Hanoi (VNA) - Just like rice, fish sauce is a staple of almost every dish in Vietnam.“For Vietnamese people, a meal without fish sauce is considered incomplete,”culture expert Tran Ngoc Them once wrote in his book Vietnam CultureFoundation.

A bowl of fishsauce, nuoc mam, is placed at the centre of the table so everyone can reach it. Some may not eat vegetables, some may not have meat, buteveryone has rice and seasons the food with fish sauce. Therefore, how oneplaces the fish sauce bowl can tell a lot about etiquette and consideration forothers, according to Them. 

The earliestmention of fish sauce is found in Roman literature in the 4th century BC.

Nowadays fish sauce is popular in SoutheastAsian countries – in Thailand it is known as nam pla, in Myanmar as nganpyaarrai,in the Republic of Korea as eojang.

In Vietnam, fishsauce is used widely – as a seasoning, a dipping sauce, in humble daily mealsand at fancy parties. Nuoc mam is said to helpdistinguish Vietnamese food from that of its neighbours. 

Tribute to kings

No one knows exactlywhen Vietnamese people started making and using fish sauce. It was firstdocumented in Dai Viet Su Ky Toan Thu or Complete Annals of DaiViet (Dai Viet is the former name of Vietnam), a book compiled by royalhistorian Ngo Sy Lien in the 15th century.

The book mentions thatin the 10th century, locals made fish sauce and offered the condiment as atribute to kings. This indicates that Vietnamese people used fish sauce beforethe 10th century and that it was a well-known specialty that Chinese rulersdemanded Vietnam give as payment.

Other Vietnamese historical books also recorded nuoc mam asa specialty of some central regions of Vietnam and as a commodity required bythe government as a form of tax in some periods of the Nguyen dynasty(1802-1945). In other words, households that made fish sauce had to pay thegovernment a certain amount of fish sauce every year.

Gifts of the sea

Fish sauce comprises twoelements – fish and salt, the two gifts of the sea. To make it, alternatinglayers of fish and salt are placed in a wooden vat for six months to a year toferment. The amber-coloured liquid of the fermentation process seeps down andis drained.

American Poet BruceWeigl who fought in the battlefields of the central province of Quang Tri in1967 and 1968 during the Vietnam War, waxed poetic about Vietnamese fish saucein his writing My Own Personal Fish Sauce. 

Weigl described hisexperience of being offered rice with some fish sauce. “It was delicious: awonderful combination of pungent and sweet, and the richness too of the tasteof the river that flows back into the darkness where time is… It [fish sauce]has become the smell of Vietnam for me in my mind when I’m home and lonely formy second country.”

Weigl decided to trymaking it himself at home in the US, becoming known as the “FishsauceAmbassador”. He has gone from ’being a fanto being a connoisseur’. 

Fish sauce may smell abit pungent for foreigners at first, yet once they try it, its aroma lingers intheir mind.

Hue does it best

Fish sauce is used mostpopularly in cooking, as seasoning accompanying meals and as a dipping sauce.When served with noodles or pancakes, sugar, water, garlic and chili are addedto the fish sauce to disguise the strong fish smell.

“In a meal of Vietnamese people, rice is like the quintessencefrom the earth, fish sauce is the quintessence of water. They symbolise theWater and Earth of the five basic elements of the universe (the others being Fire,Metal and Wood),” wrote Them.

“Fish sauce is used all over Vietnam, yet no region can use fishsauce more cleverly than Hue people because in Hue (a former royal capital)culinary culture, there are at least 30 different dipping sauces with the mainingredient being fish sauce, featuring a number of flavours - salty, sweet,sour, spicy, balanced, light, strong. It is simply because Hue people havedifferent dipping sauce for different dishes,” wrote culture researcher Tran DangAnh Son.

There are many ways to classify fish sauce in Vietnam, accordingto culture teacher Nguyen Thi Tuyet Ngan, from HCM City’s University of SocialSciences and Humanities.

There is raw or cooked fish sauce; fish sauce in the form of liquidor paste; sauce made from fresh water fish or salt water fish; sauce from fishor shrimp, crab or squid.

Grab a crab

Besides fish, locals in three regions of Vietnam also fermentcrab, shrimp or squid to extract liquid.

The northern province of Thai Binh or central province of Thanh Hoahave long been famous for their mam cay (fermented crabsauce). Cay (sesarmidae), also known as red-chileped crab, isfound along rivers.

In the scorching heat of April and May, the creature comes out ofits hole, seeking food. This species is sensitive to sound and moves fast, socatching them is hard.

To make crab sauce, a small knife is used to take out carapacefrom female crabs to take its egg. The egg is often pan fried or stir friedwith oil and scallions, and is used as a dipping sauce served with vegetables.

Crab is then ground and added with salt and thinh (ground roasted rice). The mix is put in sunlight for a month and the liquid easilyseeps down from the crab. Boiled dishes like pork or rau lang (sweet potato’s leave) are paired well with crab sauce.

In many regions of Hau Loc, Hoang Hoa, Quang Xuong districts ofThanh Hoa province, crab sauce is used in exchange for other commodities, likerice.

There is a famous “courting” saying that goes:

“Hey girls (who’re) catching red-cheliped crab

Call me husband and I will catch it for you.”

Similarly, in thesouthernmost province of Ca Mau, locals make fermented ba khia sauce.There is a crab species named ba khia, which appears only a fewtimes in October, when the water rises. It is unique to the south, living inbrackish water regions.

Ba khia, with its carapace taken out and chelipeds cracked, is immersedin salt, garlic, chili, lemon, sugar and sliced mango and star fruit. The mixis ready to be served after a few days when the saltiness has blended with thesourness of lemon, the sweetness of sugar and spiciness of chili. Ba khia pastewith its strong taste and unique flavour is paired well with rice and broth, amodest yet tasty treat.-VNA