This morning I went to the supermarket. I was in the potato chip aisle looking at which chips I wanted to purchase when I came upon one called Peking Duck flavor potato chips. I'm not really sure what that was about. Peking Duck is best known in China. And how would you make a potato chip with that flavor if the potato never gets near a duck living in China? And how many Vietnamese can afford Peking Duck anyway?
Well, as it turns out, duck is quite common in Vietnamese. Just around the corner of my villa, on a long narrow road, are numerous houses which sell vegetables and fruit every day. The weekend is the busiest, as I've already reported. The street is usually filled with people and motorbikes. One of the shops nearest my street sells live chickens, roosters, and ducks. They're all confined in some manner, the ducks resting on the ground unable to use their wings. I saw duck on the menu at one of the restaurants when I was living in the HCM guesthouse. So perhaps it isn't that unaffordable at all. And if you put a potato next to the duck, maybe it will acquire the flavor.
