“We couldn’t grill it or roast it back then,” said Hương of her early-eighties teenage years in Hà Nội. “We lived in a very small apartment on the ground floor. If we had grilled the chicken, the neighbors would have smelled it, got suspicious, and informed on us. We had to contain the smell, cover the pot completely, cook it slowly, and close all the windows and doors.” Another friend, a secretary called Lý who worked for an import and export company, told me the same story. “We had money, a villa, and we lived in a rich part of Hà Nội, but we were rationed like everyone was back then. The
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