HO CHI MINH CITY MIGHT BE CHEAP AS CHIPS WHEN IT COMES TO EATING OUT, BUT PRICES ARE RISING (FOOD PRICES UP ABOUT 40 PER CENT THIS YEAR ACCORDING TO ONE REPORT I HAVE READ), AND A LOT OF FOLK ARE FACING IT TOUGH. Consequently, self catering has developed a certain appeal, and it makes sense for those staying a long time, or thinking of staying a long time. Lonely Planet recommends grabbing a loaf of bread and stuffing it with white Vietnamese cheese and whatever else you can pick up at the market; Crowded World tells you there are plenty more self-catering options than that. If you want cost effectiveness and quality, take a stroll through one of the many supermarkets opening up in the city. We might consider them soulless and barren bastions of corporate greed in the west (especially in Europe), but supermarkets pack a novelty factor in Vietnam, to the Vietnamese at least, and enjoy a department store snob status. I think my girlfriend Nga likes to go to the local supermarket just to check out what is on special, have a look around, and soak up the vibe. It is a place to hang out, to see and be seen, kind of like the classic American mall of the 1980s, circa Wierd Science. Personally, while I loathe shopping at home, I have always been interested in checking out the supermarkets in foreign countries, just to see how they localize the experience. You can judge the taste and temperament of a people by the way they stock their supermarkets. In Spain, there are whole rows devoted to olives. (The security guards once picked me up for stealing a couple of them, in the city of Barcelona I believe.) In Japan where I live at the moment, you can sometimes pick up a slab of whale, perfect for a steaming winter nabe, or at the end of the day find discount trays of sushi and sashimi, or crumbed chicken or octopus or squid, which sometime work as a filler between thick slices of bread (that combo does give you indigestion though.) Apart from that, there are always plenty of mushrooms and fish, soy sauce and sake... grumpy old ladies pushing you out of the way. Icelandic supermarkets are sparse, warm and tasteful, big on bread, cheese and lamb, and numerous specimens from the deep. Go into a supermarket in London, and it is like all the culinary heritage of the world has been assembled under one roof. Moroccan sandwiches and Indian tandoori takeout and so on. I love all that shit!
So, how do the supermarkets in Vietnam stack up to those of Barcelona, Tokyo, Reykjavik and London? Well, like Vietnam in general, I find them noisy, crowded, and often chaotic. Wheels on trolleys buckle, causing you to lurch. Last time I went shopping in the state owned Co-op Mart at the end of my adopted street (Bui Thi Xuan Street) in Saigon, I got followed round the aisles by a pervert. He stood in front of my girlfriend Nga and squeezed two imaginary melons in his hands, to symbolize her breasts. But hey, at least it is air conditioned in there, and there are some interesting things to see. Racks of durians looking like medieval torture implements. A vast array of odd fruits and vegetables, with an earthiness you can feel. No genetically modified, shrink wrapped produce here! (apart from the mushrooms you see below) No style over substance, no extravagent carbon mileage. But at the same time, no persistent touts or beggars either. And no need to bargain like you do out in the wet markets for a decent price. As this photo demonstrates, all the prices are fixed.
In the bottom right corner of this photo you can see some Hồng Don, which I believe are a type of Vietnamese persimmon, going for 14,800 Dong (US$0.89) per kilo (if I can read the sign correctly). They don't look nothing like the persimmons I see every late autumn and early winter in Japan, so they must be the bitter persimmons (the ones you're supposed to eat green.) Vietnam is of course a paradise for fruit and veg lovers, and you could make a decent meal, back in your hotel or apartment, out of some of specimens at the market. Many fruits are eaten with a salt and chilli dipping sauce which might seem like a strange accompaniment at first, but is "quite possibly addictive", as Lonely Planet concedes.
Yes sir, it is true: modern style supermarkets are springing up all Vietnam, as the Flowers, Vegetable, Fruits of Vietnam reported in 2007: "Many supermarkets and shopping centers have started up recently. In early May, Dong Hung Co., Ltd. opened its eighth Citimart store in Binh Thanh District to bring the total nationwide to 17.
"A month later, Parkson Corporation opened its second shopping center, in Hung Vuong Plaza in District 5, with investment capital of US$6 million.
"In July, the Viet Nam National Textile and Garment Group (Vinatex) inaugurated its 46th store, the five-story Vinatex Ly Thuong Kiet at CMC Plaza in Tan Binh District. The project has investment capital of VND6 billion (US$373,000).
"One day later, Saigon Co-op and Bihimex opened a Co-opMart store in Bien Hoa, Dong Nai Province that cost VND75 billion to put up.
"Ngo Van Hai, deputy director of Dong Hung Co., says the supermarket boom is not restricted to the cities but is spreading into the provinces.
"'We are racing against the clock to find appropriate locations for new stores before the Government allows more foreign companies to set up supermarkets and distribution centers in Viet Nam,' he said
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GREEN TEA BIG IN VIETNAM
Thanh Nien Daily reports: "Green tea has been drunk in copious amounts by Vietnamese families at home and in restaurants for centuries.
"But a recent boom in bottled green tea, made both locally and abroad, means that the traditional beverage is now competing with big names like Pepsi Cola and even bottled water.
"Nga (eds. note: no relation to my girlfriend Nga mentioned in this story), a convenience shop owner in a District 5 alley off An Duong Vuong Street, says she started selling bottled green tea – which is often sweetened with honey or sugar – when she noticed the beverages were selling like hotcakes at other local shops.
"She says she sells two or three 12-bottle cartons a day while her sales of purified water and other soft drinks are declining.
"Citimart supermarket director Nguyen Thi Anh Hoa says Vietnamese customers believe green tea is good for their health and are willing to spend the extra VND1,000-2,000 (6-12 US cents) to enjoy the beverage over purified water or other soft drinks.
"'Our customers buy so much green tea that our supermarket often runs out of it,' says Hoa.
"She says that green tea has become so popular that she must now fend off uninvited solicitors marketing non-beverage products such as green tea milk and green tea cakes..."
METRO OPENS FIRST WHOLESALE STORE IN DONG NAI
According to the Saigon GP Daily: "German multinational wholesaler Metro Cash and Carrier on July 9 (2009) opened its first store in the southern province of Dong Nai, a fast developing industrial area of Vietnam, as its ninth wholesale center in the country....
"This store is called Metro Bien Hoa as it is located in Bien Hoa City, just more than 30km from Ho Chi Minh City, a southern economic hub. It covers about four hectares right in the heart of Bien Hoa, selling more than 26,000 items, with around 90 per cent of them produced or grown in Vietnam, according to Metro..."
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