It’s always nice to try the local food of the country you’re visiting, but it can be just as nice to discover your home cuisine while away. With that in mind, this article will be of interest to our Vietnamese guests visiting Georgia, though that does not exclude the interest of locals and expats living in Tbilisi.
Trang Regner is an amazing lady from Vietnam, who has lived in Tbilisi since 2016 with her wonderful family, and who offers cooking classes for Vietnamese cuisine. WHERE.GE met her to find out more.
“I studied ethnology and always wanted to explore different cultures. Since my family moved to Georgia, we have learned a lot about the country´s local culture and quickly fell in love with Georgian food. I love to eat khachapuri and Georgian BBQ, while my husband and daughter´s favorite is khinkali. I started to compare traditional Vietnamese meals to these Georgian dishes and now we say: ‘We love Khinkali like we love pho, we eat khachapuri like we eat rice!’ These dishes are as important for food habits and cultures in both countries and have a tremendous influence.
“In my view, strong family ties and numerous other cultural features between Georgia and Vietnam are similar. For the Georgians, family is very important and family members take care of each other as we do in Vietnam, where the historical base of all community lies in the villages and the families. In Vietnam, everyone perceives cousins as brothers or sisters and this seems familiar to me in Georgia. Also, the affection between neighbors is strong. Here in Tbilisi, our neighbors join us frequently and are almost part of the family, like in Vietnam. Here, our HOME seems to be bigger than our apartment…
“When we visited Tbilisi the first time in September 2015, I was impressed with the Georgian spices which are sold by old ladies on the streets near Rustaveli and Liberty Square. Being a cooking enthusiast, I was curious and wanted to know more about Georgian spices and all these fresh aromatic herbs. Excited by my first days in Georgia, I visited a lot of bazaar-style local markets in Tbilisi: I went to the Didube vegetable and fresh food wholesale bazaar and the live animals market in Digomi. I found out that a lot of fresh aromatic herbs which Georgians use for their dishes are similar to that used by the Vietnamese, like mint, coriander, lettuce or cinnamon. These are important in Vietnamese fresh or fried spring rolls or to give the traditional Vietnamese soup pho its distinct taste.
“Other important ingredients of Vietnamese cuisine, like fish sauce, rice paper and rice noodles, I buy in Carrefour, which fortunately has some Asian supplies. So, although I’m almost the only Vietnamese in Tbilisi, I’m lucky to be able to get ingredients for my traditional food here. First, I cooked Vietnamese for my family but then I more and more invited local friends and expats to try the food- and they loved it!
“Profiting from the experience of one of my former jobs in Vietnam as a Vietnamese teacher also running cooking classes at the Hanoi Institute of LanguageDevelopment, I started to run Vietnamese cooking classes in Tbilisi to teach people how to cook Vietnamese food and prepare a Vietnamese table, at the same time introducing Vietnamese cuisine and culinary arts. There are more than 40 delicious dishes to learn about, which includes fresh Vietnamese salads, Vietnamese soups and beef or chicken noodles, main dishes with pork, beef, fish, chicken and seafood, as well as Vietnamese desserts. The participants of Vietnamese cooking classes can choose between different packages, like a day-cooking class with four dishes to learn, or a Master cooking class with a full 35 popular Vietnamese dishes, or a reduced Master one with just 15 dishes. Our participants come from a great variety of backgrounds, many from Tbilisi but also expats and tourists from the US, Russia and Europe. I have a lot of fun with them and we are very proud to enjoy the results of the lectures.
“I’ve also run combined events like Vietnamese food tasting during ‘The Silk road and Cities of Vietnam- Stories of Silk Products’ exhibition at the State Silk Museum of Georgia, and an authentic Vietnamese evening at Demi Hotel in Tbilisi. My first Vietnamese cooking class in Tbilisi took place at Kama Café and we had also several at home in Sololaki, Tbilisi. Recently, I’ve been cooperating with Demi Catering Service- one of most famous caterers in Tbilisi, working a lot for embassies and international organizations.
“We are getting ready for a new project of a Georgian-Vietnamese Center in Tbilisi; a meeting place for people interested in Vietnamese culture and cuisine and wishing to share their experiences in a nice place with food and exhibits”.
By Sofia Bochoidze