A supper

‘Make a piece’. My colleague dropped a short sentence and placed a small nylon bag on my desk. I don’t even need to open it to know what it is. The smell, yes, that familiar and nose-catching smell came at the right time. It’s 4:00 p.m., it’s time to get hungry. And the small spring rolls that my brother bought for me was also quickly solved. Strictly speaking it’s ’30 seconds’ right now.
Really, it’s not a good spring roll. Temporarily eating is fine. It’s what’s sold at the minimart right next to the office. The rest of us still stop by for breakfast, and of course, snacks. That spring roll was not even opened with the outer wrapper. The sales staff simply cut a slice on the top of the cake and through that “open door”, diners just need to take a plastic spoon to scoop each spoon. It is true that it is better to cut the cake and eat it.

Not delicious, sloppy eating but really, sometimes when I’m not around the office during lunch time, I still remember that industrial spring roll strangely. It’s not that eating a lot becomes a habit, but perhaps because of that spring rolls, it reminds a lot of memories. During the days in Hanoi, also without this snack, a delicious banh gio is really the “splendid paradise” of the stomach. Especially on winter afternoons, when it’s a bit drizzly, let a hot piece of spring roll melt in your mouth. Away from Hanoi for more than 20 years, I don’t know if the “guerrilla” banh mi shop at the corner of Tran Xuan Soan – Ngo Thi Nham intersection, near Hom market, is still for sale or not. Once upon a time, it was our snack mecca, literally. In the afternoon, despite the hustle and bustle of people, we young people stopped by, kicked the car against the car, “pleased her for a cake” and sat down on a small wooden chair and sipped. Hot, fragrant cake, add a little spicy chili sauce, enough to dispel the cold of the drizzle. If the day is “sizzling”, add a piece of cinnamon rolls, it’s really delicious, not only at the level of “warm hearts of soldiers” anymore. By the time he entered the south to set up a business, at first, many times when he wanted to eat spring rolls, he was exhausted. But it’s hard to find a banh gio in the right style of Hom market. Then also discovered that Minh Chau spring rolls house sells delicious spring rolls, North standard. But unfortunately, in Minh Chau, only a few minutes in the morning, the spring rolls are gone. Later in the afternoon, they also sell but they sell out soon. Buying spring rolls there often turns out to be a miracle. Eating a piece of fragrant, soft, greasy, rich spring rolls, I suddenly remembered my childhood. Opposite the house, there are Mr and Mrs. Chi who specialize in selling spring rolls. Their son was the same age as us, loved like a thin egg. We still tease him: “Everybody in your family is muscular when sitting. When you stand up, your thighs are like toothpicks”. The reason there is such a joke is also because of the sight of them sitting and pounding their legs with their hands all day. Two hands swinging the pestle continuously. Working like that, biceps are not billowing. But sitting in one place forever, hands are sometimes bigger than legs. Referring to the profession of spring rolls, when it comes to banh gio, we must admit that our ancestors calculated real talent. Their basis is enough to be the standard and most basic lesson of those who do business and production in any era, any business model. The tiny spring rolls, held in the palm of the other hand, turned out to have a great meaning. It is full use. It is a product that brings added value in the whole production cycle of the people who make spring rolls. Remember the story about a teacher who filled a glass jar with gravel and asked his students, “Is the jar full?”. When the student replied “It’s closed”, the teacher poured sand into the jar again. Continue, after the sand is water. That story we certainly heard boring ears. But in this “spring roll lesson”, it’s not boring at all. The house making spring rolls will definitely use the ingredients of meat and leaves to wrap the cake. A pound of pork has a fairly large volume, with its diameter also having to be about 10cm and the length of the cylinder also having to be 20 to 25cm. So many pounds of ham put into the cooking pot, is it like a big bunch of pebbles put into a glass jar? Then in the process of wrapping the sausage, there will certainly be leftover leaves, shredded leaves, and shredded meat. And so those leftovers are used to make small, pretty spring rolls, as if sand is added in a glass jar. Then, besides banh gio, there is also a bun. The cake is also small and pretty like that, also using leftovers and scraps like that. Those superfluous, petty things can actually be sold. But surely, it will only bring the cheap value of a mere waste product. However, when combined together in the shape of a spring roll, it is placed in a new position, as solemn as the hot, fragrant pork rolls. It is in place of another product line, sold at a very different price. His father is really talented. The ingenuity of starting from good eating is full, well shuffling is warm has become a basic and acumen custom of business people. And in fact, except for industrial spring rolls production facilities, there is no heirloom sausage house that does not sell additional by-products such as spring rolls, pancakes… at all. It can be said that if they are rich by doing that job, it is not the sausage that gives them that wealth, but rather the traditional tradition that has been brought back from generation to generation. How many people peeled away a plate of spring rolls for breakfast, lunch and thought about the way that cake came out of the oven to relate to the work they are doing? It’s like the story of a young tailor I know. She never throws away the rags. But she uses it to sew beautiful doll dresses, make small key chains and sell them online. And I myself was very surprised when I heard her say “That dress you sewed for that woman, the salary is four hundred thousand. But the rags of that dress were thrown away, I made 1 doll shirt and 2 keychain. In total, I sold millions of two.” One million two versus four hundred thousand. And most importantly, that million and two come from what is considered waste. But I always believe, that girl will succeed. Not because of sewing but because of the very scientific calculation that she has. Doing business requires studying and the learning pool is huge. We will easily be eager for the new, with the modernity of the world out there, but let’s not ignore the old lessons that our forefathers have learned. Just like that spring rolls, it has opened up an extremely interesting process. It is a process of experience and not only the experience of a particular person but of many lives. That experience is as precious as any other knowledge out there, and most importantly, it’s not written into a textbook or textbook. It only opens to those who are contemplative, like to enjoy a snack with the discovery of the stories behind that no one has ever told.