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Introducing Vietnam to Indonesians via Saigon street foods
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The name 'Saigon’ was chosen because that is where Hien comes from. (JP/Aloysius Efraim ) (JP/Aloysius Efraim )
Chau Thi Phuong Thao, also known as Hien, brought the taste of her hometown to the streets of Jakarta.
At the heart of Tebet, South Jakarta, Hien, a fifty-year-old Vietnamese woman living in Jakarta, introduces Saigon to Indonesians at her humble restaurant. The small, green stall stands on the side of a narrow street, offering hearty comfort food for days rainy and sunny.
“I wanted more Indonesians to know the food of my culture, the one I grew up with,” Hien told The Jakarta Post in fluent Indonesian.
Saigon Street Food is the name of her restaurant. With this tiny establishment, she tried to introduce Vietnamese foods, specifically those from her hometown, Saigon (now known as Ho Chi Minh City). From spring rolls to the famous pho, from banh mi sandwich to che khoai mi, a dessert made from boiled cassava with coconut milk poured over it, she serves cuisine that is comforting for her.
“These are the foods I used to eat when I went to school in Saigon,” she recalls. “I named the restaurant Saigon Street Food because these are the foods sold on the streets if you go to Vietnam.”
When asked what the main characteristic of Vietnamese food is, Hien answered, without hesitation: health.
“We rarely fry our food. And Vietnamese cuisine also uses a lot of vegetables,” she said. “I think a lot of people can easily enjoy Vietnamese food. Especially during the rainy season, it [pho] can help us recover from the flu. It has vegetables and it is not greasy.”
