P2 Who wants to eat Chè Bột Khoai?

Let’s dive deeper into the nostalgic version chè bột khoai and its street vendors’ melodious chants.

Chè Bột Khoai and Its Musical Chant

Doctor Do Hong Ngoc, the Vietnamese-esteemed doctor and writer, enlightened me with his brilliant article “The fragrant small hand” about Saigon street vendors, including a vendor selling chè tào thưng. He revealed to me a historic chant that was part of Vietnamese street culture. 

He recommended the vọng cổ (traditional Southern song) “The night street vendor” and I listened to it. Written by the composer Thu An, the song depicted the life of a girl who sold chè tào thưng in a poverty-stricken neighborhood. Two eminent artists of traditional music, Ut Tra On and Ut Bach Lan, delivered an exquisite performance of the song.

As soon as I heard Miss Bach Lan’s voice: “Who wants to taste the sweet soup with tapioca sticks, glass noodles, mung beans, coconut milk and granulated sugar?”, my heart skipped a beat as if I had just encountered an old flame. Oh my god, her street cry was as sweet as a lullaby!

In my mind, there were images of hot summer afternoons with red flamboyant flowers blossoming on branches, and a child lying in a hammock drifting to sleep. From afar, a familiar voice echoed: “Who wants to eat chè … ?” 

The fact that chè tào thưng changed its name is clear, but the exact time of this change is not. It may have been when gentle Vietnamese ladies replaced the Chinese sellers. The full name was too long to say, so the Vietnamese just called it chè bột khoai in daily talk.

Unlike other sweet soups, chè bột khoai is usually sold in the late evening. Imagine this: It’s a rainy evening in Saigon or somewhere in the South. Yellow light shines through the windows in scattered faint glows like rocks floating on the surface of a deep lake. 

A street vendor, wearing a traditional Vietnamese blouse bà ba, carries a shoulder pole with a big stainless pot on one hanger and a stack of bowls and spoons on the other. Hearing customer’s call “chè”, she stops in front of a wooden door and sets down her pole and hangers. 

She sits quietly on a small wooden chair and starts to serve. Her hand moves rhythmically like a dancer, taking the bowl, scooping the soup and handing it to the clients. The steam from the pot drifts up, carrying a sweet scent. You hold the hot bowl of soup in the palm of your hand and feel the warmth. Each sweet spoonful banishes your sleepiness and calms your hungry stomach. 

Chè Bột Khoai: Dessert of the Pioneers

On the Ong Lanh River, there was a young woman who sold chè bột khoai as a night comfort food from a boat. She rowed along the water and sang out the chant on her way. In his book “Wandering Steps on Streets of Binh Nguyen Loc”, which depicted Saigon in the 1950s and 1960s, author Binh Nguyen Loc, a talented writer of old Saigon, was deeply impressed by what the young vendor sold. 

Her chè bột khoai conjured up a vivid picture in his mind:

“It is a mixed and chaotic treat like the waves of people who came here to make new land three hundred years ago. That kind of sweet soup includes components that you would normally use to cook savory dishes like glass noodles and wood ear mushrooms. And when they sell it, they shout out all the elements: Who wants to taste tapioca sticks, glass noodles, mung beans, coconut milk and granulated sugar?” (p. 11-12, Thinh Ky Publishing House 1966)

Saigon and the South were gradually settled by the Vietnamese from the 17th century onwards. The Nguyen Lords, who were part of the Nguyen clan that ruled southern Vietnam on their own, asked people from northern and central Vietnam to move to the South to make new land in the 17th and 18th centuries. They also let Chinese refugees come in and interact with the Vietnamese, Cham and Khmer people.

Binh Nguyen Loc sees chè bột khoai as a melting pot of cultures and cuisines from different ethnic groups living in Saigon and the South of Vietnam. He chose his words wisely when he used “mixed” to show the fusion of ingredients from many ethnic backgrounds, and “chaotic” because there were both sweet and savory components. These words highlight the idea of “making new land”, because only the brave pioneers would dare to create such a daring dessert!

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The next post will reveal a big transformation of Chè Thưng. Stay tuned!