We want to call her “a folk culinary artisan” because she has made great contributions to glorifying Vietnamese culinary culture. Her name has become familiar to most people who love the traditional culinary culture of Vietnam. She is Nguyen Dzoan Cam Van.

We visited her at her house in Ben Cat District in the northern province of Binh Duong. The house is in a large garden of green trees near the banks of a river. After many years of living and working in Ho Chi Minh City she returned to this tranquil place to rest.

Cam Van is the youngest child in a family of seven children. She was born in Hanoi but grew up and achieved success in her business in Sai Gon (now Ho Chi Minh City). Her mother was good-natured and very skilled, particularly in cuisine. Van seems to have inherited her cooking talents from her mother.

After graduating from Saigon National Pedagogical University, Cam Van became a teacher of literature. Life was difficult so she worked as a teacher and as a cook to earn a living and raise her children.

She loved teaching and lecturing on interesting literary works and verses but she had to abandon her career to take her child to Australia for treatment of a heart disease. Back home, she taught cake making at Tan Binh Vocational Training Centre and was devoted to passing on her baking know-how to her students.

In 1993 when Ho Chi Minh City Television needed a cooking teacher for the programme “Skilful Hands with Diligence” the centre recommended Cam Van.

At first she refused because she thought it was easy to teach cooking to some students but it would be difficult to teach it to millions of TV viewers. Convinced by many people she decided to try it.

Artisan Nguyen Dzoan Cam Van and her friends from the programme “Cooking class”.

Artisan Nguyen Dzoan Cam Van introduces Vietnam’s traditional spices to foreign students.

Unexpectedly, the programme received great response from the viewers. With experience accumulated from 18 years of working as a literature teacher and a gentle, expressive and precise voice plus a beautiful and benevolent face she won the support of her audience.

Cam Van said that cooking is still her greatest passion in life. Talking about Vietnamese cuisine she said: “I am proud of Vietnamese dishes because they are very harmonious, gentle, delicate and use just enough spices.”

Her remarks show that Vietnamese cuisine is a combination of yin and yang. Vietnamese food is nutritious and delicious. There are many kinds of dishes which are good for one’s health during each season. Talking about the culture of eating with chopsticks she said: “When I use chopsticks to pick up food to offer you I share my heart with you. That is the sharing of love between people.”

Cam Van is frequently invited to go abroad. During her trips she usually seeks references to write books and newspapers to popularize Vietnamese cuisine to the world. She lived and worked in Beijing for two years. She used to go to the United States to give lectures at the Culinary Institute of America. Initially it was difficult to teach because she was not fluent in English. She learned English by herself to be able to popularize Vietnamese food to foreigners.

She said that foreigners only know some Vietnamese dishes, such as Pho (noodle soup), pork pies, lotus roots, braised fish and sour soup. They do not know many other delicious dishes, such as Bun thang (vermicelli and chicken soup), Bun oc (noodle and snails), Bun mam (vermicelli and shrimp paste), or even simple dishes, such as sweet potato leaves with fish sauce.

Some delicious and eye-catching dishes cooked by Nguyen Dzoan Cam Van.

According to her, to develop Vietnamese cuisine the cook must not only be excellent in the processing techniques but also have a thorough knowledge of the culinary culture and people in different regions and areas. Thus they become well aware of the origins and significance of the dishes.

During a presentation of Vietnamese cuisine held in Malaysia in March, 2011 she drew the attention of the viewers when she introduced Vietnam’s quid of betel and areca nuts by telling a folk story of an emotional love called “Trau Cau”.

Working at popularizing Vietnamese cuisine in the world Cam Van always tries to help foreigners understand flavour delicateness and the cultural significance of each dish. During an introduction of Vietnamese cuisine at the Culinary Institute of America in 2000 she showed a bottle of fish sauce, a bottle of vinegar, a glass of lemon juice, several kumquats, onion, garlic and ginger.

With these ingredients she produced 16 types of sauces for 16 dishes. Witnessing her techniques the viewers were astonished because they could not imagine that from these ingredients she could produce so many delicious sauces.

So far Cam Van has published nearly 40 culinary books, including one in English. She has provided thousands of teaching hours on TV programmes and at universities and restaurants. For her cooking talents she has been invited to introduce Vietnamese cuisine to many countries, such as Australia, the US, Canada, Japan, China, Thailand and Malaysia.

Now, due to her old age, she does not appear on TV or radio and newspapers regularly, but she continues cooking. She still reads books to learn about how to prepare folk dishes. For her, cooking is like breathing and her happiness.

Source: VNP