What's on the Tet feast table in the three regions of Vietnam?

It is a time when children and grandchildren return home to their parents and grandparents, gathering around the Tet holiday meal to share heartwarming stories, offer each other glasses of wine to start the new year, and exchange loving New Year's wishes.

A traditional Tet (Lunar New Year) meal in Northern Vietnam

Northern Vietnamese Tet feast

It is because of these sacred meanings that the Tet meal is different from those of other days of the year. And in each region, the Tet meal will have dishes with their own unique flavors, but they all share the common meaning of abundance, peace, and happiness…

A traditional Tet (Lunar New Year) meal in Central Vietnam.

With those cultural values, the Vietnamese Tet (Lunar New Year) became the overarching theme of the 2024 Vietnamese Tet Festival, themed "Vietnamese Tet Past and Present," held from January 18th to 21st at Le Van Tam Park (District 1, Ho Chi Minh City), recreating the long-standing cultural beauty of the Vietnamese people during the traditional Tet holiday.

Southern Vietnamese Tet feast

In particular, the traditional Tet meals from all three regions of Vietnam, prepared and displayed by artisans at the festival, offer visitors exciting experiences centered around Tet celebrations, Tet meals, Tet excursions, Tet festivities, and Tet markets.

In the Tet feast of Northern Vietnam, familiar dishes such as boiled chicken, fried spring rolls, banh chung (sticky rice cake), jellied meat, pork sausage, gac fruit sticky rice, fish ball soup, carp stewed with pickled vegetables, banana flower salad, pickled onions, etc., are always indispensable.

Dien pomelos carry the distinctive flavor of Tet in Northern Vietnam.

Dien pomelo has the distinctive flavor of Tet in Northern Vietnam.

These dishes symbolize abundance, prosperity, togetherness, and wealth…

Fried spring rolls, a signature dish of Northern Vietnam.

Banh chung (Vietnamese sticky rice cake) is an indispensable part of Tet (Vietnamese New Year) celebrations in Northern Vietnam.

Banh chung (sticky rice cake) is an indispensable part of Tet (Lunar New Year) celebrations in Northern Vietnam.

Along with other dishes, the fruits of Tet in Northern Vietnam include the fragrant Dien pomelo, filling the whole house with its aroma, and the sweet Canh orange, which can be used both for display on the ancestral altar and for eating during Tet.

When it comes to Tet meals in Central Vietnam, the dishes are prepared and presented with more elaborate care, featuring a variety of colorful and eye-catching items such as: banh chung (square sticky rice cake), banh tet (cylindrical sticky rice cake), sour shrimp, sour fermented pork sausage, boiled chicken, spring rolls, pickled vegetables, and various types of rice paper rolls…

Central Vietnamese sticky rice cake (Bánh tét)

Central Vietnamese sticky rice cake (Banh Tet)

In Central Vietnam, besides everyday dishes, there is a wide variety of cakes made for Tet (Vietnamese New Year), such as: printed cakes, glutinous rice cakes, millet porridge, fruit cakes, etc.

Traditional rice cakes for Tet (Vietnamese New Year) in Central Vietnam.

The dishes on the Tet feast table in Central Vietnam are imbued with meanings of abundance, mutual support, love, and harmony among all things…

Central Vietnamese spring rolls

In the southern region of Vietnam, the culture and soil differ from those in the North and Central regions, resulting in somewhat different customs, eating habits, and daily life.

Braised pork with eggs, a signature dish for Tet in Southern Vietnam.

Braised pork with eggs is a signature dish for Tet (Vietnamese New Year) in Southern Vietnam.

People in Southern Vietnam are down-to-earth, open-minded, and hospitable. The climate in the South, with only two seasons, rainy and dry, has created a unique culinary culture.

Southern-style Banh Tet

Stuffed bitter melon symbolizes the hope that all suffering will pass and good things will come.

Some popular dishes found on the Tet (Lunar New Year) feast table in Southern Vietnam include: banh tet (sticky rice cake), pickled shallots, pickled vegetables, braised pork with eggs, bitter melon soup stuffed with meat… symbolizing abundance and wishing for good things in the new year.