W.Minh Tuan
Recently, I (Minh Tuan) read a book about the autobiography of a Vietnamese person who went to France more than 80 years ago, which talked about how the Vietnamese community in France at that time was able to cook delicious roasted rabbit meat with the taste of dog meat in seven dishes as follows.
When the French were still protecting our Vietnam, about 100 years ago, the French recruited Vietnamese people to go to France and to French colonies to work. Now we call it “labor export”, in the French era it was called labor to work as coolies in French colonies.
Nowadays, our Vietnamese people are lining up to go to work abroad, as “labor export”, such as in Taiwan, Korea, Japan, etc. If we could go to work abroad in European countries like France, England, Belgium, Germany, etc. now, it would be a dream too lofty and difficult to reach.
However, when the French were still protecting Vietnam nearly 100 years ago, working in France or New Caledonia was something that Vietnamese people had to do reluctantly, and not many people were happy about, because at that time, the vision of Vietnamese farmers was still very limited, not going beyond the bamboo fence of their own village, so they did not know anything about the world around them, only knowing that their brick yard at their home, the village pond, the banyan tree, the well, and the communal house yard were the most important and precious things in their lives in Vietnam.
So in 1937, 1938, in our Vietnam country – then called Annam, there was a French ship recruiting Annamese people to work in France, the barefoot Annamese farmers – eyes wide open – got on the ship to France, and the relatives who saw them off cried like rain, as if sending their loved ones off to a place of human torment, like going to hell.
How pitiful.
Then when they arrived in France, the An Nam illiterate farmers, who had spent their whole lives farming, the buffalo in front and the plow behind, saw for the first time the vast golden ripe wheat fields in France, the lush green vineyards stretching as far as the eye could see, the herds of cows, sheeps grazing peacefully like in the pictures in fairy tales, truly a beautiful scene of “heaven on earth”, the Annamese farmers opened their mouths, admired and praised, saying “that’s right, the French are more civilized than the Annamese, so they do business, trade, and cultivate better than us the Annamese“.
And at that time, Vietnamese culture still maintained the good manners of the past, the less educated respected the educated, so the few Vietnamese people in the group who knew French to act as interpreters for the group were politely called “teachers” by everyone, and they admired those interpreters very much:
“Why are you “teachers” so good, we speak Vietnamese but it is still awkward, not going anywhere, but you teachers also know French language, to do as interpreters for us, it is so precious. Without you teachers, we would be impossible to do anything as of dying, not knowing how to talk to the French, not knowing how they French teach us to do things. We thank you very much”.
And when life was peaceful, and the work was not as hard as when they were farming in their homeland of Annam, suddenly World War II broke out, and France was preparing for war with Germany and Italy, so Vietnamese laborer coolies were drafted into French military units, called “worker soldiers”, that is, French soldiers, but worked in French military factories, specifically producing explosives to serve the war.
Our Annamese laborers worked in factories producing very toxic gunpowder, and the war conditions were so poor that food and drink were not guaranteed. Therefore, our Annamese “worker soldiers” suffered from hunger, malnutrition, illness, and gunpowder poisoning.
However, our Annamese people are famous for being intelligent, cunning, and knowing how to improve their terrible living conditions. Because at that time, in the area where hundreds of Annamese soldiers lived and worked, French people suddenly saw that the barking of dogs became less and less.
The French have had a culture of raising pet dogs since ancient times, so everywhere in France, families raise pet dogs, guard dogs, dogs to guard their houses, animals.
The French do not have a culture of eating dog meat.
But the Vietnamese, along with the Koreans, Thais, Myanmar people,,, in Asia, have a culture of eating dog meat.
The dog is the most affectionate animal to humans, among the 13 animals raised in the family, which are called “livestock”, which are 1-dog, 2-pig, 3-chicken, 4-duck, 5-goose, 6-geese, 7-horse, 8-goat, 9-sheep, 10-buffalo, 11-cow, 12-cat, 13-donkey.
Among those 13 domestic animals, the dog is the most affectionate to humans. When the owner is sick, only the dog knows and is sad with the owner. When the owner is happy, only the dog knows and wags its tail, licks the owner’s hands and feet. When the owner is attacked by bad guys, only the dog knows how to bark loudly, attack the bad guys to save the owner,,,.
Therefore, in Europe and civilized countries, they do not eat dog meat, because the dog is a loyal friend of humans.
But Vietnamese people do not have that culture, we consider dogs to be dirty things, let dogs eat shit, and treated the dog quite roughly, beat and scolded the dog badly, and ate dog meat.
I remember when I was in Vietnam, Hanoi, at the end of every month, I went with some journalist friends to West Lake to eat 7 dishes of dog meat. In the area around West Lake-Hanoi at that time, there were about 30 dog meat restaurants, all of which were delicious, and crowded at the end of the month, with both men and women, old and young, and even National Assembly delegates, Central Party Committee members, directors, presidents, ministers, and deputy ministers.
I don’t know if the Politburo members of the Communist Party of Vietnam went to eat dog meat at West Lake or not.
Vietnamese people have a culture of abstaining from eating dog meat at the beginning of the month, but eating it at the end of the month.
So at the beginning of the month, the dog meat restaurants in West Lake-Hanoi were deserted, but at the end of the month they were crowded.
My friend, a criminal police officer, Hanoi police, No. 7 Thuyen Quang, when eating dog meat with us journalists, often asked the restaurant staff the following:
-Hey, young lad, does your dog eat “that thing”?
“That thing” means “shit”, because if dogs eat that thing, dog meat is delicious.
The young staff member did not understand at first, scratching his head and ears, not knowing how to answer, but then, when he understood, he smiled shyly and said:
-Yes, yes, eat “that thing” with all its might.
-Oh, good, then prepare enough for us to have 7 dishes.
That’s right, the recipe for cooking dog meat only has 7 dishes, which are “1-boiled, 2-stir-soup, 3-boiled legs, 4-boiled dog sausage, 5-grilled dog sausage, 6-rua man, 7-grilled.
The criminal police officer ate and recited the following ancient poem, praising dog meat and grilled dog sausage:
“Living in this world,
Eating dog sausage,
Dying to hell,
Who knows if there is or not”.
But since I came to live in Japan, nearly 30 years ago, I have been influenced by Japanese culture, so my desire to eat dog meat has gradually decreased, and now, I absolutely do not want to eat dog meat anymore, feeling sorry for the dogs.
And I am also very happy to know that the Vietnamese Government has banned the killing and eating of dogs since a few years ago, and the dog meat restaurants in West Lake-Hanoi have been eliminated, no longer exist.
Returning to the story of our Annamese labor-soldiers living in France during World War II, suffering from malnutrition and poor health, and living in a place where there were many beautiful, plump dogs playing freely in the streets and gardens, the saliva “drooling” began to flow from the mouths of our Annamese people.
The French praised “What a beautiful dog”, the Vietnamese praised “What a delicious dog”.
Then in that area of beautiful France, the phenomenon of dogs barking gradually decreased, and the French people in that area began to form patrol teams to discover why their dogs gradually disappeared, leaving no trace, not even dog bones or dog hair left any trace anywhere.
What a talent.
Then one day, a young Annamese friend who was fluent in French, who was an interpreter for the Annamese “labor-soldiers” group, and who wrote the memoir-autobiography mentioned above-was invited by the leader of the group of workers to the room to eat roasted rabbit.
When he entered the room, he smelled the delicious aroma of roasted rabbit. At that time, the leader of the Annamese group of workers announced before eating:
-Hey, guys, this is rabbit meat that I hunted in the garden. Therefore, if anyone says that this is the dog Lucie of the neighbor Mrs. Fabienne, and that this rabbit meat tastes like dog meat, then that person is 100% distorting the truth, and will be punished by not eating roasted rabbit meat for 1 year”.
Mrs. Fabienne was a kind old French woman who lived near the factory where the Annamese labor-soldiers worked. She was very kind, always helping the Annamese labor-soldiers, and she had a very pretty, chubby dog named Lucie.
After listening to the eloquent speech of the above-mentioned group leader, the Annamese labor-soldiers began to eat roasted rabbit, and praised it, “delicious, delicious”, and there was also some homemade wine that the Annamese soldiers had made themselves at home.
The next day, the interpreter was called to the office by the French factory director, and told the story of how Mrs. Fabienne had just come to see him, crying and complaining as follows:
-Dear Director, my dog Lucie has not been home for 2 days. I think your Annamese labor-soldiers have eaten my dog. It’s terrible, please do something to stop this situation?
Mrs. Fabienne said, sobbing, looking very pitiful.
The director consoled her as follows:
-Madam, you are so pitiful. But those barbarians didn’t spare my own dog Lilou either. My dog Lilou disappeared more than a month ago.
When Mrs. Fabienne heard that, she fainted and had to call the factory nurse to help her wake up.///