopefully I have been able to coherently convey my gratitude in this email. Vietworldkitchen has bridged the gap between my mom and myself. She is always trying to show me how to make these dishes, but it's always a little of this and a little of that and she tells me I have to "canh" [to weigh and measure] the amount of everything...but as a new cook, it's just too hard to just canh and so she ends up cooking it herself and I only learn a little more than I knew before. Thanks again!!!
Have you had similar experiences? What was it like when you first started cooking? What inspires and fuels you to cook at home? How does food shape who you are? Please share your thoughts.
thuy says
I love the story. But the whole time I was reading it, I got confused... mi tom cua isn't kosher. Unless I am reading it wrong, shrimp and crab doesn't have scales.
Pat says
Andrea, this is the reason why we write the cookbooks we write!
Andrea Nguyen says
Oh Thuy, I'm a little rusty on my Kosher rules. You're right about crustaceans having shells and not scales. Maybe Kathy and her family have flexible Kosher rules. I know plenty of people of the Jewish faith who dine with many exceptions to Kosher rules but they're still Jewish. I suppose it's like me being a Catholic. I don't follow Lent. Hope my parents don't read that!
Pat, you're absolutely right! It's why we write cookbooks.
Kathy says
Ladies!! I live in LA--where we are among many, many Reform Jews! About the mi tom cua- couldn't be any more non-kosher, which is why it's funny that I make it for Shabbat! My husband says it's not possible for Vietnamese people to keep kosher, too many of our special dishes have pork, crab or shrimp!! So to answer your question--we do NOT keep kosher. Shabbat is about being together with our family... sorry to be so confusing!!
thuy says
Thanks Kathy for clearing it up. I live in Florida and we have alot of Jews here who live on a strict Kosher diet and some who only do Glatt. I had to go back to Levitius to read up on it several times.
Andrea Nguyen says
Kathy -- Thanks for the clarification. I think we should all become Reform Jews and observe Shabbat. Not enough people spend time together with their family and sharing meals. And I totally agree -- the Viet combination of pork and seafood is something you can't and don't want to toy with! 🙂 You've got a smartie for a husband.
Dang, ladies. You're really up on the Jewish stuff. I love it.
Phyllis Perkins says
Hi, to all of you. I would like to add my bravos to Kathy's letter about cooking "Vietnamese/Jewish" family food. While it is true that the dietary laws of Koshruth (keeping Kosher) specifically forbid pork, and require anything from the water to have scales and fins, many of us who consider ourselves fully practicing Jews do not follow these rules. Every religion has its most orthodox and its most liberal interpretations and everything in between and Judaisim is no exception. As someone who has been active in Jewish education my whole adult life -- as well as teaching cooking -- I would rather see a family observe the beginning of the Sabbath by starting the meal with lighting candles, having Challah and saying the blessings of the light, bread and wine, even if it involved eating supposedly forbidden foods than to not eat the foods and not observe the Sabbath! (That was an awfully convuluted sentence, I hope my meaning was clear!)
I also think that because Jews have lived in almost every country in the world they have adapted their cuisines to those of their neighbors and friends, so a blending of Vietnamese foods and Jewish rituals is in keeping with millenia old traditions. Yeah for you, Kathy.
And talking about things Jewish, Andrea I just ordered your new book on dumplings, but haven't gotten it yet. Are there recipes for kreplach in it? Hope so! But whatever it has, I know I will love cooking from it as much as I enjoy Into the Vietnamese Kitchen.
Best to all,
Phyllis
Anonymous says
I'm happy to say that I am too happy to find this website because growing up my family wanted us to work hard and I never was home to learn the recipes from my mom. I am a newly-wed and was terrified of cooking until one day my husband encourage me to find a cookbook and cook something.
But anywho, finding this website helped me to connect with my roots. I was so lost not knowing any recipes. Thanks so much Andrea and Kathy!
I think I might have seen your book before at the library. I love to collect recipes, but just never tried them. =P
Andrea Nguyen says
Anonymous -- thanks for the comments. Dive on in and cook! It's not hard. All you have to do is follow recipes. And you can eat your boo boos.
Angela says
A most interest thread. My VN brother married an American Jewish girl who is kosher AND vegetarian. Needless to say he had nothing to eat in his own home according to his VN taste. He eats out every single day at work, getting his dose of meat and whatever else he needs.
Jackie Vu says
Hello Co Andrea, could you please ask Kathy (or other Vietnamese Jews) if anyone has the Haggadah written in Vietnamese? Thank you! --Jackie Vu
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