Best Viet Rice & Poetry

What if I told you the secret of Vietnam’s delicious cooked rice lies in the best Viet rice and… a poem?

I once had a friend from Europe who wanted to experience authentic Vietnamese culture. I told him the best way to do it was to eat rice twice a day, just like most of us locals do. He agreed to give it a try, however he gave up after a month and went back to his beloved bread. He was not cut out for the rice game. 

When I teased him about his failure, he paid me back: “Why don’t you eat bread twice a day and see how long you can last?” Oh god, no way! I’m a die-hard rice lover, born and raised. How could I survive without cooked rice for a month? No chance, my friend! I waved the white flag right away.

That’s when it dawned on me. I’ve been so busy chasing after noodles, phở, and cakes of all sorts, but I haven’t shown enough appreciation for the most fundamental dish in Vietnamese cuisine: cooked rice!

Seeing my epiphany, my friend seized the chance to ask: “So what’s the deal with cooked rice in Vietnamese culture and cuisine?” Wow, it’s a tough question. I’m not a food expert or a culture buff. Just a foodie, who am I to talk about such a huge deal? But come on, I’ve been eating rice for decades. I must know something and I should try my best since I can’t let rice down!

The Best Viet Rice

Rice is the heart of Vietnamese cuisine. It shines in many forms, but the most prominent is cooked rice. To achieve the perfect cooked rice, you need to start with quality rice. The Vietnamese have two criteria for quality rice: appearance and aroma. The grains should be uniform in size and shape, so they cook evenly and fluff up nicely. And the aroma should be delicious and enticing. Trust me, nothing satisfies a hungry rice-lover more than a bowl of fragrant steaming rice.

Besides, personal preference may vary on textures. Some like their rice less fluffy and more gummy. Others prefer it airy and soft. The dish you make also affects the type of rice. For instance, you need gummy rice to make rice balls, because they will hold together better. On the other hand, fried rice calls for airy rice, so it is easier to stir-fry.

Vietnam is a land of rice diversity, with each region boasting its own signature varieties. The most treasured types of rice share a common trait: they are grown only once a year, so that the soil nourishes them with natural nutrients. If fertilizers and pesticides are overused, these rice will lose their distinctive qualities. Lastly, they should be milled carefully to preserve the fragrant and nutritious layers of bran.

Tam Xoan Rice

The North’s finest grain is Tam Xoan rice. It was praised in Van Dai Loai Ngu (1773), one of the first encyclopedias of Viet Nam: “Tam Xoan Rice: growing in the autumn; tall plant, long and soft rice branches, small seeds, its grains are white and very fragrant” (Le Quy Don, Văn Hóa Thông Tin Publishing House 2006, p. 422) 

Tam Xoan’s cooked rice is “clear and pure white, looking like glowing pearls, emitting a tempting fragrance” (Vu Bang, Thương nhớ Mười Hai, Văn Học Publishing House 1993, p. 155) Tam Xoan rice served with Vietnamese ham, young mustard soup and pickled head mustard is an authentic and elegant meal of Hanoi.

Ba Trang Rice

Ba Trang rice is a precious gift from the hills and mountains of the Central region, where the soil and climate are ideal for its growth. “The life cycle of Ba Trang is three months, its rice is white, fragrant and rich in starch.” (Van Dai Loai Ngu, p. 424) Ba Trang rice has large and gummy grains that release a natural sweetness as you savor them. 

Its ripe season is also when the perches are at their best in the rice fields. The Central people love to enjoy crispy fried perch with garlic and chili fish sauce, along with fresh vegetables and a bowl of steaming Ba Trang rice. Sadly, Ba Trang rice is now rare and only cultivated in a few villages of the Central highlands.

Nang Thom Cho Dao Rice

Nang Thom Cho Dao rice is a fragrant and delectable variety that originated in My Le commune, Long An province, in the 1940s. It is a hybrid of many good rice types grown in Can Duoc district, where My Le is located. This rice is popular in the South for its aroma and taste.

The Southern people’s favorite meal is Nang Thom rice paired with braised fish and sweet sour soup. The braised fish is fatty and flavorful, with a hint of sweetness and a touch of spiciness from pepper and chili. The sweet sour soup is a refreshing contrast, with the aroma of coriander and mint, the sweetness of pineapple, and the sourness of giang leaves or tamarind juice. No matter if it’s hot or cool, Nang Thom rice is so irresistible that it is devoured in no time.

Traditional Rice: Bad News and Good News

Five years ago, I would have written this article with a heavy heart. I would have told you that the most delicious traditional rices in Vietnam were no longer available. Ba Trang rice was scarce, while Tam Xoan and Nang Thom Cho Dao varieties had deteriorated significantly. 

Their degeneration had two main causes. First, the soil was depleted of nutrients due to over-cultivation and excessive use of chemical fertilizers. Second, Tam Xoan lacked alluvium from the upstream water that was blocked by hydroelectric plants, while Nang Thom lacked minerals from the seawater that was prevented by flood-proof dikes. As a result, the seeds that farmers saved for each season became poorer and poorer in quality, and Tam Xoan and Nang Thom Cho Dao were about to fade into history.

It’s fortunate that there are people who care about the traditional rices of Vietnam. They have taken action to save them from extinction. Local farmers from where Tam Xoan and Nang Thom Cho Dao originated, Hai Hau district in Nam Dinh province and My Le commune in Long An province, have been planting and selecting the original rice seeds for many years. 

They have managed to restore about 90 – 95% of the original rice quality of the two varieties in 2023. Hai Hau’s Tam Xoan has a geographical indication to protect it from being faked, and My Le’s Nang Thom Cho Dao is waiting for the same. I sincerely hope that these traditional rices will survive and flourish, along with the values they represent in Vietnam’s history and culture.

ST24 and ST25 Rice

Besides the regional specialties, two new hybrid rice varieties from Soc Trang, ST24 and ST25, are gaining popularity. ST24 was the second best rice in 2017 and ST25 was the “World’s Best Rice” at the 2019 World Rice Conference in Manila (Philippines). 

Engineer Ho Quang Cua, the creator of ST25 rice, also developed the Rice – Prawn model in the brackish water area of the Mekong Delta. This model teaches farmers how to raise giant freshwater prawns in the brackish water season and grow ST25 rice and plants that attract beneficial insects in the freshwater season. 

This way, farmers can reduce the use of pesticides and fertilizers, as the insects help control pests and the prawn waste nourishes the rice. The harvested straw also feeds the prawns, creating a cycle of mutual benefit. Growing both rice and prawns allows farmers to have multiple sources of income and make up for the reduced income from ST25 rice, which has only one harvest per year. 

The Rice – Prawn model is spreading across the coastal areas of four provinces in the Mekong Delta: Soc Trang, Bac Lieu, Ca Mau and Kien Giang. This model offers a great opportunity for the farmers in these areas to improve their livelihoods and protect the environment.

Cooking Rice: A Poetic Guide

The quality of cooked rice depends not only on the rice variety, but also on the cooking method. Each type of rice requires a different amount of water, heat, and time to cook it properly. In the past, before rice cookers were invented, Vietnamese people used to cook rice in pots over straw, firewood or charcoal. They measured the rice with a milk can and the water with their fingers. Learning how to cook rice skillfully was a vital and fundamental skill for Vietnamese people in the old days.

Royal descendants had an edge over commoners when it came to cooking rice, as they learned the art from a poetic daughter-in-law. Mrs. Truong Dang Thi Bich (1862 – 1947), the daughter of Grand Chancellor Truong Dang Que and the wife of Grand Master Hong Khang, wrote a unique book that combined her culinary and literary skills. 

Thuc Pho Bach Thien teaches how to cook 100 popular dishes of the Nguyen royal family in quatrains, starting with “Cooking rice”:

“Rinse the rice well, add the water just right, 

Lower the heat when the water is out of sight, 

Cover the lid with leaves to seal it tight, 

Time it well to make the rice fluffy and chewy.”

Cooking tasty rice was not a piece of cake in the old days. If you messed up, you’d end up with rice that was “raw on top, charred at the bottom, and gooey in the middle”, as a Vietnamese proverb sarcastically puts it. You see, cooking rice can be poetic but sometimes can be dramatic, all depending on how well you do it. 

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