Vietnam police summon beef noodle seller after ‘Salt Bae’ parody video; Bui Tuan Lam was ‘just attracting customers’
- Da Nang cook’s film comes days after top Vietnamese official To Lam was caught on camera eating gold-encrusted steak at ‘Salt Bae’s’ London restaurant
- It is unclear if police summons is because of the video; the cook has previously criticised his country’s authorities online
Police in Vietnam have summoned a beef noodle seller who filmed himself imitating Nusret Gokce, or “Salt Bae”, days after a top Vietnamese official was caught on camera eating gold-encrusted steak at the Turkish celebrity chef’s London restaurant.
Bui Tuan Lam, 38, from the central city of Da Nang, said his intention in making the video, which shows him ceremoniously slicing boiled beef and flamboyantly sprinkling spring onions into a bowl of noodle soup, was not to mock any particular individual.
“The video I made was for fun and for advertising my beef noodle shop. More customers have been coming since I posted it,” said Lam, who added it was not clear if the police summons was because of his video.
Last week, Gokce uploaded a video of himself feeding Vietnam’s Minister of Public Security, To Lam, gold leaf encrusted steak at his London restaurant, where a steak sells for up to £1,450 (US$1,960).
Days later, Facebook said it had unblocked the ‘#saltbae’ hashtag, having found the tag had been blocked globally after the footage emerged.