Vietnamese Nuoc Mâm: a sauce whose time has come to Senegal? p Senegalese women and their Vietnamese technical advisor hold up samples of fish sauce. (©Fabio Aceto/Grazia Neri) MBOUR, Senegal -- Take three tonnes of fresh sardines and a tonne of salt. Place in layers in concrete tanks, skimming the oil off and circulating the liquid regularly. Let the mix ferment in the hot sun for eight months. Bottle the resulting fish sauce and market the brew as Nuoc Mâm, the finest condiment in West Africa. Such are the dreams of a women's group in this colourful, frenetic Atlantic fishing port one hour south by road from the capital, Dakar. The group learned how to make the sauce from Vietnamese technicians working in Senegal under the FAO Special Programme for Food Security. The Vietnamese are part of a 100-strong contingent living throughout the country who work next to Senegalese agricultural experts and give advice on how to improve farming methods and food security. "We saw the opportunity here to start a complementary business to fish smoking, which the women already do," says Nyuyen Thi Thu, standing next to one of the tanks. The fish sauce is a Vietnamese staple, as ubiquitous in Viet Nam as tomato catchup in North America or olive oil in the Mediterranean. p Fish sauce is made and fermented in tanks located at the fishing port in Mbour, Senegal. (©Fabio Aceto/Grazia Neri) The trouble is that no one in Senegal has heard of such a sauce, let alone tasted it. They are more familiar with the Swiss condiment Maggi, for which big advertisements can be seen on the sides of buildings around the country. So far the only customers for Nuoc Mâm are Vietnamese restaurants in Dakar, who pronounce the brew of top quality. "We think with marketing, we can sell the sauce for eating with our traditional rice dishes, but we have no budget for a marketing campaign," says Babacar Mbaye, chief of the port's fishing service. While 20 tanks of fish sauce ferment in a small compound a few steps from the sea, the sauce's pungent smell intermingling with the even stronger odour of the adjacent fishing beach, the women's group tries to convince donors to help them bring their product to the consumer's plate. Interested donors or advertising agencies willing to work pro bono can contact the FAO Representation in Dakar at FAO-SEN@field.fao.org. 15 November 2001   Related links Click here for more information on how FAO encourages and supports entrepreneurship in agriculture. FAO's Special Programme for Food Security News & Highlights archive

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