Live as deep as Tung UFO

DNHN - Pham Ngoc Anh Tung, the founder of Food map (UFO Technology and Trading Co., Ltd.), was named one of the 2020s ten typical young Vietnamese faces. Tung and Food map will represent Vietnam in the World Blue Venture Award finalist round in 2021.

I'd known Pham Ngoc Anh Tung for a long time, but our first meeting occurred in Da Nang when Tung had just returned from the campsite atop Hai Van pass to watch the sunrise. I intended to speak with Tung about shaving my head and becoming a monk in Myanmar but was captivated by his agricultural technology story...

In early 2022, food map. Asia announced the successful completion of a $2.9 million pre-series A round to scale its operations. 

List of life

Tung founded a food map. Asia, an e-commerce platform owned by UFO Technology and Trading Joint Stock Company that connects farmers and producers of agricultural products directly to domestic and international markets. 

Food map offers a variety of useful "tech toys," including the Durack traceability system, automated marketing, and a system for connecting to international e-commerce platforms. Because this Hue gentleman enjoys sitting and drinking tea, tinkering with small antiques, and earning a living by running into the forest to camp.

If Tung is not the type of person who lives by the healing energy of the forests, I believe he belongs to the group of people who are fearful of crowds but are the founders of startup companies who spend their days bathing and grilling. Fish shied away from such a community. Until the final day, my 32nd birthday, the guy threw out a list of 50 things he wanted to accomplish before turning 40, and I was... completely taken aback. 

The story begins on the man's 32nd birthday. Tung shared a list of 50 things he wishes to accomplish before the age of 40. Tung stated that since creating this list five years ago, he feels as if he is not living a single day; every minute and second that passes feels as if he is accomplishing something on this list. 

There are big things that require a great deal of effort over an extended period to accomplish; there are also small things that I occasionally forget or am not prepared to do. However, it all makes me happy, at least when I can do it. And in the process of accomplishing these goals, I gain a better understanding of myself and discover and experience numerous other new things.

"And we frequently feel more regret for what we did not do than for what we did." Hopefully, when I reach the age of 40, I will look back with such joy and pride," Tung believes in the impermanence of life and the finite nature of time, and thus encourages his followers to live. 

To live as deeply as Tung is to live like this: 

1. Autumn viewing in Kyoto - done.

2. Running a company with more than 100 employees before the age of 30 - done.

3. Organize a solo exhibition - just starting to draw.

4. See the snowfall in Europe - done.

5. Going to 40 countries and five continents - only 16/40.

6. Visit four Buddhist relics - just get ¼.

7. Go to Rome and stand in the middle of the Vatican square - done.

8. See the Mona Lisa in the Louvre - done.

9. Once camping on the top of the mountain watching the sunrise with the sea of ​​clouds and camping on the beach watching the sunrise and sunset - done.

10. Bathed in the sea with luminous phosphorescent - done.

11. Design a house by yourself - not yet.

12. Once dyed platinum hair - not yet.

13. Has two children - still single.

14. Become a Hue researcher and write a book related to Hue - yet.

15. Fluent in an instrument - not yet…

I read this list several times and intended to check to see if I could make any of them accidentally, as well as to take a piece of paper and copy and try a list of my own. 

Back in the day, our generation had a method for accomplishing this, which was to embark on a one-year race with only three goals, but each goal had to be measurable and achievable with a certain amount of assistance. However, the majority of things are very... work, study, and money, rather than "life" and "playfulness" as Tung suggests. 

Oh no, come to think of it, Tung lives with this list and makes it a part of his life, which is also turning work into a colourful game. 

The journey to find forgotten dishes

Tung found himself contemplating the final days of the year. "The border gate is closed today," this cheerful Hue resident wrote on Facebook. What will become of the thousands of containers and tens of thousands of tonnes of fresh agricultural products? How long will the tears continue to flow? Which direction should Vietnamese agricultural products take?" 

These appear to be "substantial" questions. However, it appears as though Tung is a bee, no, a hummingbird, working tirelessly to contribute to society's resolution of this pain. Food map. Asia is Tung's contribution to resolving the problem of Vietnamese agricultural products, and alongside Tung, a group of partners is forming the Vietnam Agricultural Specialties Alliance, which includes the "kind green market" of the Business Association of high-quality Vietnamese goods and Tra Que studio - a unit dedicated to sustainable art creation.

Each year, this alliance will search for indigenous products that remain hidden in rural areas due to a lack of caring hands to design packaging, promote trade, and create markets to bring the products to domestic and international users. Along with the beautiful and eye-catching designs, Tung travels each year to locate an antique item that is gradually vanishing to restore the craft village. Last year, it was all about Hue pressed cake - a long-forgotten childhood treat that has grown in popularity. This year, Tung discovered a dish that was both familiar and strange: traditional Phuc Linh cake.

Food map has been on the market for more than two years, and is a direct connection model between farmers and manufacturers, supplying agricultural products and food sourced from more than 300 farms and agricultural producers in Vietnam. 

Familiar, because who hasn't heard of the resurrection bread? However, strangely, the secrets of ancient Hue cuisine are frequently lost in the distance as migrants flow to Europe or... Da Lat. Tung went in search of the owner of an antique bronze mould for making pho Linh cakes and was ecstatic when he received a piece of Phuc Linh cake that melted in his mouth, soft, smooth, and ideal for a folk dish that was both delicious and healthy. 

As it turns out, a piece of Phuc Linh cake is necessary for a cup of tea. Simultaneously, it is Tung's favourite thing. The gentleman has gathered products to include on the Food map and has enlisted to assist young people in Hue in advancing the introduction of Hue tea. For instance, the flower tea box is quite adorable, as is the whole lotus tea. It appears as though all the threads in Tung's life are connected seamlessly to... save the guy's life. 

When I re-read Tung's list of "living deeply," a Zen master's sentence came to mind: "Tomorrow or the next life, I'm not sure which comes first." This sentence, in a way. The Buddhist concept is "Contemplation of death," which serves as a reminder that the only thing certain in this life is death, and thus one must be concerned and live well. And keep in mind Tung's life motto, which still hangs on his wall: "I now live on earth / One hundred years to a distant land at the end of the sky"...

That's right, Tung's nickname is Tung UFO; he probably came down to earth in a flying saucer to farm and roam for a while before returning to the stars far away. 

Bung Tran/ nguoidothi