Rain or shine, every afternoon for the past 40 years, 88-year-old Tran Nga Kieu pushes her old food cart to the familiar street corner on Tue Tinh Alley in District 11, Ho Chi Minh City.

There, she lights up her kerosene stove and prepares simple yet beloved street food dishes to make a living.

A familiar face at the corner

Around 3 PM each day, the narrow alley at 194 Tue Tinh Street becomes lively with parents picking up their children from the nearby preschool and locals stopping for a bite at a modest sidewalk food stall.

Amidst the bustling scene stands Mrs. Tran Nga Kieu, a tall, slender woman with snow-white hair and age-spotted hands, skillfully flipping and stirring dishes in her well-worn cast-iron pan.

For more than 40 years, she has been cooking fried rice noodles, stir-fried egg noodles, fried pasta, and pan-fried rice flour cakes on her kerosene stove, which is blackened from years of use.

Despite her advanced age and hearing difficulties, Mrs. Kieu still remembers the early days when the area had no street lights and she sold food to those passing through.

"I’ve been selling here since my hair was still black. Now it’s all white, but I keep working. If I stay home, I feel so lonely. As long as I still have strength, I’ll keep doing it," she shares.

Simple dishes, lasting charm

The menu at Mrs. Kieu’s stall is simple, featuring five dishes: fried noodles, fried pasta, fried rice flour cakes, stir-fried rice noodles, and rice soup.

Each dish is prepared on the cast-iron pan heated by a kerosene stove, a method she has stuck to despite the changing times.

Her unique dipping sauce, made from vinegar, sugar, and satay, adds a tangy, sweet, and spicy flavor that enhances the taste of her dishes.

Customers appreciate the balanced flavor and the sense of nostalgia that comes with every bite.

Cong Hien Mai, Mrs. Kieu’s ninth daughter, decided to leave her job to help her mother run the stall after the pandemic.

She explains that the food prices used to range from $0.60 to $0.75 per serving, but due to rising ingredient costs, they now charge $1 per dish.

Cooking through the years

Rain or shine, Mrs. Kieu pushes her food cart to the alley every afternoon. In the past, she managed it alone, even struggling through floods and storms. These days, Mai helps push the cart and manage customers.

Despite the hardships, Mrs. Kieu insists on continuing her work. For her, cooking is not just a livelihood but also a source of joy and purpose.

"I don’t want to be a burden on my children," she says. "They all have their own families to take care of. As long as I can still move around and cook, I will."

A legacy of flavors and memories

Most of Mrs. Kieu’s customers are regulars who have been eating her dishes since their youth. Now, as adults with families of their own, they bring their children to taste the familiar flavors of their childhood.

Some customers stumble upon the stall out of curiosity, drawn by the sight of an elderly woman cooking on a kerosene stove on the sidewalk. Once they try her food, many become regular patrons, enchanted by both the simple, affordable meals and Mrs. Kieu’s resilient spirit.

"I’ve known about this place for a long time but only recently stopped by. The dishes are inexpensive yet delicious. I’ll definitely come back," shares a passerby who just tried her food for the first time.

Ha Nguyen