Broken Rice · Saigon Everyday Plate
Cơm Tấm
Photo: Alpha / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 2.0
The rice itself started out as a byproduct — broken grains left over from milling were once considered inferior rice, until poor Mekong Delta farmers who couldn't afford to keep whole rice for themselves began cooking with them instead.
Broken rice grains, cheaper and quicker-cooking than whole rice, are steamed and served with a charcoal-grilled pork chop, a wedge of savory steamed egg custard, shredded pickled pork skin, and a pool of fish sauce. Saigon sidewalk stalls fire up charcoal grills from dawn to sell it for breakfast, lunch, and late-night dinner alike.
Why it's made this way: It emerged as a subsistence dish among poor rice farmers in the Mekong Delta, who ate the fragments left over from milling because whole rice was too valuable to keep; as Vietnam urbanized in the early 20th century the dish spread into Saigon, where vendors adapted it with grilled pork and other toppings until it became a citywide staple eaten across every class line.
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Part of World of Street Food — 3248 dishes from 118 countries.
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