[Dong Phuong Bakery Originally uploaded to Flickr by Ray in New Orleans]
In my fourth year of Tulane I discovered one of the little known great secrets of New Orleans, the vietnamese market in New Orleans East and Dong Phuong Bakery on Chef Menteur Blvd. That first trip, we left the Willow Street Leadership village at 6am; when we got to the market it was just barely light. In that gray dusk, I felt transported unto another place, this was not the New Orleans I knew, nor was it even a part of the US as far as I knew. The sounds and smells were all so different, so alien.
It was a courtyard of a strip mall but it could have been a rural village anywhere, the market is such a universal thing. I bought bunches of fresh cilantro from old withered women who i couldn’t communicate with and stood in line for a fresh Vietnamese po-boy (Bahn Mi), which is by far the best type. By 8 the sun was up and the market was clearing out; we headed over to the bakery where I had my first cha siu bau or siopao and other pastries filled with glutineous meat patties.
I spent the rest of my next two years in the city trying to make it to the market once a month. Usually I got there just as the market was closing. Once I arrived very late, around noon: the strip mall had a small grocer who remained open after the market. The woman there told me in broken english:
You too late, you need get here much early. Some people, they get here for four!
After that, the market became known colloquially as the “for four” market.
After Katrina, I learned of the devastation in New Orleans East and grieved for the loss of the vietnamese community and the market. I feared that this vibrant special part of the city and its culture was lost forever. Now, I have hope that it will return and be brighter than ever, thanks to this article by Pruned, though I fear its authenticity as an organic market will be lost. It will be cleaner and more structured, more “american.” I worry that it will become like the French Market, a simulacra of a market, sanitized and regularized, populated more for the good of tourists and the restaurant industry than to the community that started it. I have to wonder, is it better that something be lost while maintaing authenticity or recreated as a sculpted and crafted creation meant to convey the idea but not the experience?
[2017 UPDATE] Apparently, 12 years after Katrina, the vietnamese farmers market is still going strong. This article from May 2016, discusses the market in greater detail. It seems that while the character of the market has remained the special experience that I remember so fondly, there have been some changes. A local food co-op is working with the community to help with infrastructure and sales. Ideally, this might be the best outcome. The market remains authentic to those who created, sell and shop at it, but is benefitting from the redevelopment of the city without losing its identity.