[CH] Re: Vietnamese hot peppers (fwd)

Susan Byers (chilewmn@bluemarble.net)
Fri, 31 Dec 1999 14:58:33 -0500 (EST) 

I was sent this from Vietnam.....now I wonder if someone has a collection
of chile proverb/ folk tales from different countries. Any such collection
out there?
Happy New Year!
Susan Byers
The Chile Woman 

Traditional Miscellany:  Pimento and jealousy, by Hu Ngoc

Pimento, also called hot pepper, is a condiment very popular in Viet Nam
especially in
the Centre and the South. In Hue people season rice broth with powdered pimento.

How is that in all hot countries in Asia one likes to seek the piquancy of
pimento?

A young friend of mine, a doctor of traditional medicine, gives me this answer:

"The universe, macrocosmic and microcosmic, is governed by the male (yang) and
female (yin) principle. When it is hot outside (yang) the organism must
secrete the Yin
fluids to restore the internal balance. If you take some ice (yin) in summer
the body will
react by producing the yang. Thus, given a brief sensation of freshness, a
contrary
sensation will follow. So if you take some pimento (yang) the organism will
react by
secreting the yin (cold) fluids which will soothe you after a momentary burning
sensation."

I give this explanation for its own sake. In reality, one has never seen an
ice cream
vendor idle in summer.

Back to pimento. Sweet pimento as legume was practically not eaten in Viet
Nam. Its
cultivation here is a recent development. Vietnamese use only the strong and
fresh
pimento or dried and ground pimento as condiment. There are many varieties:
ot ca
ga (pimento spur of cock), ot chi thien (pimento pointing skyward, or pimento
longum), ot chi dia (pimento pointing earthward or pimento annuum), ot hat tieu
(pepper pimento, very small and piquant), ot gai (capsicum minimum), ot song bo
  (ox – horn pimento or Indian pepper), ot tron (round pimento) ot vang (yellow
pimento or capsicum frotescens).

In French, the word "piment" evokes a pungent but agreeable taste. One says for
instance: the pimento of the adventure, to give pimento to a story. In
Vietnamese the
word ot (pimento) alludes to bitter deception, a sharp vexation mingled with
anger
caused by a blow to self esteem, deep despair. When a man meets with a
rebuff he says
"can phai ot" (to bite into a pimento). A student who fails in an
examination would
say: "Thi khong an ot the ma cay" (I’ve got a burn without taking any pimento.)

Pimento is above all the symbol of female jealousy. This proverb is often
cited to plead
for or explain a jealous wife:

What pimento that does not bite? 
What woman who is not jealous?

In Viet Nam, the woman’s envy is incarnated in Hoan Tho, a character in the
Tales of
Kieu by 18th century poet Nguyen Du. Every Vietnamese knows by heart at least
some lines. A jealous woman is said to have Hoan Tho’s blood in her veins.

Kieu is a young, beautiful and talented woman. She is forced to sacrifice
her love and
sell herself to pay the debts of her family. For fifteen years she leads a
life of vicissitude,
as prostitute, concubine and wife to a robber. But her heart remains
untainted, always
faithful to her first love.

Let’s see how Kieu falls into the hands of a jealous woman. During her
sojourn at a
house of ill fame she gets acquainted with a rich merchant, Thuc Sinh, whose
honesty
and sincere love she appreciates. She accepts his offer that he buys her
from brothel
and she becomes his concubine. Hoan Tho, Thuc Sinh’s wife who lives far from the
place, gets wind of the affair. She orders her henchmen to kidnap her and
submit her to a
series of diabolical ordeals, thus humiliating both Kieu and her own
husband. Finally
she forces her to enter a nunnery.

Kieu flees from the pagoda. Fate takes her to a generous robber who, in order to
console her, has all her old tormentors arrested and leaves to her the choice of
punishment. When Hoan Tho is led before her, Kieu addresses her politely but
ironically:

Madam, there you are, this day arrives at last, 
Women of your stamp there aren’t many.

Hoan Tho kowtows and humbly pleads for mercy:

I am only a poor little woman 
Is not jealousy common to all women? 
I respect and hold you in esteem, 
But to share a husband is a difficult sacrifice.

Taking pity for the fate of Hoan Tho and the fate of women in general, Kieu
sets her
free. Perhaps the aftertaste of pimento has disappeared from Hoan Tho. 
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