The scent of fish, the soul of the sea
Not many people know that in that place at the head of the waves there is a small fish called Ham Huong. The old fishermen in Canh Duong have passed down the story that this fish is only as big as the tip of a chopstick, has clear pink flesh, thin skin, and only comes back every year around the 6th and 7th lunar months. The natural fragrance of the fish allows people downwind to recognize it when the school of fish appears upwind. That is why the fish is called "boi huong". "It is as if Ham Huong was born with a noble fragrance like the name of a royal beauty", said local researcher Nguyen Tien Nen.
But Ham Huong fish is not just a matter of smell. When salted into Ham Huong fish sauce, this small fish becomes a royal specialty, a "national spirit" of Canh Duong. Since the Le Dynasty, Ham Huong fish sauce has been designated by the royal court as an annual tribute, a product that a fishing village must shoulder like a tax.
According to Mr. Nguyen Tien Nen, who is known as "Canh Duong scholar" by local academics, "The Later Le Dynasty issued an edict requiring villagers to present the king 400 jars of Ham Huong fish sauce every year. It seems like a small number, but for the villagers, it is four hundred storms."
Fish only appear for a few weeks, catching them is difficult, making the fish sauce is even more elaborate. The fish must be fresh, just a few hours late and it will spoil. The salt must be dried in the sun and dew to remove the strong acrid taste. The best fish sauce is when salted in wooden jars, left in the sun for months to develop color and flavor. Only women who have experienced the wind and salt have the patience and skill to make the fish sauce that is called "fragrant as an oath".
But the fishing season was sometimes good, sometimes bad. The people of Canh Duong village often "couldn't eat well, couldn't sleep well" because they didn't have enough fish sauce to pay tribute. The court's order was the king's order. Without enough fish sauce, the district magistrate sent soldiers to beat, arrest, and search every jar of fish sauce. There was a year when the whole village was left penniless because of a rough sea season.
The story has become a legend. In the midst of the chaos of the fish-losing seasons, a man named Do Duc Huy, who had just passed the royal examinations, chose to hide in the capital, seeking a way to enter the court to find an opportunity to untie the knot for the village. He was neither an official nor a teacher. He disguised himself as a servant, asked to work for a high-ranking official in the court, and managed everything.
But no one can be a “servant” forever, if that person is intelligent, patient and has an incomparable heart. Do Duc Huy quickly became a trusted person, assigned to write memorials. One day, when the mandarin was happy, he confided in his village where fish sauce was made with sweat and tears, and about the fate of the people who did not dare to eat what they made. He said: “If you can help my village escape that burden, I will remember that favor for my children and grandchildren.”
The mandarin was moved and nodded. Mr. Cong Huy wrote a petition and presented it to the king. Thanks to the mandarin's intervention, the king issued an edict to abolish the Ham Huong fish sauce tribute.
From then on, the people of Canh Duong village felt as if a huge rock had been lifted off their chests. The first jars of fish sauce were no longer sent to the capital, but were sold to the South and the North. The fish sauce was fragrant, the people were warm. And they did not forget the person who brought that. A rhyme began to be passed from home kitchens to the village communal house: "Eating Ham Huong fish sauce, remembering Mr. Cong" is like that.
From fish sauce jar to heritage
Nowadays, Ham Huong fish has become rare. Although the batches of fish sauce still have a lingering aroma, the fish sauce makers in Canh Duong have to admit that pure Ham Huong fish sauce now only exists in memory. Most production facilities can only mix Ham Huong fish with other small fish. But even when mixed, the characteristic aroma still permeates every drop of fish sauce, as if the fish has left its soul in each ceramic jar.
Ms. Cao Thi Ninh, who has been making fish sauce for many generations, said: “Mam Ham Huong is not just a fish sauce, but the memory of a village. It is the sea season, it is my mother’s fish basket, it is the story my father tells every night when the season comes.”
Canh Duong today is different. In addition to the fishing festival, Canh Duong also has a kilometer-long mural road, with walls depicting the village's history, scenes of villagers making fish sauce, rowing boats, and even Mr. Cong with a petition in his hand. Quang Binh province and Quang Trach district are shaping this place as a unique cultural-tourist village of the Central region, with the main product being fish sauce.
Canh Duong Commune Party Secretary Tran Trung Thanh said: “We don’t just want tourists to come and take pictures. We want people to understand that when they eat a piece of Ham Huong fish sauce, they are tasting the flavor of a whole community memory, of a sea culture, of a humanitarian anecdote.”
Nowadays, there is no more offering to the king, no more tax collection. But in each jar of fish sauce, in each verse passed down, Canh Duong still seems to echo the voice of a young man, disguised as a servant, because of a belief in justice. Like the aroma of fish, the fragrance that does not need to be applied, does not need to be named, still lingers in the sea breeze of June every year.
And Canh Duong, from a boat drifting on the river, is now breaking the waves and embarking on new journeys, carrying with him the story of Mr. Cong and the flavor of fish sauce that never loses its aroma.
Mrs. Ninh said that although they do not make Ham Huong fish sauce in bulk as in the traditional way, they still make small Ham Huong jars in their house to eat when they have guests. The June meal served with the smell of the sea, the ancient Ham Huong aroma still evokes the chivalry of hundreds of years ago. Mrs. Ninh said: "It is pure so the ancients were connoisseurs of it. The taste is different from dozens of fish sauces made from other fish species. Because it is rare, it had to be presented to the king, otherwise, no one would dare to present it to the king. Now, hundreds of years have passed, but the drop of Ham Huong fish sauce still smells fragrant in the village."
It was exactly as Mrs. Ninh said. Just a slice of pork belly touching the fish sauce bowl was like swallowing the cool sea breeze. The first drop of fish sauce evoked the taste of a distant sea season, the second drop was the memory of many generations of Canh Duong people, condensed into the flavor of their homeland. The last drops were like an echo not only of the fish, but also of Mr. Cong, born in the past, who wrapped up a whole message of love for the people in a petition in the heart of the royal court.
Source: https://www.sggp.org.vn/ve-canh-duong-an-mam-ham-huong-nho-thuong-ong-cong-post801016.html
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