Beef tripe porridge - specialty of An Giang Vinh Trung Commune, Tinh Bien District in the Mekong Delta province of An Giang is a place where farmers breed a lot of cows to serve agriculture and to provide meat for consumption.    Beef tripe porridge is suggested as a must-try specialty for tourists in An Giang. Therefore, this location is known for beef dishes that win tourists’ hearts, most famously tripe. This particular dish has two equally-popular specialties: tripe porridge and steamed tripe dipped in sauce. Around the Cam Mountain area, there are many porridge shops near Vinh Trung Market. However, the most popular is Ms. Nam Doi’s shop because she is the oldest porridge maker in the area. Moreover, her gruel is cooked from soc mien rice which is malleable and sweet-smelling. In addition, tripe must also be boiled with palm or coconut juice. Hence her tripe is very soft, aromatic and has a buttery taste. Ms. Nam’s tripe contains lean beef. Before enjoying the porridge, diners should add some finely-chopped chili and ginger. In addition, basil and other herbs are also used. These herbs give the porridge a very tempting smell. A special fruit from the Cam Mountain area is chut. Its flavor will give the porridge a special smell and sour taste. The mouthwatering Vinh Trung stripe porridge has attracted many diners from around An Giang Province to come and enjoy it at the weekends. Gradually, though, many tourists visiting Nui Cam learned about this kind of porridge. Diners were amazed by the really good dish served inside a small countryside market and it has been popular ever since with tourists and locals alike. At Ms. Nam Doi’s shop, beside stripe porridge there is also steamed stripe. If she serves porridge all day, the steamed stripe is served only from 3pm. It is presented in a flat winnowing basket with pineapples, carambola, acrid green bananas and accompanying herbs. According to Mrs. Nam, the area breeds many cows so the beef is very fresh and to keep the stripe warm, she dips the meat into the boiling palm soup once every 20 minutes. This dish is suitable for both men and women, and male diners come there mostly to drink some beer while enjoying the soup, apparently they say this gives the steamed stripe a better taste. Although delicious, every bowl of porridge costs only VND20,000 and a dish of steamed stripe also costs from VND20,000 depending on the quantity ordered. SGT