Buzz
I've long heard about Tra Que in Hoi An, known for its renowned organic vegetable village, so in my Hoi An tour, I decided to allocate some time to visit this spot.
Beyond just vegetables, Tra Que Village is also famous as an eco-tourism destination. Many foreign visitors enjoy renting bicycles and embarking on a roughly 4km journey from Hoi An's ancient town to this village, working alongside the locals under the sun and rain, planting each vegetable by hand, and afterward indulging in the countryside's specialties.
The Simple Rusticity of Rural Life
As I stepped into the village, the gentle fragrance filled the air. The melodious Quang folk song of a mother singing to her child echoed:
“Hey there!
Whoever heads to Tra Que, returns with
In Tra Que, we specialize in mung bean sprouts.
Morning's for selling shallots,
Afternoon's for watering the fields, never a moment's rest”
I suddenly felt nostalgic, recalling the tunes of the mint village in Lang, where I once heard:
“Oh there!
Who doesn't know about us
We reside in Lang neighborhood, our home surrounded by vegetable gardens.
… Eight tael weights for durability
Choosing a courteous person to carry the load is paramount”
In Hanoi, Lang Lang is a place specialized in cultivating to create the delicious taste of the Northern region. What about Tra Que? Is it perhaps due to the ancient urbanization of Hoi An having a high culinary demand? Is it because of cultural exchanges through trade routes that locals here export local products and introduce exotic vegetables? Or is it due to the special soil and groundwater here, resulting in a different flavor of vegetables compared to other regions?
I roll up my trousers, leave my sandals to walk barefoot, stepping over the beds of vegetables sprouting fresh shoots. On the lush green leaves, droplets of water glisten. Whether it's morning dew still lingering or water that the people of
While wandering around the vegetable beds, a woman looks up, smiles at me, and together we carry a basket to quickly cut vegetables for the market.
After the cut, the aroma of basil essential oil rises. I bring a handful to my nose to smell. Strange! I've never seen this type of herb before. At first glance, basil looks quite similar, the stems are green, but the leaves are smaller and the scent is completely different.
Standing amidst the vegetable garden, I look around and see that the garden occupies quite a spacious area along both sides of the road. In the distance, outside, are clusters of houses surrounding the garden area. The garden owner informs me that this plot has only been established for about a decade. The locality has planned residential areas on the outskirts, reserving this fertile land for growing green vegetables.
I notice that the people of Tra Que are doing their utmost to preserve the land and nurture the ancestral profession. Nowadays, the locals here have a more prosperous life thanks to the vegetables bearing the brand of their homeland and the 'A Day as a Tra Que Resident' tourism program that I am currently participating in.
Learning to be a farmer
Every visitor entering the village will be taught by the farmers here how to care for green vegetables. During break time, everyone can sit and relax in cool shelters, sipping a bowl of green tea while admiring the newly planted vegetable beds. At mealtime, you will be treated to the famous Hoi An delicacies made from Tra Que vegetables.
Now, I'm also carrying the yoke to water the vegetables. Shoulders bent under the weight of two buckets, I strain to carry, step slowly on the vegetable beds, then tilt my shoulders for the water to flow down. The heavy load on my shoulders gradually lightens... A indescribable joy wells up within me.
As the sun rises high, the vegetable beds have been thoroughly watered, I take a hoe and follow a villager to till the soil to prepare for sowing new seeds. Holding the hoe for the first time, I clumsily lift it up and then exert myself to dig into the soft soil, turning up a furrow. Bending down to look, I realize that the soil here is incredibly fine and loose. It turns out that the locals here follow the experience of their ancestors, bringing moss from under the river to fertilize the soil.
After the land has been tilled, everyone gathers in leafy shelters to sip a bowl of green tea and eat a mixed green bean cake - a renowned Hoi An delicacy. Casually chatting, I learn that the Tra Que vegetable garden has two crops: the winter crop from November to March and the summer crop from May to November each year.
At mealtime, the garden owner brings out a shelter with a dish of mixed clams with crispy grilled rice paper. Amidst the Cẩm Nam clams are onions, coriander, chili... freshly picked from the garden, still vibrant. The fragrant aroma of mixed clams tantalizes the nose, and when put in the mouth, it's both flavorful and spicy. Yet in a flash, the diners have finished it all. Indeed, after exhausting labor, the taste is much more delicious.
Watching foreigners next to me eagerly chewing on grilled rice paper and exclaiming at the spicy clams, their faces beaming with joy, I suddenly think of the stone sprout dish in the Trang Quynh story. Indeed, when one undergoes strenuous labor, they will feel the value of the product they create increase many times over.
The type of tourism that combines work and learning has been adopted by many countries around the world, but perhaps Tra Que is the first place to apply this form in Vietnam. Visitors here will learn about the lifestyle, the labor of the people, and understand the value of labor.
Tra Que vegetable village bound by deep love
When chefs prepare Cao Lau - a Hoi An specialty dish, they never forget to sprinkle a small bunch of raw vegetables into the bowl before pouring the sauce to enhance the distinctive flavor of this dish. The delicious flavor of Quang noodles or Cau Mong grilled beef partly comes from the combination of vegetables grown in the Tra Que vegetable garden.
The vegetables in Tra Que thrive due to the suitable soil fertility and the water source extracted from mineral-rich groundwater, giving them a unique flavor that cannot be replicated elsewhere. If Lang village is renowned for its mint, then Tra Que takes pride in its unique flavors of Vietnamese mint, water spinach, and more.
These humble greens have long been famous. According to the tales of the elderly in the village, from hundreds of years ago, when ships from France, the Netherlands, Arabia, China... docked at Hoi An, Tra Que vegetables were purchased as reserves for long sea voyages. Today, these vegetables are still sought after by many large supermarkets year-round for their quality standards and food safety.
Walking around the gardens, I tried to find the beds of Lang mint but to no avail. Upon inquiry with the garden owners, I learned that they had attempted to cultivate them but failed because the variety was not suitable for the soil and climate here. Even the lemongrass brought in from Lang village did not thrive. That's when I realized that nature bestows each land with its own unique wonders, allowing each region to have its own distinct produce... creating the richness and uniqueness of each locality.
A day living as a resident of Tra Que Vegetable Village, though brief, was enough for me to witness the deep love of the people for the vegetation on this land. Farming is inherently difficult, but they have overcome all obstacles so that today, Hoi An tourism has an added allure. Given the chance, I would certainly return to this place.
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