A STEP FORWARD IN

INTERCULTURE

A short

documentary

Feat

QUYeN & NAM STATION

Artist
Profile/
_

idea:

Banh Xeo cocktail boat

About Artist

We are Hoang Quyen and Phan Nam, two young Bartenders working at cocktail bars in Ho Chi Minh City. We’re also co-founders of the Quyen & Nam Station channel. We always want to create an interesting cross-cultural experience between Western and us in every cocktail.

The
Interview/
_
10.2020

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Interculture is like a boat that never stops

Interculture is like a boat that never stops, transporting knowledge from diverse cultures around the world to Vietnam, similar to the bartender industry. The boat continues to explore beautiful lands around the country to experience local culture, like the cocktail we made was prepared with local ingredients that we researched on our trips.

The cocktail glass looks like a boat that was made from banh xeo – a popular local dish, with its Scottish whisky base, you already know its foreign provenance just by hearing the name. In addition, this cocktail also has sweet-sour fish sauce – a typical dipping sauce of Vietnamese culture. And finally, tomentose rose myrtle alcohol from Phu Quoc. When you drink or eat this dish, it feels like stepping on a boat to Scotland but also to the Central and Southwest regions, especially Phu Quoc.

In the past, many people had a strange, sometimes negative view of products and cultures from abroad. Even our ‘unusual’ profession of Bartender mixing cocktail. But nowadays, not only young people but also the elderly have been open and far more accepting. EDM, Popping, Kimchi spicy noodles – all are foreign terms that we often come across now. And these have helped us enjoy new experiences.

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Not only the young, but also the elderly have been more welcoming.

We think the keyword ‘Signature’ - Identity - plays a crucial role in this intercultural step, especially as a bartender. Learning from a foreign culture is one part, but we also have to find a way to create our own ‘Signature’ with the things that surround us, the things we grew up with. Once the ‘Signature’ is there, we can bring Vietnamese culture to the world.