Before becoming Ho Chi Minh, he baked buns in Boston and worked in the kitchen of the legendary chef Escoffier.
In 1911, 21-year-old Nguyen Tat Thanh signed on as a mate on a French steamship and left Saigon. He returned to Vietnam approximately 30 years later, but under a different name.
🇺🇸 Boston, 1912–1913
The history of the hotel is connected with this period. Parker HouseAccording to the hotel itself and local historical publications, Nguyen Tat Thanh worked there in the kitchen, including in the bakery.
Parker House is still in operation. The hotel still retains the marble table at which, they say, the future Ho Chi Minh worked. It is still on display for guests today.
The hotel itself is famous for two things: Boston cream pie and Parker House Rolls . Both recipes originated in the 19th century and survived Ho Chi Minh and two world wars.
🇬🇧 London, since late 1913
From the US, Nguyen Tat Thanh moved to England. Initially, he worked in West London, and then his life intersected with Carlton Hotel, one of the most prestigious hotels in the city.
The Carlton's chef at the time was Auguste Escoffier.
Escoffier greatly influenced the way professional kitchens are organized today. He developed the brigade system, dividing the work among chefs of different specialties, wrote Le Guide Culinaire , and created several dishes that have become classics of French cuisine, such as the peach Melba.
At the time, the future leader of communist Vietnam was working in the kitchen of one of the leading French chefs of the era. And the kitchen was only a small part of his itinerary.
After leaving Saigon, Nguyen Tat Thanh worked on ships, lived in the USA, Great Britain and France, and later ended up in the USSR and China.
In 1941, he returned to Vietnam. On September 2, 1945, he marched onto Ba Dinh Square in Hanoi to proclaim the country's independence from France.
Between that same French steamship and the Place des Badinés, 34 years passed.
The Parker House in Boston is still open. You can order that same cream pie there and admire the marble table where, according to the hotel, the future president of Vietnam once worked.
