A: First on our show today, we’d like to say hello to Gustavo Gonzalez from Cuba. The 91-year old listener wrote that he loves Vietnam and VOV and was happy to receive VOV’s card and New Year calendar. Mr. Gonzelez, we’ll send you our frequency list and program schedule to make it easy for you to tune in to our broadcast. We hope to receive more feedback from you.

B: We’d like to welcome to VOV a new listener from India, Dilip Jumar Sarkar. Sending us a reception report and an audio file this week, he wrote: “I’m a doctor and also a radio listener from India"

Thai shrimp paste fried rice with flower salad

A: In a letter to VOV this week, Grant Skinner of the UK sent a reception report for the program on February 21^st on the frequency of 7280. He rated SINPO all 5s. He wrote: “My tribute goes to the efforts of all those who work for the Voice of Vietnam from the presenters to the technicians, program producers and other employees. Voice of Vietnam has been and remains a popular university giving news, information, culture, and entertainment to friends abroad.”

B: Thank you, Mr. Skinner, for tuning in to VOV regularly. We’ll send you a QSL card to confirm your report. Sending an email to VOV this week and reporting on our Sunday show on specialties of the Thai ethnic people in Son La province, Richard Nowak of the US wrote: “The Sunday Show was awesome. The segment discussed trees with edible leaves in the northwest region. Young fruits are collected to make a dish which the locals make serve with a sauce. The locals are Thai ethnic people. The dish has a hot, sour taste and has become a favorite dish in this province. The sauce is made from soybeans and one has to wait 7 days for the sauce to ferment. Banana soup was discussed. Each household in the village has 5 to 10 banana trees. The show about this delicious sounding food made me hungry. I enjoy hearing about the dishes that are popular in Vietnam.”

Food of the Gie Trieng ethnic minority people of Vietnam

A: Thank you, Mr. Nowak, for your regular feedback and detailed comments. Vietnam boasts a rich, diverse culture, and a wide ranges of specialties contributed by its 54 ethnic groups. It will take time for us to mention all the popular Vietnamese dishes. So, keep tuning to explore them with us through many programs.

B: Today, let’s explore food of the Gie Trieng ethnic group in Quang Nam province. Fermented fish is a typical dish at important events and festivals. It is carefully prepared for long-term storage, to eat and give as gift on special occasions. The Gie Trieng catch a kind of fish locally called Nien, which has soft bones and firm meat. All the family members work together to prepare the fish as quickly as possible to ensure freshness.

A: They remove the intestines and wash the fish before placing 1-15 kg of fish in a pot with the larger ones under the smaller ones. The fish are seasoned with local herbs to obtain a pleasant sour, salty, and hot chili taste.

B: The fermented fish is ready to serve after 15 to 20 days. This dish is shared by family, friends, and honored guests on special occasions. It is also eaten with steamed rice every day. The recipe for the fermented fish is handed down within the village and there are some variations. The Gie Trieng in Lao Du village coat the fish with use corn flour while the Gie Trieng in other villages use fermented rice to give it a sour taste. The pot is covered with leaves and stored near a wood fire to speed up the fermentation. The sour fish is served with fresh herbs to enhance the flavor.

A: Gie Trieng families often have two or three pots of fermented fish for daily meals or festivals. The Gie Trieng in Lao Du village are famous for making the best fermented fish but they don’t sell it in the market. They give the excess fish to their relatives and neighbors.

Peru potato cause

B: Food seems to be a topic that captivates a lot of listeners. On our FM channels and on our website, we have a segment called “Food delight”, in which we introduce the dishes and recipes of various countries like Peruvian beef anticucho, a popular South American version “shish kebab”, that is sold in the street, Thai shrimp paste fried rice with flower salad, Italian ravioli and many others. All these recipes are available on our website at vovworld.vn.

A: You can also hear recipes to make various Vietnamese dishes on our new “Lunch with the Chef” show which is broadcast on FM frequency and streamed on our website every Monday. On this show, we talk with famous chefs from all over Vietnam about fun, simple recipes you can make at home.

Italian chef Fabrizio Aceti(Photo: Sofitel Legend Metropole Hanoi Hotel)

B: Each week, we give away discount vouchers to 3 lucky winners of our quiz at the end of the program which is also available on our Facebook fanpage at VOV5 English Section. Since launching this show on March 5^th, we have received enthusiastic feedback from listeners in Vietnam and overseas. Among them were Amir Jameel of Pakistan, who won our first quiz by giving a correct answer to a question about the main ingredients of Bun Thang; Shri Bhagwan Sharma of India who expressed his joy at listening to our show on the internet; and many other regular VOV listeners like Naved Raiyan, Mizan Rahman, Amir Manzoor, Mitul Kansai, Rafiqul Islam, Farid Rami, and Eddy Setiawan…

Italian ravioli

A: Thank you for your support for our shortwave, FM, and internet programs. We look forward to receiving more feedback from you.

B: We’d like to acknowledge emails and letters from Mr. Adalat Das, Siddhartha Bhattacharjee, Ratan Kumar Paul, and Muhammad Shamims of India, Eddy Prabowo of Indonesia, and Timm Breyel of Malaysia.  We greatly appreciate your feedback and comments on the technical aspects of our programming. We’ll confirm your reports with QSL cards soon.

A: We welcome your feedback at: English section, VOVworld, Radio the Voice of Vietnam, 45 Ba Trieu Street, Hanoi, Vietnam. Or you can email us at: englishsection@vov.org.vn. You’re invited to visit us online at vovworld.vn, where you can hear both live and recorded programs. Check out our VOV Media App available on both IOS and Android platforms to hear our live broadcasts. We look forward to your feedback on the mobile version of vovworld.vn. Once again, thank you all. Good bye until next time.