Seafood reminds chef Nghiêm Minh Đức of childhood vacations to northern beaches with his family. But since moving to Saigon, he has been exposed to southern products including cua Cà Mau’s which inspire him to experiment with new dishes.
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Cà Mau is famous for its crabs, which populate the mangrove estuaries where the river system meets the sea. This fragile ecosystem and the people who depend on it are at risk because of rising sea levels and saltwater intrusion; the prevalence of dangerous agricultural chemicals and pesticides; disrupted water cycles; and deforestation. The WWF’s Nature-based Solutions (NbS) projects are addressing some of these issues while improving the socio-economy and resilience of local communities through sustainable livelihoods.
In Cà Mau, farmers raise crabs and shrimp according to a nature-based solutions (NbS) model, wherein shrimp and crabs live and feed naturally in native mangrove forests without any chemicals or industrial feed. This NbS approach not only improves livelihoods for local communities but also encourages them to protect the mangrove ecosystem, keeping it green, clean, and reducing the risk of deforestation.
Photo courtesy WWF-Viet Nam.
“Every time we find new ingredients or create new dishes, we always think about the whole process and the whole cycle. Everything from the farmers, how they plant it, and then how they supply to us, and how we use that, and how we introduce the ingredients to the customer. So it's a full circle.”
Photos courtesy of WWF.
To create his dish, Đức paired noodles made with floating rice with a cold, tomato-based consommé made with crab meat, chamomile tea, and local herbs. While straightforward, the process required patience, such as processing, boiling, then icing the noodles and slowly straining the broth to let the crustacean flavors shine. The result was a bright, refreshing dish perfectly suited for endless summer days.
After tasting a bite and reflecting, Đức explained that he initially wanted to make something original that was inspired by the joy surrounding the beach vacations of his youth. But in the end, he discovered that he had made something similar to another Hanoi dish: bún ốc nguội. This led to Đức’s profound realization about chefs: “We think that we make new things, but actually, we just reimagine and recreate our memories; the old, good and happy memories … the experiences that we had wherever we were born and grew up and stay.”
