Researcher Ngo Van Ban with culinary culture

Researcher Ngo Van Ban has made contributions to preserving Khanh Hoa Province’s folk culture, as evidenced by nearly 20 books written solely by him and numerous others co-authored with other writers. His works provide many interesting information about the culinary culture of Khanh Hoa people. 

Researcher Ngo Van Ban put much effort into his writing about culinary culture

Ngo Van Ban has recently published his book on Vietnamese people’s eating and culinary culture through folk perspectives.  With more than 550 pages, divided into 3 chapters, the book provides a wealth of information about eating, eating methods and dishes passed down by Vietnamese people in the past, such as eating area, people eating together, eating utensils; eating motion; time to finish a meal; food processing methods; eating styles, and cooking utensils. Besides, the book has many idioms, proverbs and folk songs about eating and articles about eating of Vietnamese people written by famous authors and researchers such as Henri Oger, C.Borri, Phan Ke Binh, and Dao Duy Anh.

The content and information in the book contributes to the preservation of the folk knowledge of ancient Vietnamese people about Vietnamese people’s cuisine culture. “Culinary culture is a natural cultural feature formed in life. For many countries and peoples, cuisine is not only a material culture but also a spiritual culture. Through cuisine, people can understand the culture that represents human dignity and the nation's level with moral principals, rules, styles, and customs, etc.,” said researcher Ngo Van Ban.

Newly published book on eating of researcher Ngo Van Ban

This is not the first book that researcher Ngo Van Ban has written about culinary culture. In 2023, he launched a book that generally introduced Khanh Hoa’s cuisine, showing in detail the province’s unique food flavor such as flavor of seafood and agricultural food and flavor of cakes, sweet soups and fruit. The culinary culture, dishes, food and drink of Khanh Hoa people were also introduced in his other books. According to Ban, Khanh Hoa is a coastal area with fields, mountains and forests, which provides rich cooking ingredients. This has formed 3 different culinary cultures in Khanh Hoa, including island culinary culture, delta culinary culture and mountain and forest culinary culture. All three culinary cultures harmonize and complement each other, creating the diverse culinary culture of Khanh Hoa.

Through the information of the island culinary culture, the readers know that fishermen in Khanh Hoa don't eat slowly like people in urban areas but often eat loudly; their food is often salty and spicy; they drink wine in one gulp. Salanganes nests are nutritious food and are good for people with tuberculosis, haematemesis, etc. and have a wide range of colors: red, pink, white, yellow, gray, etc. Binh Ba lobsters meat is firm and fatty; their shells are beautiful, hard and have stripes.  People can prepare many delicious dishes with Binh Ba lobsters, for example grilling or steaming. Ninh Hoa Town, which has many fields, is renowned for its delicious duck meat. The ducks foraging in the post-harvest fields provide good quality meat.

Many other delicious dishes of Khanh Hoa have been carefully collected and introduced in the books of researcher Ngo Van Ban. He has also introduced the dishes of ethnic groups in mountainous areas. His books are a valuable source of information for those who want to learn about the origin, characteristics, processing methods, and eating styles of the dishes according to the standards in the past.

Giang Dinh
Translated by H.N