For traditional dishes to venture beyond the village kitchen, traversing forests and streams to reach chain stores, supermarkets, or e-commerce platforms, it remains a long journey...
From village kitchens to OCOP standards
For a long time, the Phước Sơn highlands have been famous for their specialties associated with the community life and cultural rituals of the Bhnong people. Among them, dried black pork and traditionally distilled black glutinous rice wine are two products that many tourists order to take home as souvenirs with a distinct mountain flavor.
Seeing the commercial potential of local dishes, Ms. Do Ngoc Anh Tuyet (Kham Duc commune) began to explore long-term strategies for these two specialties. Determined to turn traditional dishes into branded products, Ms. Tuyet invested in improving processes, applying food safety and hygiene standards, researching packaging design, attaching QR codes for traceability, and building OCOP (One Commune One Product) documentation for the products.
Ms. Tuyet's two products, dried black pork and black glutinous rice wine, were recognized as OCOP 3-star products in 2020. Since then, she has expanded her market to major cities such as Da Nang, Ho Chi Minh City, and Hanoi . On average, she supplies more than 1 ton of finished dried meat products and hundreds of liters of glutinous rice wine to the market each year.
Phuoc Son is not alone; many other highland communities are also gradually upgrading their traditional dishes into commercially viable OCOP products.
In La Êê commune, the business owned by Mr. Pơ Loong Vinh has successfully built the brand of Tăm sticky rice wine - a local wine produced using a semi-industrial process with natural yeast.
In Tay Giang, ginseng chicken stew, a high-class tonic dish of the Co Tu people, is now included in the menu of convenient, OCOP-certified packaged meals by Truong Son Xanh Agricultural and Pharmaceutical Cooperative. In Dong Giang, the To Mai Ly business produces Tam Uyen filter bag reishi mushroom tea, combining local medicinal herbs with freeze-drying technology and vacuum packaging...
Mr. Ríah Cường, Director of Trường Sơn Xanh Agricultural and Pharmaceutical Cooperative, shared: “With traditional dishes, no one in the village writes down the recipes. Each family seasons according to their habits. When preparing the OCOP application, we had to measure each ingredient, write technical procedures, and determine nutritional content. The most difficult thing is still preserving the distinctive flavor, because many traditional ingredients cannot be replaced with industrial additives. That's why we have to grow, cook, and inspect everything ourselves; every step is much more rigorous than before.”
Product upgrade
According to Decision 148 of the Prime Minister issued in 2023, OCOP products are ranked based on a system of criteria ranging from quality and food safety standards; community strength, product story; commercialization potential, etc.
Due to the unique characteristics of the mountainous region, meeting these criteria presents numerous challenges for producers. According to Ms. Koor Thi Nghe, Director of the Green Forest Ecological Cooperative for Clean Vegetables (Hung Son commune), in the border area, not all businesses possess the necessary technical expertise. From operating the factory to writing documentation or conducting inspections, everything must be learned from scratch. Furthermore, transporting goods down the mountain for trade fairs or sample testing incurs significant costs and time.
Another challenge is how to preserve the essence of highland cuisine while adapting to industrial standards. According to Ríah Cường, many traditional products are delicious thanks to their handcrafted methods and local ingredients. When transitioning to industrial processes, some flavors are altered, especially when the original ingredients cannot be used due to limitations in preservation.
"To preserve the authentic flavor, we choose to control the process from the raw material cultivation stage. Instead of buying from outside, the cooperative grows its own local medicinal herbs, uses natural yeast for cooking, and does not use synthetic additives. It's more difficult, but it's the only way to preserve the soul of the dish," Mr. Cuong added.
Representatives from the Rural Development Sub-Department - Da Nang City Department of Agriculture and Environment - the unit in charge of implementing the OCOP program, stated that upgrading highland specialties to meet standards cannot succeed if it relies solely on the efforts of the producers. The entire system, from local authorities and social organizations to the Cooperative Alliance and rural development support organizations, must work together in all stages.
The recognition of an OCOP product is just the first step. After that comes a whole journey of upgrading standards, updating packaging, controlling quality, and connecting with markets to ensure the product truly thrives in the market. For mountain specialties, preserving the unique identity of the product in commercial production is a long-term goal that the OCOP program aims for.
Source: https://baodanang.vn/thuc-mon-mang-di-3305576.html
