The original taste of mi Quang – an flavor to savor

You can get a bowl of mi Quang (Quang style noodles) almost anywhere in Vietnam. Originating in the central province of Quang Nam, it has left the province and traveled to almost every province and city in the country. In almost every locality, a touch of this or a dash of that is added or reduced according to local tastes.
For those who have tried mi Quang in a few places, and are appreciative of this dish, a desire could arise to have the original dish in its place of birth, without any additions or subtractions.
That place would be Phu Triem Town (Dien Phuong Ward, Dien Ban District, Quang Nam Province).
A day starts very early in this town. From four a.m. onwards, a few yellow buses can be seen parked along the Mong Bridge. Several dozen caterers are busy, starting their new day, one shoulder bearing the load of food, while one hand turns on the lamp to light their way.
They are busy loading their loads on to the buses that will go to the central city of Da Nang, where they will sell the popular dish. Some caterers get there on their own motorbikes.
For these food vendors, a working day only finishes late in the evening, but they are up before dawn the next day.
A bowl of mi Quang can be found in every corner of Phu Triem. Typically, the family works together to prepare the dish and serve visitors.
It is said that daughters of families in Phu Triem town are so good at making mi Quang that they are not interested in marrying anyone outside their town because it would entail moving out. This ensures that the skills and recipes for making mi Quang is passed on to the next generation.
On a piece of land between the banks of the Thu Bon River and the Keo pier, every family is involved in making the noodles. Fathers mill the flour, mothers pour the mix of flour and water on a flat hot plate, and the children take this cooked layer of flour and cut into thin noodles.
Until many years ago, the natives of Phu Triem used lua loc (a rice variety grown in the mountains) and lua tri (rice variety originally grown by the Cham people) as the main ingredients to make noodle for mi Quang.
Nowdays, these rice varieties are no longer grown. So the residents of Phu Triem have chosen some other rice variety that is soft enough but does not produce a lot of water after cooking.
The taste of mi Quang depends on several steps, but to most people in Phu Triem, the most important is making the noodle. This has to do with knowing exactly how much water to mix with the flour, how the mixture is poured on to the hot plate to have it spread thinly, and how these are cut into even noodle threads. But there is no hard and fast rule. Every family has its unique recipe for making them.
A bowl of mi Quang is served with noodles at the bottom of the bowl and several meats and seafood on top. Then, the broth made with pork bones is poured into the prepared bowl and is ready for serving. Some add-on vegetables are served, including banana flowers, baby cabbage, basil, cinnamon and perilla. A greasy taste from the broth, the crispness of coarsely ground peanuts and the spice of the hot pepper is a combination that never fails to please.
Little wonder that the people of Quang Nam, wherever they are, will always hanker for the taste of their traditional dish, mi Quang, especially from the little town of Phu Triem.