“On one side of the kitchen boy was a heap of asparagus that he had stripped white. ‘He even cut the tops off of them,’ Bao said. ‘I told him to throw them all overboard before the cook saw them or his hide was going to be in the water with them. You know how the French are about their asparagus.’
The kitchen boy shook his head no.
‘Yeah, it’s clear that you don’t know how the French are about theri asparagus!’ Bao laughed.
The kitchen boy looked up at Bao with tears in his eyes” (Truong 91).
So what is the way that the French like their asparagus? It actually turns out that the French actually like their asparagus a number of ways. Asparagus have been thought of as the vegetable that brings in the spring season. It is often prepared fresh, just braised or boiled alongside a nice sauce and some fruity or semi-dry wine. When looking at one blog about french cuisine, there was listed there about seven different types of asparagus or ways to prepare asparagus–asperges blanches (white asparagus), asperges des bois (wild asparagus), asperge fraiche (fresh asparagus), asperge tiede (warm asparagus), asperges vertes (green asparagus), asperges violettes (purple-tipped asparagus), and pointes d’asperges (asparagus tips). When cooking this plethora of asparagus, one can tell if the asparagus is “a point” or perfectly cooked when a slight bite is needed, and no more and no less.
Speaking from a historical perspective as well, colonisation brings the transplantation of crops and animals. One of these crops is asparagus. That additional factor makes it perfectly reasonable that the kitchen boy mentioned in the above quote would not know how to prepare asparagus. It also symbolizes the notion that the French being the colonizers are correct in their ways and therefore the Vietnamese had to adapt to their way of life. I was surprised to find out that the Vietnamese, before France invaded, didn’t eat beef or buffalo because they were solely used for carrying loads, similar to how horses or mules or donkeys are used in European or American farming. In a similar way, the french brought over asparagus and a large array of other french produce for their comfort, while forcing many Vietnamese, such as this kitchen boy to writhe in uncomfortability while being forced to prepare foods that are foreign to him.
Resources
Benedetti, Christine. “The French and Their White Asparagus.” Aspen Daily News, 18 Dec. 2017, www.aspendailynews.com/the-french-and-their-white-asparagus/article_655e5559-826c-5e68-a614-34693c0d7c21.html.
Danko, Diana. “Asparagus and Foie Gras in Nuoc Mam Sauce.” Alimentarium, Alimentarium, 23 July 2019, www.alimentarium.org/en/magazine/world-flavours/vietnam-asparagus-and-foie-gras.
Newman, Bryan G. “Asperges En La Cuisine Française – Asparagus in French Cuisine. The Artists Who Painted Asparagus or Lived Near Argenteuil.” Behind the French Menu, 15 July 2012, behind-the-french-menu.blogspot.com/2012/07/french-asparagus-green-and-white-town.html.
Truong, Monique. The Book of Salt, Mariner Books, 2003.
It’s interesting to learn about the origins of asparagus, especially its colonial migrations. When you talk about animal labor like cow and bison versus horses and donkeys, it reminds me of the Zheng He reading we read earlier in the semester, and how the plain differences between cultural practices become subsumed within colonial encounters.