Unique Northwestern Vietnamese cuisine

08:16, 14/05/2023

The Northwest region is an area that still preserves and clearly maintains the beautiful traditional cultural features of ethnic communities, such as customs, festivals, decorative arts, cuisine , and community cultural activities like spring festivals, market fairs, weddings, funerals, new rice harvest celebrations, and forest worship ceremonies…

In particular, traditional cuisine, closely linked to the local culture of each ethnic group, has been preserved and promoted by the people, becoming a unique highlight in the development of local tourism .

In provinces such as Son La, Lao Cai, Lai Chau, Yen Bai, Lang Son, Hoa Binh, and Dien Bien , there are many famous community tourism destinations like Ta Xua, Moc Chau, Ban Lac, Nghia Lo, Tu Le, Mu Cang Chai, Y Ty, Bac Ha, Tram Tau, Muong Lo, and Sin Ho. Besides the ecological landscapes, customs, and folk culture, the distinctive traditional cuisine of the Tay, Mong, Dao, Thai, and Ha Nhi ethnic groups is always a highlight for tourists due to its novelty and uniqueness.

The Tay ethnic people prepare their food in the setting of a stilt house.

To create meals that are rich in traditional colors and flavors, the people personally search for ingredients readily available in the forest and their home gardens. They use seasonal ingredients, ensuring the dishes are always fresh and flavorful, such as bamboo shoots, stream fish, dried pork, colored sticky rice, various cakes, and wild vegetables gathered along the stream banks. They meticulously combine forest spices like dổi seeds, mắc khén seeds, pepper, chili, and various aromatic leaves, and creatively adapt their cooking methods.

The culinary experience is always intertwined with and harmonizes with other cultural elements such as stilt house culture, Then singing, Khen dance, Xoe dance, and Sap dance… In particular, the market is a special space, where the culinary culture of the ethnic groups in the Northwest region is most vividly and clearly displayed. Here, visitors can fully enjoy the flavors of characteristic dishes such as five-colored sticky rice, Thang Co (a traditional stew), Men Men (corn porridge), pho (noodle soup), various cakes, smoked buffalo meat, braised pork, dried pork, bamboo shoots, mountain vegetables, and fruits such as plums, pears, peaches, and wild olives… all in a space rich in traditional colors.

A traditional dish of the Thai ethnic group in the Northwest region.

Preserving and promoting the value of traditional culinary culture in community-based tourism areas is also closely linked to the organization of festivals. Besides traditional festivals such as the Lồng Tồng Festival, Gầu Tào Festival, the New Rice Festival, and the Forest Worship Festival, many localities organize seasonal festivals such as the Ban Flower Festival in Sơn La (Lai Châu), the Com Festival in Bảo Yên (Lào Cai), the Plum Harvesting Festival in Mộc Châu (Sơn La) and Bắc Hà (Lào Cai), the Thái Nghĩa Lộ Xòe Festival (Yên Bái), the Custard Apple Festival in Chi Lăng (Lạng Sơn), autumn festivals, spring festivals, and food festivals in the Northwest region. Here, tourists can experience folk performances and enjoy local dishes and fruits.

Nguyen The Luong

Source link: https://baodaklak.vn/du-lich/202305/doc-dao-am-thuc-tay-bac-1405c54/