Pork seller at Vin Hai Markets in Nha Trang, Vietnam

Pork seller at Vin Hai Markets in Nha Trang, Vietnam

One of my Vietnamese friends has given us an insight into local life and her daily shopping at the markets. My friend is a University student whose mother has passed away and she buys food for her Father, Sister, Uncle and Grandmother who all live at her home.

Every morning, I go to market to buy the food for my family. It is my habit to the same kiosk to buy the food I need for my family. This is the woman that my family always buys pork from. She has been selling here in the markets for nearly 15 years. She comes from Bac Giang – one of the provinces in the North of Vietnam. She came to Nha Trang with her family and got married to a man from Nha Trang. She lives here with her family.

Every day, she wakes up at 3:30am to pick up the pork from the wholesale market. She sell about 50 kg of pork each day, which includes all kinds of pork, bacon, pork ribs, pork bones… In the morning, she sells from 5 am to 11 or 12 depending on the number of customers she has and the amount of meat she sells. Sometimes, she doesn't sell on the first and the fifteenth of the Lunar month because that day in Nha Trang, as in the rest of Vietnam, many people who are Buddhist only eat vegetarian so she doesn't sell a lot of meat on those days and is not worthwhile for her. After finishing at 12 she goes home and takes a rest. She will then prepare for the afternoon market.

After a morning busy with selling pork, she sells chicken in the afternoon. She sells in the market from 3 pm to 5 or 6 pm every afternoon. Most of what she sells is chicken breast, chicken feet, chicken wing's and chicken's leg. When she finishes, it's getting dark. She goes home to cook dinner for her family. Sometimes, she watches a film on TV or goes to sleep early so she can get ready for the new brand day tomorrow.

Whenever I go and buy pork at her kiosk, she gives me some advice about what kind of pork is good today, she asks me what kind of food I am going to cook today and then she give me the best price. What I like with her is that even though she has a busy day, she always smiles with all her customers, she doesn't care that they buy or not. She is always such a happy woman!