Originating from the highlands, domestic pigs kept by ethnic minorities in the wild and mountainous areas of the country have been brought back and reared for their meat, ultimately destined to become a special restaurant dish in Ho Chi Minh City.
The animals are called ‘heo toc’, which are free to wander in forests, mountains and streams to search for food during day before returning to their sty for shelter at night. Due to their natural habitat, the meat of ‘heo toc’ is of better quality than normal, farm-raised pig.
Restaurants bustling with “specialty dish”
It is no more than 6 o’clock in the evening and already the ‘heo toc’ specialty restaurant Thanh Mat in Go Vap District is full. Even though there are hundreds of dishes on the menu, diners are here to sample the highland pig.
City diners are particularly keen on the meat’s taste of wilderness: firm on the inside and crispy on the outside. Nguyen Minh Long, who works in the Tan Binh industrial zone, says, “Highland pig meat is less chewy than wild pig’s. It is a perfect dish at year-end parties”.
Perhaps it is the novelty that appeals to regular diners.
Owner of Luong Gia Quan, a restaurant in District 2, said, “Every two days, we collect stock from many provinces such as Kon Tum, Dak Lak, and Lam Dong to meet customer demand”.
Similarly, a waitress at Thanh Mat restaurant says: “Normally we have to get at least 20 ‘heo toc’ in order to serve guests everyday”.
It is not only men who regularly dine out who love the dish, women are also intrigued. “Highland pig meat is not just for evening gatherings, it can be cooked and prepared in an office-lunch style. My friends often have this for lunch for a change”, says My Le, working at HD Bank.
Finding its way to the city
‘Heo toc’ has a long journey to make before they reach restaurants in Saigon.

Le Van Dung, supplier of highland pigs in Binh Tan District, says, “My stock comes from Cambodia. The animals are ready to be slaughtered whenever a customer orders, at an extra price of VND100,000 (US$5) on top of the VND200,000/kg for the meat”.
‘Heo toc’ is transported from farms in the highlands and reared in suburban districts like District 9, Hoc Mon, and Cu Chi.
They do not require sturdy cages like normal pigs, only a simple pen with 1.5-meter-tall fences and other necessary amenities.
Tram, a wild boar farm owner in District 9, says, “The hardest phase of rearing ‘heo toc’ is when they are first brought back from the highlands. They have to be carefully vaccinated and taken care of as they get used to the food and water.
But as they get older, the work gets lighter. ‘Heo toc’ can be fed with pineapple, jack-fruit skins, and morning glory, unlike normal pigs which require bran feeding at intervals”. Tram also says that previously, highland pigs were hard to find. Suppliers used to travel all the way to villages of ethnic minorities in Lam Dong, Binh Thuan, and Dak Lak.
The group would have to spend a whole day befriending the locals before being allowed to buy a single boar.
However, that has changed due to the rising demand of diners in Ho Chi Minh City. Instead of bringing a pair of ‘heo toc’ back to the city and rearing them for a whole year, suppliers have decided to instruct villagers to rear them on-site in large quantities.
Tram says in the run-up to the Lunar New Year, people from both restaurants and households rushed to order highland pigs. The stock ran out around four days before Tet.
‘Heo toc’ mistaken for wild boars
Previously, wild boars used to be restaurants’ favorites. Now the crown has been passed to ‘heo toc,’ with a higher value, as wild boars are now raised in sties s on farms and so they are almost no different from normal pigs. Wild boars are currently raised the industrial way, priced at around VND120,000/kg. Their meat is of a lower quality, containing more fat than ‘heo toc’. On farms, wild boars are kept and fed with industrial food.
Vo Van Phien, owner of a ‘heo toc’ farm in Binh Duong Province says highland pigs have dark black hair, short noses, and fat bellies; while wild boars have dark brown hair and longer noses.

On the first working day as an official caddy, a disguised journalist of Tuoi Tre was almost dismissed by her client, a Vietnamese player, after he missed his several of his strokes.
Part 1: Caddies’ hard work on golf course
Part 2: Caddies’ tears on golf course
Part 3: Life outside golf course
Part 4:

“He is angry, saying that your astrological sign is at odds with his and that’s why he couldn’t make any good shots today. I ask for his sympathy because you would be fired if rejected by a customer on your first day at work,” said the caddy working with me on the same shift.
Insults can pour down like rain
As they stand in line at the starting area, waiting to receive their clients, each caddy was filled with nevousness and anxiety. It is not uncommon for them to be assigned to serve clients, mostly Vietnamese men, who are hot-tempered or even rude, treating them like servants.
Some regular customers at the course have a reputation for changing caddies many times when he fails to make a good performance on the golf course. At such moments, they vent all their anger on the caddies, blaming them for everything. Some men even curse at their caddies, spit, or throw their clubs on the ground for the caddies to pick up.
The caddies’ nerves were strained to the breaking point when they had to serve such men.
Staying alert and paying close attention to the game is the secret to cope with these nerve-wracking situations, according to an experienced caddy. Pulling the stroller after the player, the caddy must always calculate the distance from the ball to the coming hole and be ready to give the player the information when he asks.
Keeping silent and taking all the blames poured on their heads, no matter how absurd or unreasonable they are, also helps to keep the lid of anger on and prevent an explosion.
In standing close to a player to quickly swap him a new club, some caddies also gets blamed by the player for a missed stroke, said a caddy.
Their anger, rudeness and insults become worse when Vietnamese golfers play for money. Some caddies try to psych themselves up before these betting games with the thought of a large tip from the winner and loser afterwards.
A caddy named Hong recalled, “Once, one of my clients is just 30 meters from the flag [that marks a hole], his stroke was too strong and the ball passed the hole, rolling down a hill.”
He got mad at the caddy and swore at her, “F***, why don’t you tell me about the hill beyond the flag?”
Some men even cheat by kicking the ball to another location when it lands between two tree trunks, making it impossible for them to hit it.
When a player starts accusing his rival of cheating, the caddy gets caught in the line of crossfire between them and finds it impossible to satisfy them both.
A caddy named Ha working on the HP golf course in the northern province of Hoa Binh was very bitter about this. “With money, some men want to see their attendants suffer to make it worth their expenses. Some treat the caddies on the golf course no less than they do their servants at home and show no respect for them.
“Working as a caddy, you have to accept it all,” Ha added.
Tears on golf course
Verbal abuse is not always the caddies’ biggest worry as some of them are exposed to accidents without getting any insurance coverage from the golf course owner.
A stray golf ball can give a caddy a broken nose, a black eye or any heavy bruises on other parts of the faces and bodies.
Golf course owners normally have no obligations towards the caddies working for them. They sign no contract with them and pay them no social insurance, except VND70,000 (US$3.3) a day plus tips from players.
Apart from the customers’ anger and insults and their occupational hazards on the golf course, a caddy also has to deal with possible punishment from managers if their clients report displeasure over their service.
Caddies will be fined if they they don’t pick up rubbish the customers throw on the field or if their customers lose some piece of gear. In some golf courses, caddies are fined if they don’t turn off the lights and fans after clients use them.
The worst punishment for caddies is to be taken off their caddy duties and assigned to removing weeds for a month on the golf course, depriving them of their major source of income -- the tips.
Love and money
Many nice-looking caddies have fallen into the money-for-love trap set by wealthy golf players and none of them end in marriage.
A caddy named H in the MP golf course has been known for her love affair with a South Korean man who is a regular golfer at the site.
On the golf course, the Korean man is seen pushing the stroller and walking by his side is H holding his purse.
The Korean man didn’t hide from H the fact that he was married. In return, he gave her generous gifts and money.
Another golf player from Japan spent billions dong to buy Tram, his caddy and girlfriend, a big house in Thu Dau Mot Town in the southern Binh Duong Province. Their relationship lasted for a year before the Japanese returned home, leaving no contact address behind.