Wild vegetables to save hunger in the past, only the poor could eat, cheap, now become a famous specialty in the restaurant

Spinach is a very familiar vegetable to the coastal people of Quynh Luu (Nghe An). From a rustic dish that often appears on the rice tray of the poor, now this wild vegetable has become a famous, cool and strange specialty that anyone wants to enjoy once.

Spinach is considered a “heavenly blessing” only in Nghe An

In the past, this wild vegetable was associated with the meal of the poor

Spinach has a purple stem, leaves that resemble ten o’clock flowers, grows wild along salt fields, brackish water shrimp and fish ponds or along rivers. This vegetable has been around ever since, no one knows, no one grows it, no one needs to take care of it, but it still grows luxuriantly and green. Therefore, people here call it “heaven’s fortune”, a gift from nature to the people. This wild vegetable grows in clumps, blocks, low, roots clinging to the ground, looking very much like ten o’clock flowers.

Spinach resembles a ten o’clock flower

For people in Quynh Luu, Nghe An, spinach is associated with a time of poverty. Ms. Ngoc Anh (a resident of Quynh Luu) recounted: “For children born and raised in the salt village like us, spinach is a whole childhood. Back then, after every school day, the children in the village were again took the basket to the field, traced each bush to find and pick each young green spinach stalk, returned to my mother to make a salad, and ate it instead of meat and fish because the poor family’s meal, besides rice and vegetables, had nothing. If there are many, they will sell them to traders. For each basket of vegetables, children earn a few thousand dong to buy books to help their parents.

Spinach is now rare because it doesn’t grow as much as before

Now when I go back to my hometown, I still tell my mother to pick spinach to eat, then bring it to the city to give to friends and colleagues to enjoy. Spinach is now a rare commodity because it no longer grows as much as before, and picking vegetables is quite laborious and takes time, so the supply is less and less.”

It is known that after being picked, people still have to spend a lot of work. First of all, they must be cleaned, soaked in water for 1-2 hours to reduce the natural salty taste, then washed again, boiled, squeezed out of water and used chopsticks to separate each top. Although preliminary processing is difficult, but in return, spinach can be processed into many dishes. If mixing mannequin, just squeeze to drain, mix with a little herbs, lemon leaves, sugar, chili and roasted sesame seeds. Spinach salad when eaten will be crispy like seaweed, and has a cool taste, a harmonious sweet and sour taste; subtle aroma of lemon leaves, herbs; the taste of roasted peanuts…

In addition to making mannequins, spinach is also eaten with rice, vermicelli or banh mi, a typical type of banh cuon found only in the land of Nghe.

Spinach salad is a specialty dish available in restaurants

Because it grows and develops in a natural environment, spinach is considered a clean and healthy vegetable.

Now, spinach has become a specialty that not everyone has the opportunity to try. For the people of Nghe An, a plate of spinach in the summer will make the meal more harmonious and cooler. As for people in the city, this is a strange and attractive wild vegetable that everyone wants to enjoy once. Because it grows and develops in a natural environment, spinach is considered a clean and healthy vegetable.

Previously, spinach cost 5-10 thousand VND/kg. Now, if you want to buy spinach, you must order it in advance, the price is up to 50,000 VND/kg. This vegetable is easily crushed, difficult to transport, so it is rarely sold in the city.