Making the brand and cultural heritage of Phu Quoc fish sauce growing

Tourists visit the fish sauce production area at Khai Hoan fish sauce barrel house on Phu Quoc island (Kien Giang). (Photo: Le Huy Hai/VNA)

The profession of making fish sauce in Phu Quoc is included in the List of National Intangible Cultural Heritage, creating favorable conditions for people on the island to develop the profession, contributing to the promotion of a typical tourism product of the city. The island city reaches out to domestic and international markets.

Traditional craft for hundreds of years

Phu Quoc Island is located in the Southwest Sea, is the largest island in Vietnam, is the administrative center of Phu Quoc City, Kien Giang Province. The craft of making Phu Quoc fish sauce is famous for hundreds of years.

According to recorded documents, since the end of the 19th century, coastal fishing in Phu Quoc has been associated with fish sauce making on a large scale, ensuring the lives of nearly 2,000 residents.

Chairman of Phu Quoc Fish Sauce Association Ho Kim Lien said that Phu Quoc waters have many types of seaweed and plankton which are the main source of food for anchovies, the main raw material for making fish sauce. Therefore, anchovies grow abundantly in this sea.

More than 200 years ago, the profession of making fish sauce existed in Phu Quoc, people caught fresh anchovies and salted them right on the ship, before bringing them back to brew in barrels.

Incubating anchovies in wooden barrels is a characteristic of Phu Quoc fish sauce making. Boi Loi is a type of wood used to make fish sauce barrels, which are abundant in Phu Quoc forest. The longer the barrel is left, the stronger the wood, the better the quality of the fish sauce.

The barrel has a round cylinder with a wide mouth, made from 55 boards of equal sizes: 2.2m long, 20cm wide, 6cm thick; The diameter of the barrel mouth is about 3.2m, the bottom is about 2.6m. The barrel is strapped with green rattan in the forest.

Ms. Ho Kim Lien said that fish sauce production is based on traditional manual methods with the recipe of 3 anchovies + 1 salt. It takes 10-15 months to produce fish sauce.

From the first to the last water will be divided into different types of fish sauce, with different protein levels; Depending on the protein ratio more or less from 20-43 protein, the price of fish sauce is different.

Phu Quoc fish sauce has a brown color of cockroach wings with a characteristic flavor of mild aroma, salty taste, and sweet aftertaste.

According to heritage records, Phu Quoc fish sauce is processed by the method of pressing for salt once on the fishing boat and re-salting after being put in the incubation tank. Chuop is aged in large wooden crates housed in dark, airtight barrel houses with unique climatic conditions, stable year-round temperatures averaging 27.50C and fluctuations between the hottest and coldest months of just a few hours. 20C.

This special temperature condition determines the quality, color, protein content, and characteristic flavor of Phu Quoc fish sauce. Fish ingredients only use fresh caught anchovies with first-class salt with very little impurities.

The water used in the production of fish sauce in Phu Quoc is the active water from a well over 100m deep. The natural pH of water is an important factor that affects well the decomposition of Pepsin yeast system, the breakdown of Tripsin yeast system during fish sauce production.

Although, up to now, there is no document to determine the specific timeline of the formation of fish sauce making in Phu Quoc, but it can be affirmed that this is a traditional profession – intangible cultural heritage. The body of the Vietnamese people is closely related to the process of opening the land to the South of the Vietnamese people. Phu Quoc fish sauce brand has been famous since ancient times not only in the country but also in the world.

Over hundreds of years of formation, development and ups and downs, the craft of making Phu Quoc fish sauce has turned from a craft of individual households to an organized industry with a large scale of activities producing special products. It is exported to many countries around the world.

The practice of making fish sauce has affected the economic life of a part of the population living in Phu Quoc and anchovy fishermen in the Southwest Sea. This is a proof that Phu Quoc fish sauce making profession has been associated with the residential and development life of the island in particular and Kien Giang province in general.

In order to maintain and develop the profession, based on experience and natural conditions, people who make fish sauce in Phu Quoc have unwritten principles that are passed down from generation to generation: Do not catch fish in breeding season, do not change the anchovy material with any other fish, ensuring the characteristic taste and color of the product. The barrel houses and households making Phu Quoc fish sauce have voluntarily followed these principles for hundreds of years.

Phu Quoc fish sauce is especially not too salty, not sweet with sugar but sweet from fish protein, light aroma not too strong like fish sauce in the North and Central region. From pure fish sauce, Phu Quoc people create dozens of different types of fish sauce for different foods.

Phu Quoc fish sauce just needs to be added to white rice to have a delicious meal. Therefore, a meal, whether rich or poor, rich or poor, lacking in anything, cannot be without a cup of fish sauce. This has created the habit of Phu Quoc people not to eat any kind of fish sauce other than their own.

Thus, for Phu Quoc people, Phu Quoc fish sauce is not only a dish, a spice, but also considered a “soul”, the main product that makes Phu Quoc famous. In addition, it is also a part of history and culture, containing folk knowledge, showing bold character and cultural characteristics of the islanders.

Towards World Heritage

Although facing many difficulties and challenges, it can be said that Phu Quoc fish sauce making is a heritage of great value both in terms of cultural and economic history.

The profession has contributed to creating jobs, stabilizing the lives of workers making fish sauce, while improving people’s lives, contributing a part to the local budget, promoting the process of agricultural economic restructuring. villages in the direction of industrialization, products that meet the increasing demands of domestic and international consumers tend to use clean products and traditional products.

Currently, the profession of making Phu Quoc fish sauce has a large and relatively stable product consumption market. Fish sauce products are available in most supermarkets, agents and markets across the country. Phu Quoc fish sauce is exported to Europe, America and some Asian countries.

According to Phu Quoc Fish Sauce Association, Phu Quoc fish sauce began to thrive and flourish from 1945 to now.

Since 1998, with the support of the French Embassy in Hanoi, the Ministry of Fisheries together with the province  Kien Giang  conducted a dossier of geographical indication registration, until June 1, 2001 Phu Quoc fish sauce was a product. The first product to be registered in Vietnam.

In July 2013, the European Union (EU) awarded a certificate of origin “Phu Quoc” for Vietnamese fish sauce products in Brussels (Belgium).

In August 2013, the Ministry of Industry and Trade handed over this certificate to the representative of the People’s Committee of Phu Quoc island district and the Phu Quoc Fish Sauce Association, since then Phu Quoc fish sauce products have been protected and developed up to now.

Currently, Phu Quoc city has about 100 fish sauce factories, concentrated in Duong Dong and An Thoi wards. The source of raw anchovies is currently limited, from now to 2025, Phu Quoc strives to produce 12 million liters of fish sauce per year on average.

Phu Quoc Fish Sauce Association was established in October 2000, currently has 53 members. Chairman of Phu Quoc Fish Sauce Association Ho Kim Lien said that, in addition to the advantages of being protected by geographical indications, Phu Quoc fish sauce craft villages are always respected by the People’s Committee of Kien Giang province and the People’s Committee of Phu Quoc city. focus on maintaining and developing.

Over the years, consumers everywhere have known about the Phu Quoc fish sauce brand, helping to sell more traditional products of the craft village.

This is also a unique tourism product on the island city of Phu Quoc, attracting tourists to visit, learn about the craft village culture in particular and discover the cultural life of the people on Ngoc Island.

According to Ms. Ho Kim Lien, the difficulty of the current Phu Quoc fish sauce industry is that a part of consumers has not yet identified the genuine Phu Quoc traditional fish sauce, so the price is not stable.

Currently, there is no planning for Phu Quoc fish sauce craft village, so the craft village has not been concentrated into a sightseeing place for tourists.

To meet the development process of the craft village, Phu Quoc Fish Sauce Association hopes that there should soon be a centralized craft village planning to stabilize production and business, creating a favorable development environment for the craft village; At the same time, there is a gathering place, serving to introduce and promote the traditional fish sauce craft to visitors.

Chairman of Phu Quoc Fish Sauce Association Ho Kim Lien said that in the coming time, Phu Quoc fish sauce will focus on developing quality rather than quantity, to continue affirming the quality of the brand.

After being recognized as a national intangible cultural heritage by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, Phu Quoc fish sauce making continues towards being recognized by UNESCO as a world intangible cultural heritage. .

This helps increase the brand value of Phu Quoc fish sauce, contributes to raising the local cultural heritage, and helps promote the image of the beautiful island city of Phu Quoc to international friends.