Bún Riêu was one of my favorite dishes that my mom made growing up. It is a traditional Vietnamese noodle soup that is slightly sweet, acidic, and full of umami from the crab, shrimp, pork, and tomatoes. Whenever I eat it, it reminds me of home and how I used to watch my mom meticulously prepare the dish from start to finish. Culture presents itself in food through its ingredients, preparation, and history and it had a big impact on my childhood growing up as a Vietnamese-American. I’m appreciative that my mom was able to find these ingredients outside of her home country and recreate this dish for me.
[Image Description: Bowl of Bún Riêu (Vietnamese noodle soup that looks slightly like ramen with a red broth and tomatoes, crab, and shrimp) in the middle. There are two girls next to the bowl, they are shrunken down so that the bowl is much larger than them. They both have black hair with bangs tied into two pigtails, blue overalls, and a pink shirt. The one on the left is drooling looking at the bowl and the one on the right has her eyes closed smelling the soup broth. Ingredients of the Bún Riêu float in a circle surrounding the bowl. There are tomatoes, onions, crab, noodles, tofu, and basil in the air.]