Fish sauce is an acquired taste unless you happen to live in Southeast Asia or southern China. In that case, you probably can’t live without it. This pervasiveness could also be why Vietnam fish sauce makers are struggling to promote their product to new audiences, both at home and abroad.
To use a culinary term, Vietnam fish sauce has become stale. Nearly 90 percent of fish sauces in the country are distributed via traditional channels with nearly half of the total reaching traditional markets, research from the Business Study and Assistance Centre in Ho Chi Minh City found.
The report also found that most Vietnam fish sauce makers have no means to promote their products to new markets and would be vulnerable to changes in distribution channels. And this doesn’t even factor in the entrance of new players.
“The market is becoming increasingly competitive, requiring traditional fish sauce makers and traders to improve their marketing and distribution capabilities in the battle for market share,” Vu Kim Hanh, Quality Vietnamese Product Business Association Chairwoman, explains to Vietnam News.
But the news isn’t all bad. The Ho Chi Minh City Food and Foodstuff Association reported that the country consumes 250 million liters of fish sauce annually with traditional fish sauce accounting of 60 million liters of this total. This segment in particular has a chance to expand in the coming years.
Famous French Chef and Vietnamese food expert Didier Corlou believes traditional fish sauce makers in the country need to tell their stories to consumers. These tales include how traditional fish sauce is made and what makes them unique when compared to mass-produced products.
Educating the local population on fish sauce will give consumers a greater appreciation for both the end product and the craft as a whole. Meanwhile, exporters from Europe only care about quality meaning this promotion could also make Vietnam fish sauce more attractive to international markets.
How is Vietnam fish sauce made?
The best Vietnam fish sauce is created using a time-consuming process of fermentation. Most fish sauces in the country are made from anchovies, but some regions use other types of fish. The fish, along with salt, is layered in a huge wooden barrel for an extended period time, usually six months or so.
The fish ferments in the barrel and eventually a liquid forms. That liquid is your fish sauce and from there it is bottled and sold.
