Part 1. Vietnamese Kitchen Story
The Vietnamese kitchen was considered a sacred part in the
Vietnamese families, as the Kitchen Gods are worshiped by every Vietnamese
family
People living in Vietnam's northern delta typically built their
homes with the front door facing south, as advised by the old saying,
"Marry a good-natured wife and build a houseturned towards the
south". The kitchen should ideally lie to the left, in the eastern
quadrant, separate from the main building with its door facing west. This
direction prevents southern and eastern sea winds from blowing into the kitchen
and causing the cooking fire to flare up and burn down the house or make the
family uneasy.
In what was once Kinh Bac province (now Bac Ninh and Bac Giang
provinces), Gia Lam, Dong Anh District, and some areas of Vinh Phuc, Thai
Nguyen, Lang Son and Hung Yen provinces, the main house typically consisted of
three compartments and one or two lean-tos. The kitchen had two sections.
One part was used to store fish sauce, salt, pickles, cooking
pots, water containers, dishes, utensils, and perhaps a rice-hulling mill and
mortar. The other side, used for cooking, contained some straw, firewood and the
stove. Women were responsible for the cooking, as explained in old proverbs
like, "Looking at a house's kitchen we can know about the woman in that
family"; "Without a man, a house is lonely, while without a woman the
kitchen is deserted", or, "A man is always close to his house and a
woman is always close to her kitchen ".
Three "Ong Dau Rau"
ln the old days, the cooking pot rested upon an earthen trivet
comprised of three rounded clods of heavy soil or clay mixed with rice husks
and arranged in a triangle. People in central Vietnam called the trivet
"ong nuc" and northerners called it "ong dau rau".
Northerners also referred to the middle clod as "dau rau cai' (female
trivet) and the other two as "dau rau duc" (male trivets). To heat many
pots at one time the cook arranged two or three sets of trivets in a line.
Vietnamese Kitchen
The fireplace was considered an essential, and indeed sacred, part
of the home, as every Vietnamese family worshiped the Kitchen God with
the family's ancestors. The ancestral altar stood in the main section of the
house and the Kitchen God's altar in a side section. If an auxiliary branch of
the family did not have an ancestral altar in their home they placed the
Kitchen God's altar in the central section. Simpler than an ancestral altar,
the Kitchen God's altar consisted of an incense-table set against the back
wall. Three gods were worshiped: Tho Cong, Tho Dia and Tho Ky. Their votive
tablet bore the message, "The palace of the Kitchen God is located in the
east and takes care of the host's life and destiny", or four Chinese
characters (Dinh phuc Tao quan) that declare, "The Kitchen God brings luck
to the family"
"Ong Tao" is going to Heaven
It is said that each year on the 23rd day of 12th lunar month the
Kitchen God reports his host's good and bad deeds to the King of Heaven. lf the
host has been good-hearted the King of Heaven will reward him with good health
and luck. lf he has behaved badly his days may be numbered. On this day, after
honoring "Ong Cong" (also called Ong Tao), householders burn votive
paper money for the dead and replace their old "ong dau rau" with a
new one, throwing the old one into a pond. This done, they release a live carp
into a stream or a pond so that it may be turned into a dragon and carry
"Ong Cong" to meet the King of Heaven. (According to an old Chinese
belief, "Ong Cong" could be bribed with candy to present a positive
report).
More at part 2
