On July 22, 2026, the Vietnamese English-language outlet Saigoneer published a food-culture piece on the round food tray, the cái mâm. Weaving in stories of her father and sister, writer Trang Six traces how a single tray has seated families. Homestay dinners, a table at a house you're invited to, a rural celebration—scenes gathered around the tray become easier to encounter the longer you stay. And the original writes of both sides of this tray: that it has "no head seat" and that it also carries "a hierarchy." What tends to confuse travelers on the spot is exactly this two-sidedness.
Something Saigoneer wrote up from a single tray
The mam is a round tray for setting dishes on, and the original text even calls it "ultimately just a plain tray for carrying food between the kitchen and the dining area." The material was wood at first, most often jackfruit wood. The original text Tuổi Trẻ , and notes that old trays were finished in deep crimson lacquer and fine patterns to signal wealth. Sturdier forms appeared in the Bronze Age and, over the centuries, were replaced by aluminum ones—that is how the original piece frames it.
Ethnic minorities choose different materials. In parts of the north and along the central coast, Thái men weave rattan trays, and the original says these last up to 20 years. The Muong lightly toast banana leaves at celebratory gatherings, laying them on the tray and arranging local dishes on the leaves.
As for what goes on the tray, the minimum setup the original lists is three: a seasonal vegetable, a protein dish, and a bowl of soup. At the center sits a small dish of nuoc mam with chili, and the surrounding plates are arranged to circle that dish. In summer, stir-fried water spinach; in winter,braised catfish, with such an example added.
“No seat stands out”—whose reading is that?
At the core of the original is the reading that a round tray has no protruding seat, so everyone joins the same circle regardless of rank or age. This is Trang Six's interpretation, not the conclusion of a survey or statistics.
To support that reading, the original offers the memory of her father, now in his 60s. His parents and nine siblings worked from the rooster's crow until noon, getting through the day on two boiled eggs, diluted nuoc mam and wild greens. Her father believes the habit of eating together grew out of Vietnam's rice-farming culture, the original explains. The only line given in his own words is one sentence: "Somehow we were satisfied. Whatever was on the plate, we shared it among us" (translated from the English original).
The etiquette, too, is described as a scene rather than a set of rules. The young show respect to their elders, and the elders return it with a slight nod. If a dish is out of reach, a family member who notices picks it up with chopsticks and passes it across the tray. A portion is set aside in a covered bowl for anyone running late. Tet, they say, only tastes like Tet once everyone has made it to the midnight meal.
Aluminum runs a few hundred yen; rattan starts in the ten-thousand-yen range
Look up the going price of the trays themselves and the material shifts the figure by two orders of magnitude. The kitchenware shop Tiamo.vn lists aluminum mâm in sizes 4 to 7 for 73,000–135,000 dong. At about 162 dong to the yen (as of July 2026),About 450–830 yen, the price of everyday goods you can buy at a hardware store.
A woven rattan tray (mam may) fetches craft-object prices. In the case of Lu Ngoc Khanh, a maker in Ban Mo 4 village, Quang Huy commune, Phu Yen district, Son La Province, reported by Bao Son La in 2017, a tray of 80 cm to 1 m across takes four to six days to weave, with large trays at 2.5 million dong and small ones at 1.5 million dong. The raw rattan is gathered in the forests of Suoi To or bought from a craft village near Hanoi at 80,000 dong per kilogram (about 490 yen). Si Van Hoan of Ban Mo 2 village in the same commune, featured by the paper in 2020, makes about eight a month and sells them at 2-5 million dong each.
| Type | Material | Size | Market price (dong) | Yen conversion (¥1 ≈ 162 dong) | Sources |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Household tray | Aluminum | 16-30 cm across | 20,000〜55,000 | about 120–340 yen | BigGo Việt Nam (price comparison) |
| Household tray | Aluminum | Sizes 4–7 | 73,000〜135,000 | About 450–830 yen | Tiamo.vn (kitchenware shop) |
| Large tray | Aluminum | 46–72 cm in diameter | 160,000〜545,000 | About 990–3,400 yen | BigGo Việt Nam |
| Woven rattan tray (small / large) | Rattan | 80 cm to 1 m in diameter | 1,500,000／2,500,000 | About 9,300 yen / about 15,400 yen | Báo Sơn La (2017) |
| Woven rattan tray | Rattan | Various | 2,000,000〜5,000,000 | about 12,300–30,900 yen | Bao Son La (2020) |
The upper and lower trays are debated within Vietnam itself
Right after describing the circle's equality, the original also writes its opposite. At rural celebrations, even now mâm trên(the upper tray) and mâm dướithe lower tray, and only after the elders and men at the upper tray finish eating and drinking do the women and children at the lower tray leave their seats — that is the description.
To sum this up as "that's just how Vietnamese society is" would stray from the facts. For one, it differs by ethnicity and region. On June 28, 2023, VietnamPlus, in a piece on the Dao people's table, explained that the upper tray was once assigned to men and elders and the lower tray to women and children, but that today, amid cultural mixing, they have dropped the upper–lower split and eat together, dividing the trays only on major festivals and special days. It has already retreated from the everyday table, the account says.
Next, this custom is not treated favorably within Vietnam. On December 8, 2021, Bao Van Hoa reported on a TV guest's remark that women should sit at the lower tray, relaying criticism from Khuat Thu Hong, director of the Institute for Social Development Studies (Vien Nghien cuu Phat trien Xa hoi). Her words: 'His way of thinking is as if he were living in the 15th or 16th century' (translated from Vietnamese).
In other words, mâm trên / mâm dưới is both a real custom and a point that Vietnamese media write about as a target of criticism. It's too quick to read a seating arrangement seen at one banquet as the shape of that household, that village, let alone the whole country.
What the Son La artisans changed was not the tray but the finish
The story on the side that makes rattan trays also differs a little from what the word 'tradition' conjures. An article Báo Sơn La ran on August 6, 2025 says many of Son La province's 12 ethnic groups hold rattan- and bamboo-weaving skills, naming, besides the Thái, the Dao, La Ha, Kháng and Mông. Quàng Văn Ứt of Bua Bon village, Muong Sai commune, explains that the material is dried, split and soaked in water to soften, and that weaving rattan without breaking it takes fineness and deftness. The finished pieces are smoked on a shelf above the kitchen to guard against insect damage.
But in a 2020 article, Si Văn Hoan sources his materials from a craft village near Hanoi and finishes them with paint instead of smoking them. In his words, "Since I don't spend time processing the raw materials, I can focus on the patterns of the product." What was preserved was the weaving and the patterns; what had shifted was the sourcing and finishing.
From individual meal trays to the low shared table: Japan's path wasn't a straight line either
Setting the Japanese table alongside it makes the mam's place easier to see. In Japan, people long ate each from their own individual tray; box trays (hakozen) were used from the Edo period into the Taisho era; from the end of Taisho into the early Showa era families shifted to the chabudai low table gathered around by all; and from the mid-Showa 30s dining tables and chairs spread—this framing is shared in municipal materials and food-culture explainers. But it isn't a nationwide timeline; the timing and the degree of adoption are said to have varied by region and class. On the Japanese side too, nothing can be stated as absolute.
Lined up side by side, what shows is a difference in order. Japan is often described as moving from individual trays to a shared table, and then toward individualized meals again. Vietnam's mâm keeps its main axis in the shared stage while it is right now under pressure from eating out and individualization. The passage the original places near the end—about the writer's younger sister, a second-year university student who finds being at home tiring and enjoys eating with friends at street stalls more; this is Trang Six's own narration, not a quote of the sister herself—is an example showing that the pressure comes from inside the household.
The same tension exists on the shop side. A Saigon hu tieu shop that chose to carry a four-generation flavor via TikTok (Carrying on an 80-year flavor via TikTok: Saigon's fourth-generation hu tieu shop) and the work of a cook who rewrites family cooking itself (A blind master chef rewrites family Vietnamese cooking), you can see that the story of the mam is not about the vessel but about who you eat with.
How to tell them apart once the "circle" becomes a product
Just before its close, the original touches on how the owner of a modern Vietnamese restaurant serves dishes arranged on a mâm. It functions to invite business counterparts into a circle of trust, and at a homestay's communal dinner it lets travelers taste “authentic” Vietnam—that's how it's written. It's not about the number of shops or market size, but strictly the original's observation.
Flip it around and the implication for travelers is simple. A shop that serves food on a mam has chosen the mam as staging. The price carries that staging. If you want to see a mam that isn't a performance, it's quicker to go where only locals gather. A resident-oriented market where central-region ingredients and prepared dishes cluster in the alleys (Cho Ba Hoa, a residents' market where all of central Vietnam moved into a Saigon alley) set out, in place of any staging, the table of that region.
Practical notes for the day you're invited to a tray
| situations | What happens | What you can do | Points to note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Family or homestay dinner | People may form a circle around the tray and sit cross-legged on the floor | Check with the host about shoes and where to sit | Seating is decided differently in each household. Don't go looking for the "seat of honor" yourself |
| Chopsticks and bowls are handed out | Chopsticks are handed out one pair at a time from a bundle, while another person serves rice into bowls (as described in the original) | Wait to be served and start eating once you're invited to | If you want to help, ask first |
| How the dishes are arranged | Seasonal vegetables, a protein dish, and soup are set out together, with a small bowl of nước mắm in the center | The small bowl in the center is used for shared seasoning | It isn't a set course—don't expect to wait for the next plate |
| A dish is out of reach | Someone who notices may pick up food with chopsticks and pass it to you | If something is passed to you, take it | Whether serving chopsticks are used varies by household. Watch your host's hands |
| Some people arrive late | A portion may be set aside for that person in a covered bowl | If you'll be late, say so in advance | Don't touch a dish set aside for someone |
| Festivals and weddings | The trays may be split into several, grouped by age or family relationship | Sit at the tray you're shown to | How things are divided varies by region, ethnicity and generation |
| Buy a tray as a souvenir | Aluminum at markets and hardware shops, rattan at craft shops in the mountains | Aluminum for everyday use (about 450–830 yen); rattan for decoration (from about 9,300 yen) | Rattan trays come in large sizes, 80 cm to 1 m across; decide how you'll carry one home first |
For the number of trays carried at the betrothal ceremony (lễ ăn hỏi), Vietnamese wedding-service companies' explanations say odd numbers are often chosen in the north and even numbers in the south, but the meaning attributed differs among vendors and regions. There's no need for the invited side to count the trays and interpret them.
Summary
The interest of the original piece on the mâm lies in how it writes it as a symbol of equality while also writing, itself, that the same tray can make hierarchy visible. The usable takeaway is not to infer relationships from the shape of the tray, but to fall in with the way of the household in front of you.
If you make a move next, the order goes like this. If you have a family or homestay meal planned, just ask in advance where to sit and when to start eating. If you're buying a tray as a souvenir, everyday aluminum and decorative rattan differ by two digits in price, so decide your purpose before heading to the market. If rattan is the goal, knowing that the source repeatedly cited by Vietnamese papers is Quang Huy commune, Phu Yen district, Son La province, and that large ones around 80 cm in diameter are the norm, helps you judge the pricing. And even if you see a tray divided into upper and lower, please don't carry that one scene home as the face of the country.
Sources:Saigoneer／Báo Sơn La（2017）／Báo Sơn La（2020）／Báo Sơn La（2025）／VietnamPlus／Báo Văn Hóa／Tiamo.vn／BigGo Việt Nam／Seikasha (hakozen box trays and chabudai low tables)
