Eat it to beat it! Vietnamese pizza takeout bakes coronaburger to ward off fear of coronavirus

Record ID: 1466085

  • Title: Eat it to beat it! Vietnamese pizza takeout bakes coronaburger to ward off fear of coronavirus
  • Date: 26th March 2020
  • Summary: HANOI, VIETNAM (MARCH 25, 2020) (REUTERS) EXTERIOR OF TAKE OUT PIZZA SHOP VARIOUS BUSINESS OWNER, HOANG TUNG, WALKING THROUGH DISINFECTION CHAMBER VIETNAMESE FLAG VARIOUS OF EMPLOYEE WALKING THROUGH DISINFECTION CHAMBER VARIOUS OF HAND ASSEMBLING CORONABURGER EMPLOYEE PUTTING CORONABURGER BUN ON THE BURGER CREATOR OF CORONABURGER AND SHOP OWNER, HOANG TUNG, LOOKING AT FINISHED CORONABURGER HAND HOLDING PLATE OF CORONABURGER (SOUNDBITE) (Vietnamese) CREATOR OF CORONABURGER AND SHOP OWNER, HOANG TUNG, SAYING: "We have this joke that if you are scared of something, eat it, so that's why the coronavirus isn't scary anymore after you ate a burger in the shape of the virus itself. That way of thinking spread joy to others during this pandemic. Besides having a new product to enjoy, people will feel more positive psychologically." VARIOUS OF BAKER AT SHOP POURING CRUSHED VEGETABLE JUICE INTO FLOUR VARIOUS OF BAKER KNEADING GREEN-COLOURED DOUGH VARIOUS OF BAKER PUTTING DOUGH-SHAPED SPIKES ON ROUNDED DOUGH TO MAKE IT LOOKS LIKE CORONAVIRUS VARIOUS OF BUNS BEING BAKED IN OVEN CORONABURGER BEING SERVED TO A FOREIGN CUSTOMER CUSTOMER EATING (SOUNDBITE) (English) WALK-IN CUSTOMER, PAUL MONAHAN, SAYING: "I think it was interesting but it's light-hearted and different. I think this is the only place doing a coronaburger special, and it was tasty, very good." VARIOUS OF 66-YEAR OLD DANG DINH QUY SHARING CORONABURGER WITH HIS GRANDSON (SOUNDBITE) (Vietnamese) RESIDENT, DANG DINH QUY, 66, SAYING: "This coronavirus is very dangerous. But if we ate a burger in its shape, in our mind it's like we are already the victorious over the virus. If you want to beat it, you gotta eat it first" QUY AND HIS GRANDSON EATING BURGER AT THE SHOP SIGN READING (English): "HANOI, PIZZA HOME" VARIOUS OF CUSTOMERS PICKING UP THEIR ORDERS AT SHOP
  • Embargoed: 9th April 2020 03:48
  • Keywords: Coronavirus Vietnam bun burger corona disease health takeaway
  • Location: HANOI, VIETNAM
  • City: HANOI, VIETNAM
  • Country: Vietnam
  • Topics: Health/Medicine
  • Reuters ID: LVA001C6OSK07
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: 'Eat it to beat it' - a pizza business in Hanoi is making their burger to look like a coronavirus aimed to spread 'light-hearted' joy to the people amid the global coronavirus pandemic.
    Pizza chain owner Hoang Tung came up with the idea to bring something fun into the burger so that 'people will feel more positive psychologically'.
    "We have this joke that if you are scared of something, eat it, so that's why the coronavirus isn't scary anymore after you ate a burger in the shape of the virus itself," Tung told Reuters.
    He believes that the virus itself is not as dangerous as the chaos it causes among communities such as panic buying, and by eating his burger, people will feel they are in fact stronger than the virus, and humanity can overcome the pandemic.
    It took Tung and his staff a day of trial and error to come up with ingredients that can make the shape and colour of a virus. He ended up using green tea powder and vegetable juice. The shop was able to sell the first 50 burgers the next day and the order is slowly increasing.
    Tung said he hopes that not only his creation will give his customers a mentality boost, but also an alternative income for his suffering business during the outbreak.
    Vietnam's economy has started to see struggles across sectors, including exports to and imports from China, tourism, and transportation services such as airlines and trains, despite the optimism of the government in not lowering the country's projected 2020 GDP growth of 6.9 percent.
    Some customers already have positive feedbacks on the coronaburger itself.
    "This coronavirus is very dangerous. But if we ate a burger in its shape, in our mind it's like we are already the victorious over the virus. If you want to beat it, you gotta eat it first," said 66-year old Dang Dinh Quy sharing the burger with his grandson.
    Vietnam's health ministry reported an additional seven coronavirus cases on Wednesday (March 26), taking the Southeast Asian country's tally to 141, though it reported no deaths. There are 1,596 suspected cases in the country, it said, and 24,311 tests have been carried out in Vietnam.
    (Production: Thinh Nguyen, Minh Nguyen)
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2020. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
Register