RUSTIC: YouTube tweeted about the channel Ẩm Thực Mẹ Làm (Mother’s Cuisine). Screenshot photo

by Phương Hà

Vietnamese YouTube channel Ẩm Thực Mẹ Làm (Mother’s Cuisine) was introduced to the world on the official Twitter page of the world’s biggest online video-sharing platform.

“Transport yourself into the idyllic Vietnamese countryside and discover some local recipes on the channel Ẩm Thực Mẹ Làm,” YouTube tweeted.

The videos on the channel, each of which lasts from four to 10 minutes, feature the process of preparing typical Vietnamese dishes by a mother who is also a farmer in the countryside of Việt Nam.

The videos tend to begin with a scene where the mother starts to grow or collect vegetables from the garden, then she processes the food and the videos conclude with her and her son enjoying the meal together and chatting about their daily lives.

Apart from the soft background music, there isn't much sound in the videos, apart from the familiar noises heard in every Vietnamese countryside like the sound of a crackling fire, the sound of hens cackling or of dogs barking.

LOVELY: Idyllic moments in the countryside of Việt Nam are captured in the videos of Ẩm Thực Mẹ Làm (Mother’s Cuisine).Photo Ẩm Thực Mẹ Làm Facebook

Another highlight of Mother’s Cuisine is the background of peaceful scenery of the countryside like ripening rice fields, the sun casting its first rays on the roof or birds twittering among the trees.

The creator of the channel that shares recipes of Vietnamese dishes like crab soup, bamboo cooked rice and peanut candies is 24-year-old Đồng Văn Hùng from the northern province of Thái Nguyên. His mother, Dương Thị Cường, 56, is the star of Mother’s Cuisine.

The videos are entirely made by Hùng as a gift for his mother.

Hùng’s family used to have three members – his grandmother, his mother Cường and him.

After his grandmother passed away years ago, that left only Cường and her son to take care of each other in a rustic house surrounded by lush vegetables with a pigpen and an old kitchen.

Due to his family’s financial difficulties, Hùng did not apply for university, but started working after finishing high school and then took up photography.

Despite his stable job in Hà Nội, he is always occupied with thoughts about his hometown and his mother living alone doing farm work. What he craves for most, Hùng says, is a meal cooked by his mother.

Since 2019, Hùng has focused on making videos about the lives of farmers in the countryside.

His initial goal was to record his mother’s daily activities to alleviate his nostalgia and save memories for his future children.

However, his first videos unexpectedly went viral after he shared them on YouTube.

His mother Cường says, at first, she did not know why her son was recording when he kept following her with the camera. Gradually, she has got accustomed to and even ignored it, meaning her actions in the videos are all-natural.

"When the videos were posted, everyone showed them to me. I felt embarrassed when I watched them because I’d never been filmed ever since I was a kid. But Hùng encouraged me to get more videos recorded. I have gradually got used to being filmed and do not feel shy anymore,” Cường says.

Every part of daily life in the countryside, from the yard, the garden to the kitchen, has been captured in Hùng’s videos.

“I have filmed just around the house,” the YouTuber says, “After recording all the angles, I plan to film further locations that must still preserve the idyllic and rural nature of the countryside.”

Normally, Mother’s Cuisine is updated with a new video each week. However, on days when his mother feels tired, Hùng stops filming because “her health is the most important thing".

Launched in February 2019, Hùng’s channel has 76 videos and nearly 600,000 subscribers. Many episodes have more than 1 million views.

“Every viewer will feel closer to their hometown after watching Mother’s Cuisine. There are no exaggerations, no hustle and bustle. Just being simple like this, the videos make us find peace in life,” viewer Hoa Nguyễn wrote on the Facebook page of Mother’s Cuisine.

“Personally, I like hearing the sounds of the mother walking on the dried leaves in the garden, the sound of plucking the vegetables or her laugh while talking with Mập (the dog). I wish to thank them for giving viewers such idyllic moments watching their videos.” VNS