‘Symphony of flavors’: Australian songwriter’s first brush with Vietnamese pickled eggplant, fermented shrimp paste

Korean food blogger Jongrak Choi uploaded a new video about Vietnamese cuisine at the end of December, and in it he takes his friend Jon, 22, a singer, songwriter and producer with 85,000 monthly listeners on Spotify, to a restaurant in Thao Dien Ward in HCMC’s Thu Duc City for a traditional Vietnamese meal.

He says he has eaten Vietnamese food many times before, but it is Cody’s first experience.

The Australian says he has some knowledge of Asian cuisine and learned how to use chopsticks, and so eating Vietnamese food with chopsticks did not pose any difficulty.

The most challenging dish Choi asks Jon to try is mam tom pontoon served with white rice. This is a dish that not all foreigners are willing to try. Choi describes it as a dish that “you love eating but hate smelling.”

Before eating Jon sniffs the shrimp paste a few times but cannot figure out what ingredients it has.

He says: “I don’t even know what that smells like. It smells like paint.”

He is advised to be cautious when eating dishes with shrimp paste since spilling it on one’s clothes could leave a persistent and unpleasant smell.

After taking the first bite, the artist says there are so many intertwined flavors, and he cannot quite grasp what he is eating.

“I felt excited when I bit into the eggplant. It was crunchy and had a mix of sour, spicy, salty, and sweet flavors, perfectly balanced when paired with hot rice.”

The experience of eating eggplants with shrimp paste reminds him of a scene in the famous movie “Ratatouille” of the rat chef savoring delicious food to the rhythm of a beautiful melody.

Cody describes the dish as “a symphony of flavors,” noting that while the shrimp paste has a somewhat unpleasant smell, combining it with the eggplant creates a completely different and delightful taste.

A plate of eggplant pickle with a side of fermented shrimp paste on the left. Photo by Buy Thui

Mam Tom's float song is a rustic dish, popular in rural areas in northern Vietnam.

The main ingredients for this dish include crunchy round white eggplants that are lightly pickled to achieve the right sourness and served with shrimp paste mixed with lime, chili and sugar.

This creates a dizzy blend of sour, spicy, salty, and sweet flavors.

The two men also try other dishes like stir-fried morning glory with garlic (spinach bothers me), sour soup (sour soup), caramelized pork belly (it can be fixed), and fried spring rolls (father now).

Jon says he was pleasantly surprised by the well-balanced flavors of the sour soup before gushing: “This is the best meal I have had in a long time, years maybe.”