I was born in Sài gòn, our family's first house in Phan Đình Phùng street (now Nguyễn Đình Chiểu). I lived there until 7 year old and in that first seven years of life - there were many things that I still remember until today!
My first childhood friend. My first school. My first dog. My first bicycle and of course my first street food! No, there is one more thing I still remember. My street barber - an old man, in his 60s, always in traditional clothes bà ba, in white color, with his ivory color panama hat! He used to cut my hair until my mother bought her first hair clippers for our family!
Not talking about my childhood friend that I didn't meet for over 30 years, not about my sadness when my parents gave my puppy to a French father... but about my feelings when I first tried a traditional glutinous rice cake consisting of two pieces and filled with traditional ham between them! Bánh dầy!
My mother bought it from a small stall at the corner, opposite my first school - Aurore!
That traditional cake, originated from North, it's not a simple cake, it's a symbol of our Heavens (while the other sticky rice cake - bánh chưng symbolizing the Earth), our love for parents...There was a legend telling us how this cake has been created as a special gift to the first Vietnamese King - Vua Hùng, when the King was considering to select among his 22 sons who will succeed him on the throne. The youngest son has been advised by some fairy, he used the glutinous rice to create this cake. Rice for Vietnamese as the air, the water, the spirit of life! So with this cake he won his father's heart and the throne!
I like bánh dày very much, whenever I go to the shop to buy something, if i see bánh dày, I will definitely buy, and not one, 3 or 4 pieces! I love the chewy, very sticky texture of the cake, very simple taste but together with a piece of ham, a bit of salt & pepper, a fragrance of fresh banana leaves...it's good!
Bánh dày can go with different kinds of ham, but mostly we have bánh dầy with chả lụa (silk ham?!) and chả quế (cinnamon ham?!) - the two most popular!
The image of the owner of the shop where my mom usually bought bánh dầy is still very clear!
A tiny woman from North, with her black teeth (an old custom of dyeing teeth black to prevent the tooth decay!), typical dark velvet headgear, white bà ba... she probably passed away long ago!
Today, the shop is till in the same corner but looks very abandoned. However, the taste of my first bánh dầy and the joy of receiving this cake from my mom will stay with me for long!
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