Pineapple peddler in Hanoi
She is the memorable pineapple peddler in Hanoi. She stood out from most of the other fruit street vendors that we encountered because of her smile. Unlike many of the other mobile street vendors who were often older, rugged and worn from the toil of their meager lives, she was young, clear skinned, vibrant and always smiling. Her perfect set of teeth (which is often a rarity in ViệtNam’s poor population), warm smile, petite frame balancing two heavy baskets of pineapples and ease in navigating the congested streets had us mesmerized. “Quả dưá cuả chị bao nhiêu vẩy?” (Miss, how much are your pineapples?), I shouted above the clamor of city noise. She burst out, “3,000 dong!”, and she scurried across the intersection to greet us. To see her excitement at possibly making a sale, her precious load and her effortless ability to snake through the dense pool of scooters, we knew we had committed to buying something. Besides, at only about 20 cents for a pineapple, the deal was sealed.
Her goods were small, sightly crunchy and super sweet pineapples,
and her hands were equally small, delicate and adept.
Continue reading…
After a few downward swipes of her old, fiercely sharp knife,
the pineapple was peeled just perfectly, without fruit waste.
Then we were fixated on her crouched position, her slender fingers ,
her bruised thumb, and her quick, precise knife skills.
Within seconds, she carefully sliced out the eyes of the pineapple,
all in a perfect line, giving the fruit a completely new personality.
Before we could shoot any extra frames, her work was complete,
edible, delicious and worthy well beyond the scant 20 cents that she asks for.
She is someone who, no matter how challenging her life may be, see’s beauty,
joy and integrity in everything that comes her way.
This is an example of an inspiring person.
The “Pineapple” word: Vietnam’s 3 major regions (North, Central and South) usually have different words to define “pineapple”: North (Quả dưá), Central (traí khốm), South (traí thơm). My family, scattered in all 3 regions, argue within each other what to call it. I don’t like to argue over silly, regional differences. I cherish each regions cultural uniqueness. Call it what you like, it’s all the same fruit. There is no “right” nor “wrong”. – Diane
Previous Viet-Nam posts you might enjoy reading and viewing:
CB – Oh you are so right! We love them in the chili salt, too.
shayne – She was touching for us too. We had to share.
noobcook – Thank you. We’ll keep them coming.
Chez us – It was fun to see the differences in the fruits. Although the white pineapples we had in Hawaii were pretty damn tasty, too.
Cynthia – Indeed they do. We never come home from a trip like this unchanged. And always more appreciative of the world and its people.
Tony – She did it so fast we were barely able to get any shots off. We got a bit lucky on this one. She definitely had mad knife skills.
D&T these are some top notch photographs!! those pineapple cutting skills are impeccable… I can never do the swirl properly to remove all the eyes and I end up hacking away half the fruit :-\
This is what I like about travelling… having these encounters and making these connections. They make our lives richer.
What a fantastic photo of her – WOW! You really caught the moment.
I remember the pineapples over in Asia to be the best … not like the ones here, in Hawaii or Mexico. Just sweet and bursting with juices and flavor!
Thanks for sharing your trip with all of us!
What a beautiful write up. You guys not only take the most awesome photos, but write so beautifully as well. Enjoyed reading your travelogues 🙂
Thank you for this post. for some reason it made me cry.
I grew up watching my mom clean pineapples this way and so I do the same. 🙂 Yummy w/ salt and chili sauce.
Kitt- Yes, rustic artistry is abound everywhere. We just have to look for it.
Happy Cook – I agree. Let’s all love over food, constructively help each other understand and put all ego’s aside.
Christie – VietNam was hot, but we would love to head over to your territory to see how hot it gets over there!
Lori- thanks for visiting us and following our twitter. that’s how we found you!
Susan – wow, thank you. It’s amazing what photoshop can do!
maybelles mom- she , as well as many other vendors, are amazing artists. It was great to watch.
recipe girl – we’ll put a video of her up later for you to really watch her cut that pineapple!
alexandra – that knife was super, duper sharp!
Kate- We wanna go to Mumai and see the vendor there! Hopefully, one day…
Mike – Yes, it was a nice treat to see all this going around us all day long.
Diane – thank for the link and loving the fig balsamic!
Marvin – They are so small compared to the pineapples that we get in America and super sweet too.
Sandie – Recognizing the beauty around us makes life so much better and especially like you said, in all the simple things.
Miss Adventure – wow, months of eating pineapple! So lucky you Missy!
bee and jai- we feel the same way when we visit your site. We always enjoy reading and experiencing India through both of you!
Christine D. – Hope you get to try these great pineapples one day!
Kirkk- yeah, they are super quick, arent they? did you get any pictures at all? it was tough for us, so we had to buy a second pineapple just to get the shot!
peabody – LOL! we’ll show the video soon and you can maybe learn something from her! 😉
cindz- welcome! glad you enjoyed this post.
mollie – thanks for the great story. we always feel a connection with many of the wonderful vendors.
Jude – thank you. so glad to know that your mom prepared them in the same way, she’s an artist too!
Helene – thank you!
I enjoy reading this post. She is doing such a wonderful job.
Such a beautifully photographed and written post. Reminds me of how my mom used to prepare pineapples in the Philippines.