Do you know Phú Quốc? Vietnam’s biggest island is situated in the south-west of the country, in the Gulf of Thailand. Now that huge parts of the island have been declared a National Park, it gets more and more attractive for tourists. Some places, however, might smell a little too strongly for European noses. The reason for this is Nước mắm. That is the Vietnamese word for their fish sauce, the basic flavour of Vietnamese, Thai and Corean cuisine. And more than a few people, among them Francis Van Hoi, believe that the best fish sauces in the world come from Phú Quốc. Now, this is also beneficial for his project for handicapped children and street children project for handicapped children and street children.
Last week, Francis Van Hoi and two of his friends and business partners visited the island: Hoang Vu Nguyen and Nikolaus Martin, sales director and Key Account Manager at Kreyenhop & Kluge. The picture shows them next to the great wooden containers where the sauce is won by fermenting fish for several months – which you can smell if you are there. As a short glimpse into the list of brands of the enterprise illustrates, Kreyenhop & Kluge is one of the biggest importers of Asian food for the German and European wholesale and retail market. To be sure, 90 % of the Asian food trade in Europe is in Vietnamese hands. Yet, not even 10 % of the imported products originate in Vietnam. This state of affairs is something Francis Van Hoi has found unfortunate for a long time.
Here is his “own voice” from his emails:
A Vietnamese farmer works hard and does not earn enough money to send his children to school; (in Vietnam, around 75% of the population are farmers). It is also the fault of the Vietnamese living abroad, because they are greedy and want ever more profit. So they take Thai products to market. It is the fault of the chief buyers abroad. They cause a dumping of retail prices. It is also the fault of the Vietnamese at home, who either slumber away their opportunities or work arrogantly.
There is not much to add to these words. For 10 years, Van Hoi has been going to Vietnam all the time as food counsellor for K&K and trying his best to change matters. During this time, he discovered many good Vietnamese products and helped to make the producers fit for exporting to Europe. Now it was time for the fish sauce of Thanh Ha, one of the best producers of Phú Quốc (there are countless producers of fish sauce in Vietnam – yet only five of them have a certification that qualifies for import permission to the EU). Thanh Ha supports the aid projects with part of the turnover yielded by the new export channel K&K Foods. Nikolaus Martin – who has been friends with Francie Van Hoi for 10 years – also regularly contributes to the project in his private life.
Incidentally, Francis Van Hoi is currently sitting in the bus from Saigon to Thai Binh via Ha Noi. In Thai Binh, the catholic bishop Peter Nguyen Van De, who initiated the aid project for adolescent agent-orange victims in North Vietnam, has his office. Going by bus, it takes about 50 hours to cover the 3,000 kilometres. For the equivalent of around 180 €, meals, beverages, two drivers and an aeromechanic included, you get your money’s worth of adventure …
MS
(Translated by EG)
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