Beginning with someone else's everyday life
Before arriving, I might have imagined my first meal in Vietnam would be phở or bánh mì. Instead, my friend took me to Uraetei Yakiniku in Thảo Điền for Japanese barbecue. We ate beef, pork, and an oxtail hotpot.
That unexpected beginning was useful. I had arrived carrying a picture of Vietnamese food, but my friend was choosing somewhere familiar to eat. His daily life did not have to follow my expectations of a destination.
Around us were family tables with several generations eating together. I wondered about the place of dining out in family life here, while recognizing how little a single restaurant could tell me. It was a question to carry into later encounters, not a conclusion about the city.
The meal reminded me that understanding a place includes noticing the connections already present within it. Japanese barbecue in Ho Chi Minh City was part of the city I had come to encounter. Following a friend to dinner gave me a better beginning than insisting on the meal I had imagined.
This became the starting point for a small series about eating in Vietnam with friends: learning a place through the ordinary choices of people who know it.
越南第一餐｜朋友带我去吃的，不是越南菜
很多人问我，到越南后的第一顿饭是不是河粉（Phở）或者法棍（Bánh mì）。
都不是。
朋友和其家人带我去的是一家日式烧肉店。刚开始我还有点意外，后来才意识到，这正是很多游客容易忽略的一点——我们总希望通过食物寻找一个国家的“特色”，却容易忽略当地人的日常。
在人类学里，饮食从来都不仅仅是食物，它还是社会关系、消费习惯、全球文化流动的一部分。胡志明市不是一座”越南菜”的城市，而是一座亚洲城市。同一条街常常包罗了五花八门的美食：法国面包、越南米粉、日本烧肉、韩国烤肉、台湾奶茶、美式咖啡和中国潮汕小吃。
真正生活在这里的人，并不会每天都吃”越南菜”。就像生活在上海的人不会天天吃小笼包，北京人不会天天吃烤鸭一样。所以我决定开始记录这个系列——《朋友带我吃越南》。跟着朋友一起，记录他们平时真正会去吃的地方，也借着餐桌，观察一座城市是如何被不同文化共同塑造的。
这顿饭，我们点了牛肉、猪肉，还有一份牛尾锅（Beef Oxtail Hotpot）。
牛肉纹理细腻，猪肉肥瘦比例很好，牛尾锅炖得很透，汤头浓郁却不会油腻，很适合几个人围坐一起慢慢吃。
我原本以为，这样的店应该是年轻人约会或朋友聚餐的地方。但让我印象更深的是，店里几乎每一桌都是一家人。老人、父母、孩子，甚至叔叔阿姨一起，一张桌子坐得满满的。大家围着烤炉聊天、分肉、照顾孩子，吃饭的节奏很慢。在越南，外出吃饭是否比我熟悉的环境更常作为家庭活动？这个问题，我想留到之后继续观察。
对我来说，每一顿饭不仅是味道，更是一场关于社会、文化与日常生活的田野。这是我来到越南后的第一餐，也是这段田野生活真正开始的地方。
📍Uraetei Yakiniku｜胡志明市 Thảo Điền
English adaptation of my Chinese Xiaohongshu note. The Chinese original is preserved below; these are situated personal observations. Read the original on Xiaohongshu
Images and Chinese text retained from my Xiaohongshu note.