Mr. Nguyen Quoc Chuyen personally dries noodles under the midday sun.
The man's name is Nguyen Quoc Chuyen, 70 years old, the owner of a rice noodle factory - a familiar yet strange name in an unnamed craft village. "God gave me that opportunity, son", Mr. Chuyen smiled, saying as he gently removed the noodles stuck together - "At that time, I didn't know anything about this profession!". He said that about fifteen years ago, on a trip to the North, he happened to visit a rice noodle factory. Attracted by the aroma of cooked rice flour and the white noodles drying in the sun, he boldly asked to learn the trade. The factory owner did not accept to teach, but did not chase him away either, letting him stand... and watch "outside". "Seeing people doing it, I memorized every step, watching them mix the flour, press the noodles, and dry them. I learned the trade first, then went home and did it myself", he said, his voice calm.
Back home, he gathered all his savings, exactly 20 million VND, to buy machinery and started experimenting. But “life is not like the movies”. The dough was soggy, the cakes were broken, and the noodles did not take shape. The whole family saw him try and fail, and everyone was discouraged. As for him, he continued to work hard. “I poured so much rice, it was no fun. But I was addicted, I couldn’t give it up”, he said, smiling both sadly and proudly. After half a year of “self-studying” and experimenting, he succeeded. The first batch of noodles that came out of the oven was white, soft, fragrant, and chewy, surprising the whole family.
“To make rice noodles, the most important thing is to know how to choose the rice. If the rice is not good, the noodles will not be chewy or clear, and you will know right away when you eat it,” Mr. Chuyen explained. He specializes in choosing the right type of sticky rice, not too new or too old, so that when ground, it will have a natural stickiness. All the flour is carefully filtered, without using additives. Thanks to that, his noodles are always inspected and certified for food safety by the authorities. “People can eat without worrying about chemicals, that is the virtue of the person who makes the dish,” Mr. Chuyen said. Unlike many places that still do it manually, his facility has mechanized the flour grinding and cake pressing stages. But the most important step of drying the noodles - the most important part - is still the traditional way: drying them in the sun for 2 days. He once tried a dryer to be more proactive during the rainy season, but failed. “Machine drying makes the noodles dry and hard, when cooked they don’t absorb the broth, and when eaten they don’t taste good,” he shook his head, emphasizing: “Sun drying is the soul of the noodles.” Therefore, every rainy season, he accepts to stop production for a few days, rather than run out of goods than make them carelessly.
Currently, his small noodle workshop is the "living place" of his family of 5. His son - Mr. Nguyen Kieu Hung is the one who directly operates the machine, Mr. Hung's wife sits and cuts the noodles, arranges them and stir-fries them. After drying in the sun, the noodles are bundled into 200gr bundles to be delivered to regular customers. Every day, the facility produces about 100kg of noodles, the selling price is 17,000 VND/kg, unchanged for the past few years. "People have been buying from us for many years, we cannot see the shortage and then raise the price. We live off customers, so we have to think about them," - Mr. Chuyen said, his voice firm.
After deducting rice, electricity and water costs, the family earns about 1 million VND per day. Not rich, but he said: "I have food and a job near home for my children. That's happiness." Without a signboard or social media advertising, Mr. Chuyen's rice noodle shop is still trusted by many restaurants. Regular customers are mainly noodle shops, bun nuoc leo shops, and bun bo shops in Tan Hiep, Giong Rieng, even people from Rach Gia City come to get their products. Many people suggested that he print packaging and register a trademark to sell further. He laughed: "I'm old, I'll think about it when someone else continues. For now, I make as much as I can, and my regular customers eat it all." On the stove, the noodles gradually turn white, shimmering like silk. In the blazing sun of the countryside, Mr. Chuyen still works hard to turn each tray of noodles. His hands were calloused, but his passion for the profession never cooled.
Article and photos: DANG LINH
Source: https://baocantho.com.vn/chuyen-soi-hu-tieu-o-tan-ha-b--a187536.html
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