Unique cuisine of Bu Gia Map

People introduce the specialty of sour bamboo shoots in Bu Gia Map. Photo: Binh Nguyen

In particular, Bu Gia Map National Park is promoting the development of tourism products with unique indigenous culture associated with forest protection, nature conservation with livelihood development and community ecotourism in the border commune. In particular, the diversity and uniqueness of the commune's cuisine is a strength that will be exploited.

Unique community dishes

Thuc soup (thut soup) is honored as one of 121 typical dishes of Vietnam. This is a familiar dish of the Stieng and M'nong ethnic groups in the remote border commune of Bu Gia Map. This specialty dish is cooked by ethnic groups to treat distinguished guests when they come to their homes and during holidays, Tet, and important community events such as: traditional Tet, god worshiping festival, new rice celebration...

The ingredients of this dish are mainly taken from the natural forest, cooked in bamboo tubes. After the ingredients are cooked, the cook will use a long stick to continuously stir until the food ingredients in the tube are soft and blended together. This method of cooking is used to name the unique soup here.

The ingredients of the soup are very diverse, the vegetables picked in the fields, in the forest, the snails caught, the fish or the pieces of meat brought along all become the ingredients for processing. But the most typical ingredients of Bu Gia Map forest such as: bamboo shoots, betel leaves, bitter eggplant, hot pepper cooked with stream fish or pork, cowhide from clean pigs and cows are indispensable. These natural ingredients are cooked in bamboo tubes with a full range of sweet, fatty, bitter, and spicy flavors, creating a delicate and unique dish that diners will find hard to forget after enjoying it once.

Mr. Do Truong Giang, Deputy Director of the Center for Tourism Propaganda and Conservation Rescue, Bu Gia Map National Park, said: Canh Thuc is a typical dish of Bu Gia Map Eco-tourism Area, so it is included in all menus serving guests when coming to the park. Canh Thuc cannot be confused with any other dish because it shows a very high sense of community. When going to the forest or the field, you only need a small piece of meat or catch a stream fish that cannot be divided equally among everyone, but put into Canh Thuc, it will be mixed with other ingredients and divided equally among all members. In daily life, this is a familiar dish in the daily meals of the people. They often eat it with white rice. When going to the forest or the field, the rice will be pre-cooked and stored in a gourd shell.

In addition to Canh Thut, Canh Boi of the M'nong ethnic group is also a highly communal soup, often cooked in festivals and important events of each family or community. This soup has the fragrant, rich taste of wild vegetables, the sweetness of Nhao leaves, and the rich taste of rice starch. The main ingredients of this dish are rice flour and finely ground dried Nhao leaves. The most meticulous step in preparing this soup is also pounding the rice flour with Nhao leaves. The upland rice is soaked in water for about 30 minutes, then put in a mortar and pounded until smooth, then sifted with a winnowing basket to get fine powder. This powder is then pounded together with dried Nhao leaves. In addition, the types of vegetables used to cook Canh Boi are also very rich with many different variations. Specifically, there is Canh Boi with sour bamboo shoots cooked with dried meat; Canh Boi cooked with mushrooms with upland eggplant, pork, pork bones or dried beef; Bún bò Huế soup with dried meat or bones… Various kinds of vegetables such as tweezers, bamboo shoots, squash shoots, butterfly pea, chili shoots, cassava shoots… can all be ingredients to make Bún bò soup.

Bu Gia Map National Park has designed a camping tour in the forest, visitors can enjoy the process of cooking soup, grilling meat, fish... next to the stream in the middle of the forest. Bu Gia Map National Park always prioritizes the use of local products, on the one hand, so that visitors can enjoy the special dishes of the indigenous people; at the same time, contributing to creating a sustainable livelihood for the local community.
Mr. DO TRUONG GIANG, Deputy Director of the Center for Tourism Propaganda and Conservation Rescue, Bu Gia Map National Park

Tourist specialties

Coming to Bu Gia Map National Park, visitors also enjoy many delicious dishes with a strong mountain flavor such as: wild vegetables, rice wine, corn wine, grilled meat, bamboo rice...

Booth introducing Can wine and bamboo rice at the 1st Congress of Bu Gia Map Commune Party Committee, term 2025-2030.

Among wild vegetables, rattan shoots can be said to be one of the most typical wild vegetable dishes of Bu Gia Map border commune. This is also one of the specialties of Binh Phuoc province (old). Rattan shoots have a bitter taste but sweet aftertaste, cool in the throat, so they are used to make many dishes such as: stewed pork leg, stir-fried, salad... In particular, enjoying charcoal-grilled rattan shoots, diners will feel all the fragrant, fatty, bitter and sweet aftertaste of this unique wild vegetable dish. Not only is it a delicious dish, rattan shoots are also a medicine to cure bloating, flatulence and help sober up.

Rau nhiep (also known as rau nhip or rau bep) is called “har piep” by the Stieng people (har means vegetable) and is a popular wild vegetable in the forests of Binh Phuoc and the Southern Central Highlands. This vegetable has high nutritional content and can be harvested all year round, so it is used by local people as the main ingredient for many traditional dishes, including Canh Thuc. In addition, this vegetable is also chosen to cook boiled dishes, stir-fried dishes... all very delicious.

In Bu Gia Map, many wild vegetable dishes that diners try once will be forever impressed, such as: stir-fried cassava leaves with wild eggplant, dried fish which is a "rice-consuming" dish; stir-fried jackfruit, wild banana flower salad, raw vegetables from wild banana trees...

Specialty wild vegetables in Bu Gia Map.

During campfire nights or culinary exchanges when returning to Bu Gia Map National Park, visitors have the opportunity to enjoy traditional local wines such as: rice wine, corn wine, areca wine, cassava wine... The most special of which is rice wine, an indispensable drink in festivals such as: weddings, new rice celebrations, new house celebrations, holidays, Tet...

Bamboo rice is not only a traditional dish of ethnic minorities in Bu Gia Map but also a delicacy that attracts diners to Bu Gia Map National Park. Sticky rice is cooked in bamboo tubes. Nowadays, this rice dish is varied in many ways such as: purple sticky rice, gac sticky rice, green bean sticky rice, corn sticky rice... In Bu Gia Map, this ethnic rice dish is eaten with traditional soup, a unique way of enjoying it that cannot be found anywhere else.

Along with the development of community tourism and forest tourism in Bu Gia Map National Park, people are increasingly aware of making specialties to serve the enjoyment needs of diners.

Ms. To Thi Nga, owner of Bu Gia Map Mountain Forest Specialty Establishment, shared: I opened Bu Gia Map Mountain Forest Specialty Establishment not only to serve local people but also to welcome many tourists to Bu Gia Map National Park to enjoy specialties and buy them as gifts. Currently, the number of tourists coming to Bu Gia Map National Park is increasing, the demand is increasing, so I want to make many specialties to meet their needs such as: roasted duck with mac mat leaves, roasted duck vermicelli, roasted duck pho... In the locality, there is an abundant source of fresh bamboo shoots, so the establishment also processes pickled bamboo shoots with fresh mac mat fruit. The main ingredients of this dish are bamboo shoots and mac mat fruit, spices include garlic and chili. This specialty dish is made and sold all year round but is consumed the most during the Lunar New Year.

Binh Nguyen

Source: https://baodongnai.com.vn/giai-tri/202509/doc-dao-am-thuc-bu-gia-map-5671584/