Rapping about Pho Culture: Q&A with Alexei of Seattle’s Townfolk

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November 26, 2012Rapping about Pho Culture: Q&A with Alexei of Seattle’s Townfolk  

If you haven’talready, click and watch the music video. It was made by Iranian-American musicproducer Alexei (@sabzi) and his collaborators for TOWNFOLK, their experimental art endeavor being funded through Kickstarter. I got wind of itvia an email and then my niece Paulina, a college senior, wrote me about it onFacebook. 

The video isa smart and culturally spot-on survey of Vietnamese pho culture, particularly that of South Seattle when Alexei (a.k.a. Sabzi and Saba) lives. He's captured it all in a rap video, which has a certain Beck element of humor.

Aside from the music and video, Alexei and his pals went the extra stepof getting the language right. Their Kickstarter page has Vietnamese and video is subtitled in Vietnamese! Eithersomeone has amazing language skills or he/she got an older person to translateand type it up with all the diacritic marks in place. I was mightily impressed with the polished and thoughtful effort.

I passedTOWNFOLK’s Kickstarter link around via Twitter and Facebook but wanted to knowthe back story. How and why did Alexei do the video? That’s the reason for thisemail Q&A with Alexei: (Note: his are presented as is/as were received)

Why did the campaign namechange from Pho Life to Ph? 99? I thought the first was clever and modern.The second seems to speak more to the Viet-Am enclave/ghetto experience.

"Pho Life"originally was chosen simply as the title for the Kickstarter page. We didn'tthink much about it.

Personally, after seeingthe project take life and an identity in Internet discussion, I didn't feel thename did justice to the true nature of the piece as a whole.

The word "Life"appeared too broad and definitive, as if suggesting that the characters in thispiece were only about pho, or all of the identities and components thatinteracted with the project revolved entirely around just soup. 

We are all much more thanthat. Also, perhaps more importantly, adding the term "life" as asuffix to something rap-related has been a little overdone at this point. Played out!

Pho 99 fits better forvarious reasons. It's more subtle, isn't a broad generalization, anybody who'sa super pho fan has eaten at a place called Pho 22, 55, 66, 95, 96, 99 etc andknows how common a name like that can be.

"99" is thecatchiest of all these in our opinion.  Furthermore, it seems to stay"on brand" more than Life.

What is Townfolk's mission?

i think i'll be perpetuallydiscovering what that is.  first and foremost, it's a space to explore andtest ideas.  today i'll say that one thing the TOWNFOLK project does islook at these ideas from multiple angles. much like the answers i listed at thetop. i find it very difficult to give short and simple answers that i feel areinformed by so many different components that all deserve attention. TOWNFOLK is a workshop that gives me free range to go nuts. 

How did pho get to besubject for the Kickstarter campaign? What is the rationale behind thedifferent items that you developed for Pho 99?

it began here a cpl yearsago. the music video for"Fou Lee" by Blue Scholars (rap group i'm in) features a group of uscooking chicken adobo.  we considered doing a poster of all the rawingredients of chicken adobo as a piece of merchandise connected to thesong, but for some reason it didn't really come together.  shortlyafter this, over a pho lunch with some friends i realized the same conceptcould be applied to pho ingredients and would probably turn out great. and it did.

what followed was a wholelot of "wouldn't it be cool if we did THIS too?"

a second poster, buttons,stickers, music video, raps, Vietnamese subtitles etc.

Pho 99 poster options (illustrated and photographed) and chopsticks too!
Your pronunciation of Vietfood terms is great and the Vietnamese lyric translation is fabulous. How didthat all come together? Why did you include the Vietnamese lyrics?when i think of pho, ithink of soup… and it also makes me think of the neighborhood i live in,restaurants, concert posters, Vietnamese fonts/lettering on menus and signs, BanhMi sandwiches, the time a friend accidentally drank fish sauce thinking it wasapple juice, late nights at the billiards, coffee shops, thebakeries, friends, family, a food that historically comes from a partof the world i haven't yet had the privilege to visit and also makes me feel athome when i eat it. and that's just a few things.  i'm certainly not theonly one that feels that way in South Seattle. it's a part of who we are.

you could say this projectexplores some of those connections in a fresh way that's fun and looksgood. 

::cast&crew::

photography, assistant producer: @canhsolo (Canh Solo; Canh shot pics of all the ingredients for the poster, then Canh's dad made pho with the props)
illustrations: @MIS0HAPPY (Nina Nguyen)
video: @Harry_Clean (Harry Clean)
subtitles/translation: @joanne_nitsua (Joanne Nguyen-Austin)

You've already raised morethan your goal. What's next?

now that the goal's beenreached, we can make the posters!  after shipping the first round to allthe pledgers, the remaining product will be available for sale at TOWNFOLK  in January.

I’vesaid this many times before on VWK: You don’t have to be Asian to understand Asianfood and culture. What Alexei and TOWNFOLK are doing reflects thefluid movement across cultures happening now, in urban and suburban neighborhoods. There's little that's novel about their take on pho culture. It's done with respect,  creativity, and fun.

Btw, this set of buttons of Viet singer Tuan Anh (think: a cross between Liberace, Lady Gaga, and Michael Jackson) is part of the Pho 99 merchandise line-up:

TOWNFOLK's Pho 99 campaign goes on till December 4, 2012. Check it out on Kickstarter and if you're inclined, support this intersection of music, art and food.

Thoughts and reactions? Or tips on similar art and food projects? Please share your knowledge.

Related posts and links:

Beef Pho RecipeChicken Pho Recipe Pho Secrets and TechniquesHistory and evolution of pho in Vietnam and AmericaI Love Pho -- 2008 visual arts exhibit in AustraliaPosted in Asian Food Culture, Asian Food Hero, Essentials: Pho, Vietnamese Culture, Vietnamese Restaurants | Permalink

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Comments Rapping about Pho Culture: Q&A with Alexei of Seattle’s Townfolk  

If you haven’talready, click and watch the music video. It was made by Iranian-American musicproducer Alexei (@sabzi) and his collaborators for TOWNFOLK, their experimental art endeavor being funded through Kickstarter. I got wind of itvia an email and then my niece Paulina, a college senior, wrote me about it onFacebook. 

The video isa smart and culturally spot-on survey of Vietnamese pho culture, particularly that of South Seattle when Alexei (a.k.a. Sabzi and Saba) lives. He's captured it all in a rap video, which has a certain Beck element of humor.

Aside from the music and video, Alexei and his pals went the extra stepof getting the language right. Their Kickstarter page has Vietnamese and video is subtitled in Vietnamese! Eithersomeone has amazing language skills or he/she got an older person to translateand type it up with all the diacritic marks in place. I was mightily impressed with the polished and thoughtful effort.

I passedTOWNFOLK’s Kickstarter link around via Twitter and Facebook but wanted to knowthe back story. How and why did Alexei do the video? That’s the reason for thisemail Q&A with Alexei: (Note: his are presented as is/as were received)

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Portugal’s café culture

I haven’t been to France since I was a teenager and have never been to Italy, but I’m willing to wager that the café scenes of both of these countries pale in comparison to that of Portugal. The sheer amount of shops serving a combination of coffee, light snacks and pastries - known in Portuguese as pasterlarias - in Porto and Lisbon was frankly, quite ridiculous. Within a block of Porto’s main market alone I can recall at least eight from memory. And not only were these pastelarias everywhere, but the the quality of both the coffee and sweets were quite high and the prices low (a galão - the Portuguese equivalent of a café au lait/latte - and a pastry, my usual breakfast in Portugal, typically cost around €2).

I was particularly interested in Portugal’s sweet snacks, as they possess quite a few culinary links with Asia. The most obvious example of this are the pasteis de nata, egg tarts, which are now a standard sweet in parts of East Asia. These are unavoidable (and profoundly delicious) in Portugal, and I reckon I had at least one or two every day, sprinkled with cinnamon and consumed with uma bica (espresso).  With a direct link to Southeast Asia are the various egg yolk-based desserts - ovos moles, fios de ovos - believed to have been introduced to Thailand via Portuguese traders during the 16th century. These were somewhat less common, and I mostly encountered them in the way of fillings or toppings for a variety of pastry-based treats and not eaten on their own, as they still are in Thailand.

For a taste of Portugal’s café culture, click on the below to see a slide show of random images of pastelarias and sweets I encountered while there.

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This DVD contains much more than just Chinese cooking! It is a wonderful glimpse into Chinese culture and language. Great for families to watch and learn together! What sets this DVD apart is its creative and inventive way of introducing Chinese cooking, culture and language. It's fast paced and upbeat, which makes it fun to watch! Even if you don't want to learn Chinese, this is a great DVD to get a flavor of the Chinese culture.

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Fast-Food Culture Grows in China

Fast-Food Culture Grows in China

by Tony D’Altorio, Investment U Research
Monday, February 14, 2011

The rapidly growing Chinese consumer class certainly has more spending power these days.

But they also have less and less time to cook at home. Grueling work hours, long commutes in heavy traffic, a later marriage age and smaller families combined give the average Chinese citizen fewer incentives to make their own meals.

That less-than-ideal situation creates a perfect recipe for fast food chains though. And the battle for China’s growing appetite for quick, convenient meals is just beginning to heat up.

The country’s food service industry has recorded double-digit annual growth since 2003. But it’s still only half the size of its U.S. counterpart, which means it has plenty of room to grow.

Estimated at $303 billion in 2009, it should reach around $450 billion by 2014.

Multinational fast food chains such as McDonald’s (NYSE: MCD) and Yum Brands (NYSE: YUM) arrived early in China. And they’ve come to dominate the market for western, quick service meals…

KFC and Pizza Hut Push Yum Brands Ahead of McDonald’s

Yum Brands, which owns KFC and Pizza Hut, opens another new restaurant in China every day. In fact, for the first time ever in 2010, it earned more operating profits there than in the U.S.

And it soon expects to have a 3 to 1 market share lead over McDonald’s, it’s closest rival.

KFC, now the number one fast food chain in China, definitely helped push it there. The traditional American business did so by catering to local tastes with dishes such as rice porridge with pork.

Meanwhile, Pizza Hut remains China’s number one casual dining chain, an image it lost in the U.S. decades ago.

But McDonald’s is investing heavily to catch up with Yum. It took two decades to get to 1,000 restaurants in China, but now expects it needs only four to double that.

The company also says it plans to “re-image” about 80% of its stores by 2013. That will involve European and Australian designs, comfortable seating, warmer colors and amenities such as WiFi.

McDonald’s is also playing catch-up by offering the “McDelivery” service. Chinese burger-lovers have to love the 24-hour option available in major cities, much like pizza-lovers enjoy in the U.S.

Of course, fast food gets cold fast, so McDonald’s is offering another truly American experience. It plans to open drive-through windows at half of its new restaurants in the next few years.

China is now the world’s largest auto market, with a quickly developing car culture. So McDonald’s strategy looks like a good one.

Chinese Fast Food Chains Pose a Threat to KFC and McDonald’s

But as much as KFC and McDonald’s might prefer otherwise, the battle for stomach share in China goes beyond mere fried chicken and Big Macs. Asian fast food chains are becoming increasingly competitive, despite their current low market share.

This is hardly surprising considering how many polls show locals opting for Chinese or Asian food when given the time and choice. And two particular chains are especially eating up that penchant.

Country Style Cooking Restaurant ADR (NYSE: CCSC) was just recently added to the New York Stock Exchange. So far, it has over 100 locations in Sichuan Province and the Chongqing municipality.Then there’s Little Sheep Group (PINK: LSGLF), which Yum Brands partially owns. It currently has over 300 restaurants in China, Japan and the U.S.

Their appearance on the scene, along with other Asian restaurant chains, prove the Chinese market is about more than just convenience. Xia Lianyue, the vice-chairman of the China Fast Food Association, says rising urban salaries and long commutes are driving the all-new “simple meal” market.

That market averages 50-100 renminbi, or about $7.50 to $15.00 per meal per person, a cut above fast food at 30 renminbi or $4.50. This seems to be the new battleground for food companies in China.

Yum Brands seems well positioned in this segment with Pizza Hut. But local competitors could still eat into its market share.

The battle for the Chinese stomach in a hungry market has only just begun… So stay tuned.

Good investing,

Tony D’Altorio

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