Some food enthusiasts fell in love with Vietnamese cuisine and wanted to live and explore as many Vietnamese dishes as possible. The following story is about Max McFarlin, an American traveler. Max is an American guy who has lived and traveled in Vietnam for many years. He owns a YouTube channel specializing in reviewing Vietnamese cuisine with over 726,000 followers.
In one of his videos, Max shared that he often visits a small stall in a local market in District 5, Ho Chi Minh City. The dish he enjoyed was fish cake soup, a dish adapted from the southern region’s snakehead fish hot pot. Especially in this dish, there was an ingredient that made this American exclaim: “I didn’t think I’d be addicted to it. Anyone who hasn’t tried it will be shocked because it’s so delicious!”
True to its name, the main ingredient of the snakehead fish soup is fish cake. The fish cakes are made into large balls, similar to Vietnamese pork and crab meatballs. Some are stuffed into vegetables such as bitter melon, chili peppers, and eggplant. In addition, if desired, diners can request other ingredients such as pork blood, beef balls, and pork rind. Finally, the broth is added to complete the dish.
Depending on their preference, diners can enjoy the dish with fish sauce or soy sauce for extra flavor. Max particularly liked the fish cakes because they were fresh, authentic, and naturally sweet without any fillers. He also enjoyed the other ingredients such as chili peppers, bitter melon, and eggplant. “I love bitter melon. The fish cakes here are fresh and free of fillers. Everything blends together perfectly. Even the soy sauce and chili peppers are just perfect,” Max commented.
He even humorously said that he must have been Vietnamese in his past life.
Especially, the pork rind in the snakehead fish soup made the foreign visitor admit that he was “addicted” to it. He exclaimed that the pork rind was his favorite part, showing his utmost satisfaction. “It’s the best!” he said.
The dish costs only 35,000 VND, or a little over a dollar, but it captivated the American traveler. He added that he often visits the market to enjoy such delicious and affordable local dishes.
Snakehead Fish – A Specialty of the Southern Region
Snakehead fish, also known as thát lát fish, is a freshwater fish mainly found in the Mekong Delta, Dong Nai River, and other small rivers in the Southwest region. This fish has silvery white scales with characteristic elastic flesh and few bones.
Due to these features, snakehead fish is a popular ingredient in many delicious dishes in the daily lives of people in the Southwest region. Apart from being made into fish cakes, snakehead fish can be cooked into dishes such as snakehead fish and mustard green soup, snakehead fish and amaranth soup, snakehead fish hot pot, snakehead fish stuffed bitter melon, and snakehead fish stuffed zucchini.
Nowadays, snakehead fish is widely sold in many local markets. The price of a fresh snakehead fish is around 90,000 – 100,000 VND/kg (approximately $3.80 – $4.25). According to many traders, it takes more than 2 kg of fresh snakehead fish to yield 1 kg of fish paste. Therefore, the price of snakehead fish paste is higher, ranging from 250,000 to 300,000 VND/kg (approximately $10.60 – $12.75).
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