Cuisine is one of the best way to explore the culture of a nation or a region. With a hope to introduce the diversity of Vietnamese cuisine to everyone, two young authors, Thao Ho and Hannie Pham, created a tarot box set featuring illustrations of signature Vietnamese dishes.

Thao Ho (R) and Hannie Pham at an event introducing the Mam Tarot project

Tarot is a pack of 78 playing cards, used from 15th century in various parts of Europe. Starting from being a set of printed symbols just used for entertainment purposes, tarot cards have gradually been researched, developed and applied in areas such as self-development, problem solving, giving advice, or discovering the nature of things.

With a love for Vietnamese cuisine, Thao Ho, born in 1992 in Vinh Long Province, came up with the idea of creating a tarot set on Vietnamese cuisine in 2021.

Previously, in 2020, Thao Ho was the co-author of the ‘Kieu’ tarot set, which features illustrations inspired from the literary masterpiece ‘Truyen Kieu’ (Tale of Kieu) by great poet Nguyen Du.

She joined 1994-born Hanni Pham and 1989-born culinary illustrator Le Rin to work on the Mam Tarot project, which was released in early 2024.

Mam Tarot is the journey of a white rabbit named Mam who loves to eat and travels across the country to discover the unique cuisine and drinks of each region.

As the project authors placed joy as a top priority, the main mission of Mam Tarot is to bring happiness and food cravings to those who own this deck, as well as to spread the diversity and richness of Vietnamese cuisine to everyone both inside and outside the country.

The 78 playing cards in the Mam Tarot box set introduce 78 Vietnamese culinary illustrations, including 62 illustrations from published books and personal projects by artist Le Rin, and 16 images that were made to order for the Mam Tarot project and have not been published elsewhere.

The Mam Tarot set also includes a book providing the information of the dish, the ingredients, and what occasion it is used for. As a result, Mam Tarot is like a handbook and dictionary of Vietnamese cuisine, not only for Vietnamese people but also foreigners.

According to Hannie Pham, it is challenging to choose the right dish or drink to match the attributes of each playing card. For example, with The Lovers card, which includes the keywords such as “love”, “harmony”, “relationships”, “sexual instinct”, and “commitment”, the authors chose ‘banh xu xe’ or ‘banh phu the’, a set of two traditional Vietnamese sweet cakes that symbolise of the love of husbands and wives in Vietnamese culture.

The 78 playing cards in the Mam Tarot box set introduce 78 Vietnamese culinary illustrations

In a book attached with the Mam Tarot set, the authors tell the story when Mam rabbit met a young couple, who gave them ‘banh phu the’, and explained the meaning of the word “phu the” (husband and wife), and how to make the cake. Today, ‘banh phu the’ is still used as an offering in the wedding of Vietnamese people.

Meanwhile, The World playing card goes with ‘pho’, a Vietnamese dish that is famous all over the world. ‘Pho’ is often the first thing to come in mind of anyone while thinking about Vietnamese food. Many Vietnamese pho restaurants have been established in countries around the world.

Since tarot appeared in Vietnam in 2011, many tarot box sets have been created with the mission of promoting Vietnamese culture. Each tarot author sets a different message and requirements for themselves, but all of them want to promote Vietnamese culture around the world.

Although Thao Ho and Hannie Pham share a common passion to learn about Vietnamese cuisine, the ways in which they were drawn to the Mam Tarot project are completely different.

Hannie Pham was born in Germany. Her hometown is in the northern province of Thai Binh. She lived in the southern province of Ca Mau for a while, before moving to the North and then to Ho Chi Minh City to study at Ton Duc Thang University. The change in locations of living brought her a very unique perception of food.

However, Hannie Pham is still newbie to tarot as she was first introduced to the board game during the COVID-19 pandemic by Vo Nam Du, the co-author of Kieu tarot set.

Meanwhile, Thao Ho, a graduate from the University of Finance and Marketing in Ho Chi Minh City, has studied tarot since 2012 before working as a tarot reader.

She also studied artworks and illustrations and has participated in card game projects. This has helped Thao equipped herself with knowledge and experience to join the Kieu tarot project in 2020 — which was produced to mark the 200th death anniversary of the great poet Nguyen Du — and the Mam tarot project in 2024.

Thao Ho is also the author of ‘Ganh Hat Luu Dien Muon Phuong’ — an artbook illustrating 36 types of performing arts and festivals in Vietnam from North to South.

It is also worth to mention the contribution of young illustrator Le Rin, who has considerable knowledge of dishes from various regions across Vietnam. So far he has completed two food illustration books entitled 'Viet Nam Mien Ngon’ (Vietnam Delicious) and ‘Viet Nam Doc Mien Du Ky’ (Travel Story around Vietnam).