Food such as sweet potatoes, corn, baked rice paper, or hot soybean milk is an indispensable part of Dalat Flower Street. Hundreds of people here make a living by selling this “warm belly”.
At 2:00 pm, like many people making a living by selling “warm stomachs” in the center of Da Lat city (Lam Dong), Nguyen Van Chinh arranged his stall, right next to Ho Xuan Huong Lake.
His stall includes a charcoal stove, a few small tables for customers to sit on. The dishes sold here are very typical in cold countries such as sweet potatoes, corn, grilled chicken eggs, baked rice paper (also advertised with the beautiful name of Dalat grilled pizza) and a pot of soy milk. steamy stink.
Mr. Chinh said, in the past, he planted flowers, but because he fell into gambling, his lot lost money and went bankrupt. Nearly 4 years now, he has drifted to the street to make a living.
The day of preparing food, cooking milk, he started selling from the afternoon until 12 o’clock at night, when the tourists flocked the most. He packed his clothes, and it was almost 2:00 in the morning when he got home.
Guests are mainly crowded on weekends, scattered weekdays, waiting for local patrons.
Mr. Chinh said: “Everyday, we can only earn a few (a few hundred thousand). On weekends, there are even bottles (million). In the crowded market, they sell more”.
In the city, hundreds of people make a living by this profession like him, in which many elderly people can still make a living with this job.
This year, due to the impact of the Covid-19 epidemic, the travel industry in the bureaucracy, the peddlers for tourists also had some times of being unemployed or sold out to help relieve sadness.
The work of connecting, spreading
“Water rice paper, baked sweet potato, grilled corn, hot soya milk, kids”, the calls are bustling for the night market of Dalat.
The cuisine here is very rich, with all kinds of genres, but those “streetside” dishes are like a feature. Just staying on the roadside, with only a few tens of thousands of VND, visitors can warm their stomach in the cold atmosphere at night in Dalat.
The woman named Dung, who has sold her “warm stomach” here for nearly 15 years, boasts of this work that she can raise her children to school and grow up. Now that the children are mature, she has less stress and worries, but she is still attached to this work.
“Just looking at that, not simply peddling, selling to customers is done. I’m part of the cultural image in the tourist city,” she said.
According to her, each citizen, the salesmen living here have a role in preserving and developing the tourism image of the city. From behavior, conversation, sales … are the connection between people and people, which can leave a beautiful impression or lose sympathy with visitors.
Mr. Chinh shared, many tourists come back to Da Lat dozens of times, sometimes just to sit and eat baked sweet potatoes, drink a glass of hot soy milk to breathe the air here.
“Just last week, a newlywed couple in Kien Giang, went on a honeymoon in Da Lat, came to give him a 6-bottle of fish sauce. Before that, they and a group of friends used to come here to play, or to eat at his place, “said Chinh.
After that, they even invited him to breakfast, the brothers went out for coffee in the street. Many tourists come and come back, or introduce friends to him.
Selling “warm stomach”, Mr. Chinh met and met with many people from all over the country and international tourists.
He always reminded, the salesmen like me must try to ensure food safety and hygiene, just create a friendliness to make the connection and spread with the tourist city of flowers.
Many tourists still tell each other that, coming to Da Lat without eating baked sweet potatoes, baked rice paper, is not like coming. Like “Pizza Da Lat”, it has been sold in many parts of the country.
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