The cheery laughter of Huynh Thi Kim Thanh, from Cau Ngang district in Tra Vinh province, can be heard on her TikTok videos, delighting viewers.

At the age of 46, the woman growing grass to raise cows and working as a hired worker, never could imagine that she would become a content creator on social networks one day.

With viewer-friendly content introducing Mekong Delta’s specialties, each video of hers can attract tens of thousands to millions of viewers.

Thanh has been running the channel for one year, where she talks about daily life – going to the market in the countryside, picking vegetables, weeding, feeding cows and cooking soup. Her kitchen, in the open air and in the middle of a garden, is simple and rudimentary.

It is simplicity which attracts viewers. Her comments are plain and unadorned, which show the nature of many Mekong Delta people.

Thanh said the founder of the channel was Nguyen Minh Khang, 19, a nephew of hers.

After producing videos and posting on his channel for some years, Khang persuaded ‘mother Thanh’ as he called her, to appear on his video as a main character. At first, Thanh and her nephew just wanted to film and post videos for memories.

Thanh was reluctant to appear on videos when her nephew talked about his plan. She still remembers that her first video showed her preparing bun rieu (vermicelli and sour crab soup). The video begins with the scene of both of them catching crabs and cooking bun rieu together.

They never thought that videos created for fun and images of country people would attract viewers. Encouraged by compliments about the videos, Thanh and her nephew decided to spend more time to develop the channel. Thanh remains the main character in the videos, while the nephew is in charge of filming and editing.

Thanh said she has lived in Tra Vinh for 20 years, after marrying a local man. Her major occupation is husbandry.

Previously, she raised a lot of cows, but she now has only two cows. She grows grass in an area of 1,000-2,000 sq m to feed the cows, and grows rau muong (a common vegetable in Vietnam) for sale. In dry season, she grows eggplant, melon and squash. After harvest time, she works as a hired worker for other local people.

“I do anything I am told to do, from weeding to planting vegetables, and I can earn VND200,000 a day,” she said.

The dishes she prepares and shows in videos are dishes that she cooks every day for family members. The Mekong Delta is a rice granary and the home of shrimp, crab and fish which are inexpensive. She spends only hundreds of thousand of dong when filming.

“If we don’t eat up all the food prepared, we invite my neighbors and other locals to join us,” she said with a smile.

Since the day she appeared on TikTok, she has become well known and applauded in her village. She feels happy as she is supported by locals, and never feels discouraged if there are negative comments about her videos.

Another character who often appears in the videos on TikTok is Pham Thi Tuyet Thu, 42. The woman has been living in Tra Vinh for decades. She grows grass to feed cows and sells hu tieu (rice noodle with seasoned and saute beef). Thanh and Thu have been close friends for 20 years.

The two close friends seem to have opposite personalities. While Thanh is open, talkative and funny, Thu is quiet. In videos, people can see her smiling when cooking together with her friend.

Currently, Thanh and Khang are releasing three videos each week. She spends the morning on field work and the afternoon for filming. She now can earn money from her videos as some brands have contacted her to place ads on her videos. 

Nguyen Thao