Today's blog is written by Andrew Nixon from Moora.
Day started at 5am with a 5.30am departure to Vietnam. Most of us spent the 2.5hr flight sleeping to try and catch up from the late night before.
Ho Chi Minh airport was surprisingly clean and well organised. The traffic was busy crazy and totally random, with the bus constantly surrounded by a swarm of out of control motorbikes using both the road and the footpath and carrying entire families at once.
The driver had the local radio station playing - which is not recommended for extended periods.
As we approached our destination in the centre of the city we were overwhelmed by the beauty of the French architecture.
We then followed Sophie, one of the CBH staff on the trip to the money exchange around the corner.
Some changed money while others contended with the crowds on the footpath. It is the first time I have witnessed a show shine boy, shine someone's shoes while they were practically walking down the street.
We had lunch at a local restaurant - best $3.50 I have ever spent. We had Pho Bo, rare beef noodle soup, Goi Con, Vietnamese rice rolls, a drink and a creme caramel.
We found there has been a stark contrast between each place we have visited, it has been interesting seeing and hearing the differences between the consumers and the final products in each country.
Some had a quick swim at the pool, while some managed to catch up on a little more sleep before heading over to the Interflour office around 10 mins drive away.
There we met Master Baker David Broutin who immediately handed out some fresh baked coffee rolls to curb our hunger and get us ready for the baking session we were about to do.
Over the next few hours we attempted to bake three types of bread, a Vietnamese baguette a Banh Mi, the coffee roll and a sponge Swiss roll.
I should include a disclaimer in here to say that my wife should not have high expectations about my baking abilities when I get home........ I'm sure the same applies to the rest of the group!
David operates the Interflour training facility to teach local bakers how to use the products.
The training facility for Interflour is locales at the head office in town, however the testing laboratory is over at the Cai Mep Port Facility which we will see tomorrow.
Interflour now supply to Burger King, McDonalds And a lot of change has occurred since 2000, fast food companies arrived in Vietnam so tastes for local breads have changed. People now prefer sweeter breads, not sourdough or salty bread like in Australia.
We were then privileged to meet the CEO of Interflour Danny Hoe, who preceded to give us a great perspective from the senior managers on the history of Interflour and it's great potential in the future.
In my opinion Interflour is a great diversified asset for the CBH Group.
We were lucky enough to have dinner with the Interflour team on the rooftop of the Quan Bui restaurant where we took discussions further.
Recipe for the Banh Mi roll (which was delicious)
Ingredients:
1 baguette or French stick
Few sprigs of fresh coriander
Cucumber
Sweet chilli sauce
Fresh chilli
Duck liver pate or similar
Thinly sliced pork or beef
Soy sauce
Finely sliced spring onion
Method:
Pile it all into roll and eat it!
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