From snake village to tourist village

Le Mat village (now in Viet Hung ward, Long Bien district, Hanoi) used to be a snake-catching village, processing food, making medicine... from snakes. Due to changes in society and regulations on wildlife protection, Le Mat village has transformed into a famous tourist village - culinary village.

Le Mat snake village has long been famous both domestically and internationally for its snake catching, snake breeding and snake specialty processing. Le Mat is also famous for its heritage system.

Le Mat communal house is a large-scale communal house, worshiping the village's tutelary god, Mr. Nguyen Quy Cong, a young man who had the merit of retrieving the body of a Ly Dynasty princess from the Thien Duc River.

Later, King Ly granted him favor and allowed him to lead the children of Le Mat village to reclaim the land west of Thang Long citadel, establishing 13 villages. Those are the wards: Ngoc Ha, Kim Ma, Vinh Phuc... belonging to Ba Dinh district today.

Coming to Le Mat today, right next to the village communal house is a spacious house, built in the traditional architectural style. That is the space to display and introduce products of Le Mat Traditional Craft Village.

Here, visitors can explore the history of the craft village and its snake products. Among them, the most notable products are snake products soaked in wine to improve health.

Mr. Ngo Van Duong, who is in charge of the Le Mat Exhibition House, shared that the exhibition space was established to promote products made from snakes - a characteristic of the craft village. Mr. Duong affirmed that this is the first destination for tourists who want to explore products made from snakes.

Middle-aged and elderly people in Le Mat all remember clearly that in the past, people in Le Mat village went everywhere to catch snakes to cook or make medicine. But then, gradually, regulations on environmental protection and wildlife protection were issued. Some snake species were listed as protected. The snake catching profession in Le Mat was at risk of reaching a dead end.

Le Mat snake village has now become a tourist destination of the city.

In 2016, the People's Committee of Long Bien District developed and implemented the Project "Developing Le Mat Craft Village in the period of 2016-2020" and received great support from the people. Le Mat people switched to snake farming and were managed and supervised by the government.

From a place where it seemed like they would lose their profession, Le Mat people continued to stick with snake farming and culinary processing. From one snake, the chef can prepare up to 15 different dishes. No part of the snake is discarded, from meat, bones, skin, blood, bile... all can be transformed into dishes, both optimizing costs and creating diversity in cuisine.

Currently, Le Mat has a Craft Village Cooperative, with 25 households participating in the Cooperative. Mr. Nguyen Anh Tuan, Director of Le Mat Craft Village Cooperative, said: Snake farming brings high economic value, has both medical significance and effects, and also nourishes human health because of its delicious taste and high nutrition.

Although the speed of urbanization has reduced the area and the number of snake-raising households has decreased, there are still some households raising from 50 to 70 snakes, mainly cobras, rat snakes, and buffalo snakes. The number of snakes is enough to supply local restaurants and maintain reproduction.

Many young people are also involved in snake farming. Mr. Truong Minh Khanh is a typical example of the young generation who are very enthusiastic about preserving the traditional profession. His family both raises snakes and has a culinary garden called Ran Rao. His family has been raising snakes for 20 years, with a scale of about 50 cages, with two types of cobras and king cobras, this number is mainly for the restaurant.

“I want to contribute to the development of my hometown’s traditional craft. In addition to expanding the scale of the barn, I will open restaurants to serve the needs and tastes of tourists. Especially, developing tourism associated with traditional craft villages to introduce to tourists,” said Mr. Khanh.

However, due to changes in social concepts, the demand for snake meat and its use in medicine has decreased. Households have shifted their business from snake specialties to culinary business, mainly country cuisine, to diversify their products.

The snake, which was once a “main dish”, has now become an object for exhibition, introducing snake species and the process of raising snakes so that tourists can explore and learn. This helps the ancient snake village to retain its own characteristics while still adapting to life, having its own highlight in the context of extremely strong competition.

In 2024, Le Mat was recognized by the Hanoi People's Committee as a city-level tourist destination. Combining precious heritages such as the Le Mat communal house relic cluster and culinary dishes, Le Mat became one of the favorite destinations for tourists.

Source: https://nhandan.vn/tu-lang-ran-den-lang-du-lich-am-thuc-post851460.html