#MarketPullback Hoàng Tuấn Công: Ruining the entire heritage of our ancestors' proverbs

In the Vietnamese King program on November 1, 2024, program advisor, Poet Hữu Việt explained:

"People say it’s about balancing rice and fish sauce, apart from the fact that if you take too much, it becomes salty, which makes it less delicious, but it has a deeper meaning, which is that we must consider moderation in our work or behavior to make it reasonable..."

The explanation above is a form of 'using falsehood to convey falsehood', ruining the entire heritage of our ancestors' proverbs (*).

1- INCORRECT EXPLANATION OF THE LITERAL MEANING

In the past, farmers were so deprived that they lacked even a grain of salt. With food, they were even more scarce and hard to come by. Fish sauce and salty condiments had to be consumed gradually and sparingly throughout the year (Meat and fish are the fragrance of flowers, tomato sauce is the essence – Proverbs). The proverb “If there’s tomato, then don’t take fish sauce”, “If there’s cucumber, then leave the vegetables”, “Balance rice and fish sauce”, advises people to be frugal, to be clever, that if you have this, you must save that; you must calculate and spend wisely to avoid waste. Therefore, Mr. Lê Văn Bài (Thanh Hóa) composed a couplet:

- Save food for emergencies, don’t be extravagant, remember that natural disasters are still severe;

- Balance rice and fish sauce, don’t waste, don’t forget that the country is still not rich.

And Mr. Nguyễn Minh Triết (1578 – 1673) during his humble beginnings had a poem titled “Frugality”, in which he advised his wife, “If there’s tomato, don’t take fish sauce”:

"... Advise my wife that if there’s tomato, don’t take fish sauce,

Tell my child to reduce rice and add more potatoes.

The world may laugh at frugality,

I’m not burdened by anyone, nor do I lament anyone."

Specifically with fish sauce, every meal, people must plan to '...