URBAN LIFE
"STREET VENDORS OF THE CITIES," by Nguyen Cuu Giang (in Viet My, June, 1961)

Perhaps one of the most interesting characteristics of Saigon is that it abounds in various kinds of street vendors. Most of them sell food in the form of delicious Vietnamese delicatessen and sweets. Since the people of this country have developed the inveterate habit of eating between meals, we assume these sidewalk restaurateurs are well patronized and that their small businesses provide them with adequate gains. The bread vendor might wake you up early in the morning with his cry when he passes by your window; the little Chinese might disturb your siesta by tapping wildly on a sonorous piece of bamboo with a wooden stick-his way of announcing the approach of his father's hu lieu (vermicelli) cart, but there isn't anything you can do about it, and you have to adjust yourself to the local way of life.

No less than forty kinds of street vendors work hand in glove with one another to prevent your stomach from staying empty for long. In this article we propose to tell you the most popular ones, whose disappearance from our towns would bring about disastrous effects on the happiness of the Vietnamese.

1. Let us consider the rice-cake (banh bo) vendor first.
Banh bo is made of rice flour, leaven, and sugar. The dough is set in a mold and steam-cooked. As the temperature of the water goes up, the piece of dough spreads out in a crawling way to fill the mold, while tiny eyes appear in the cake. Banh bo is offered in triangular pieces along with doughnuts. Vietnamese doughnuts take the shape of a beret (banh-tieu) or a shin-bone (gia cha quay).
Sometimes a lady colleague precedes him by twenty minutes on his schedule, but she doesn't present much competition to him because on his two-wheeler he can cover a larger area than she can on foot, handicapped as she is with two baskets hanging at either end of a bamboo yoke, which she poises on her right shoulder. Surprisingly enough, her voice can reach much deeper notes than her male counterpart's. In the evening, its monotony sends you to sleep. I wonder how, with such a voice, she can keep people awake long enough to sell them anything at all.

2. Glutinous rice (xoi) vendors:
Xoi is prepared with a variety of rice (nep), which is stickier than the variety consumed at an ordinary meal in Vietnam. Xoi should always be cooked in steam, except when you want to make glue. It can be served either on a piece of green banana leaf with grated coconut and a mixture of sugar, salt, and grilled sesame, or on with a piece of roast chicken on the side. It might be interesting to note that there are practically no men in the xoi business. In large cities, xoi is the most popular breakfast for laborers, clerks, and students. Main reason: cheapness. In the country, it constitutes the second breakfast for farm hands in general and rice transplanters in particular. The latter always work in groups of ten, twenty, or more. They sing while working in the flooded riceland, and at about seven o-clock, at the farther end of the dike leading to the field, appear two or three little boys who bring the day's second breakfast, steaming hot xoi cooked with green beans and coconut milk. This meal is included in the pay and everyone expects it to be decent.

3. Che thung vendors:
As with the xoi market, the che thung business admits no male vendor. All dealers are women.
Che thung is a very thin marmalade made of green beans (dau xanh), lotus seeds, translucent noodles (bot khoai) and vermicelli (bung tau), and Chinese cherries (trai tao) cooked in a deep mixture of water and extract of coconut. Customers generally prefer cane sugar to beetroot sugar.
A bowl of sweet and warm che thung is a popular nightcap here. You might not be hungry, but if the voice of the woman vendor sounds clear and rich, she has the right to be called in to serve you a bowl of che thung, and if her manners are good and her conversation pleasant, you might be inspired to ask your housemaid and your cook to join you at your own expense. All things considered, if a girl doesn't have a pleasant voice, she had better not try to sell che thung.

4. Half-hatched-duck-eggs (Hot vit lon) vendors:
Half-hatched eggs are offered hard boiled and should be eaten while they are still hot. Relish the duckling and the yoke, and remember, do not throw away the juice! For seasoning, use pepper, salt, and a few sweet-smelling herbs.
You can identify the vendors easily. They all carry a basket full of rice husk, in which the eggs are kept warm. They work in populous districts, public gardens, and in front of temples where, in the evening, theatrical troups perform and other delicacy vendors like to gather. Hot vit lon is a good intermission snack for a number of spectators who, squatting in front of the vendor, chase the duckling down their throats with a shot of burning rice wine.

5. Meat Balls (Nem nuong) vendors:
Delicious meat balls (usually pork) broiled on live charcoal, nem nuong attracts customers by the fat that drips on the fire and changes to an appetizing smoke. The balls are larger than the thumb but never reach the size of the big toe.

6. Soup vendors:
To make a bowl of pho (beef soup) take a handful of rice noodle (banh pho), put it in a large bowl. Cover the top of the heap with small pieces of raw beef and slices of onion. Pour boiling beef consomme on top and serve with a slice of lime and sweet-smelling herbs. The quality of the broth determines the quality of the soup.
The pho vendor pushes his cart slowly from one street corner to another. He yells, "Pho!" When he crosses, he might block the street for a while, but please forgive him. He doesn't mean to delay you. It is just that his cart is heavy and there are no ball-bearings in its wheels.
Pho can perhaps be named the most popular breakfast in Vietnam. I do not know of anyone in this country who dislikes a bowl of steaming pho followed by a cup of good coffee. Pho is also a snack you can have at any time of the day. Twenty years ago, it was introduced to South Vietnam by North Vietnamese immigrants. When it made its debut here, it had to fight for living space with its powerful Chinese counterpart, hu tieu. The main difference between pho and hu tieu lies in the fact that beef, the meat used to prepare pho, does not enter into the preparation of hu tieu. The Chinese who cook hu tieu prefer pork, shrimp, and crab meat and add bean sprouts to their list of ingredients. The odds were against pho, because at that time hu tieu was enjoying a monopoly over Southern stomachs. Pho fought and gained ground little by little. Today, pho has as many customers as hu tieu, perhaps more, with the refugees from the North, and pho vendors make as good a living as hu tieu vendors. The South Vietnamese are well taken care of indeed.