The beauty of Vietnamese culinary culture

 In the treasure of culinary culture, Vietnam is home to many delicious dishes, from traditional dishes in ordinary days to sophisticated dishes for festivals and royal courts. Each region of the country has different dishes and has distinct meanings that create the identity of each nation. It reflects the traditions and characteristics of each resident living in each area.

Therefore, learning about the cuisine of some ethnic groups in the Vietnamese ethnic community is not only to know about the characteristics of the dishes, but through that to understand the beliefs, culture and typical features of the Vietnamese people. each class of residents.

Maybe the beauty of Vietnamese culinary culture has started from such simple things. From the very beginning, the Vietnamese people have been the owners of the Red River culture, in which the wet rice civilization stands out. Whether living in the plains, midlands or in mountainous valleys, Lac Viet residents are still attached to rice and maintain a sedentary and sedentary life. To ensure intensive cultivation of wet rice in the harsh highlands, from ancient times the Mong people have paid attention to irrigation, taking advantage of the power of nature to maintain their lives. Along with time, today the lifestyle and eating habits of the H'mong people in the highlands have also changed a lot, although the products in daily life are taken from nature or made by hands, but the way to do this is to change the way they live. The way of processing and eating has been different, more sophisticated. From the need for food to eat, now it is the need to enjoy the food. In daily dishes as well as festivals, they pay great attention to spices and colors because the nature here is cold, it is necessary to have warm and hot dishes with strong colors. If eating and drinking during the day is often a serious requirement, ensuring the need for satiety, in crowded markets, the need to eat and drink is put on the top. Just a bottle of wine and a pan of thang co, in turn, each person will drink the same bowl of wine and eat the same pan of soup. It is a beautiful image of the community and equality of the Mong and Dao people in the highlands in the way they eat. Especially they attach great importance to the rich colors of the dishes.

Dr. Tran Huu Son, Deputy Director of the Department of Culture and Information of Lao Cai province said: “Each community has its own way of eating, drinking and eating, it reflects the economy, society of that ethnic group. The culinary culture of the Mong people on weekdays is mainly Mao poa. The main food crop of the Mong people is maize, so in many areas, the people use corn as their main food. Steamed corn is always eaten with a high-fat soup. In the cold highlands, fat is a regular dish. But on the contrary, the Thai people in the past mainly cultivated sticky rice, so the main dish is sticky rice, sticky rice with a special fish sauce made from fish dishes, fish intestines…”

For residents of Muong, Hoa Binh, their economy is mainly agriculture, wet rice cultivation. In each harvest season, sticky rice is a culinary dish with great meaning to thank heaven and earth for a bountiful harvest. The new rice festival started with the rice pounding dance, in the bustling sound, it seems that the desire for food has spread and has become a wish for happiness, peace, and spiritual value. For the Vietnamese people, rice grains are honored as real pearls, the raw materials that Lang Lieu chose in the past to create things that symbolize heaven and earth. Therefore, rice grain is highly respected by our people. For the Muong, the kitchen is not only a place for daily cooking, creating warmth for the family, but also a place to store rice and other products such as corn and potatoes after each harvest season. Talking about the culinary characteristics as well as the productive labor of the Muong people is referring to a very specific sentence: "Red rice, house guard, water carried, pork belly, next day, next month", so sticky rice is the thing. indispensable for the Muong. Next to the pink fire, the bamboo rice tubes give off a new aroma of sticky rice, evoking the atmosphere of a seasonal day.

Mr. Bui Duc Òm, Chairman of the People's Committee of Vinh Dong Commune, Kim Boi, Hoa Binh said: "In the past, the culture of the Muong people also grew cotton, weaved cloth, grew wet rice, and upland rice. Upland rice cultivation should be called upland sticky rice. Because in the past, it was still difficult for household items such as pots and pans, and because people often go to the hills and upland, it is most convenient for people to bring rice to the fields to soak with water, then chop up bamboo and bamboo tubes. ready in the forest for rice to cook to eat, no need for bowls, chopsticks, very convenient. People often choose moderate bamboo, if they are too old to eat, they will not be fragrant or ripe."

Food used for the dishes of the Muong people are mostly vegetables and fruits, products of horticulture and gathering forest products such as banana trees, cassava leaves, bamboo shoots, mushrooms, vegetables or the main products of the profession. Animal husbandry, hunting and fishing are processed by boiling, sautéing, grilling, salting, etc. Through research by ethnographers, the dishes of the Muong have a very close relationship with the traditional dishes. Hue family. These are typical dishes in every holiday, New Year, funeral, wedding and when there are guests at home. It represents the idyllic and elegant features of the Muong in culinary culture. The dishes are carefully prepared, through the skillful hands of Muong women, showing their very own characteristics through the taste and color of each dish. The ritual of arranging the rice tray is also very important.

Mr. Bui Duc Òm, Chairman of the People's Committee of Vinh Dong Commune, Kim Boi, Hoa Binh said: “When my family has guests, I have to do this: Chicken must leave liver, blood, body, float, two chicken thighs and legs. When there are precious guests, the elderly come to the house to eat, the first piece of liver is the piece of liver, then the fishing float, the class. And the children grabbed the thighs. Especially like my spouse or family members are not allowed to eat, normally only eat the rest, even pork. If you put them on a plate or a leaf, you also have to have the courage to go up, and the heart to receive valuable guests and the elderly."

In the tray of meals to welcome guests, the head of the family and the elderly are treated with utmost respect. It is the expression of the hospitality and filial piety of children towards their parents and guests in the eating culture of the Muong ethnic group, which is clearly reflected in their daily life. Participating in the preparation of dishes during Tet holiday is the joy and interest of each member of the community. For the Dao Tuyen, Lao Cai, preparing dishes in the offering tray is the man's duty. Women are responsible for making cakes on Tet holiday. In the New Year celebrations of the Dao Tuyen, Lao Cai cannot lack two types of cakes: banh chung and banh honey. Unlike the square cake of the Kinh people, the banh chung of the Dao Tuyen people are made very unique. First of all, the burning of sticky rice straw to get dyed green rice color like indigo. Then pack the cake lengthwise. With the concept that the food on Tet holiday is an offering to ancestors and gods, it should be made very elaborately to keep it sacred. The rice to make the cake must be very white, fragrant and the water to wash the rice and boil the cake must be very pure to offer to grandparents and ancestors. It can be said that the methods of making cakes of the Dao people today still retain the traditional features left by their ancestors. The traditional and sacred features in the way of making banh chung offered on Tet holiday are reflected quite strongly in the processing and the making of cakes. The filling of banh chung is made of cooked green beans and stir-fried with onions and fat until the fire is evenly spread to wake up the aroma. Along with banh chung to offer to ancestors, Dao Tuyen people also make honey cakes to offer to gods during Tet. According to the concept of the Dao people, Banh Mi represents the harmony and combination of yin and yang, the harmony between heaven and earth for all things to grow and develop. Honey cake will be offered to the gods, so it must be made very carefully, with pure, clear water, the flour is pounded and carefully mixed. Making honey cakes is done by women. After the glutinous rice is pounded and mixed with sugar, it is wrapped in banana leaves. The cake is rectangular, flat, thin and tied in pairs. It is a symbol of the sun and moon, offered to the gods to pray for a civilized light for the community and village.

The dishes prepared on New Year's Day have a sacred meaning and come from the notion that all business and livelihood activities of the community are under the influence of ancestors. Dao people offer their grandparents and ancestors the dishes and cakes they make, first of all, hoping for the gods and heaven and earth to bless them, help them in their working and production lives, and at the same time express their faith. Respecting ancestors according to the tradition of drinking water, remembering the source of the Vietnamese nation. The cakes wrapped on Tet holiday to offer to ancestors not only bring inherent characteristics of color and taste, but also contain the cultural values ​​of the community and are highly symbolic, carrying the values ​​​​of the community. history, aesthetics. If in the Kinh people, banh chung has a square shape, symbolizing heaven and earth in spring, then banh chung of the Dao Tuyen and Lao Cai people is wrapped in the shape of a mother's milk to show respect and filial piety to the ancestors. Banh chung is boiled for 8 hours with clear well water and uniform fire. This cake is a sincere expression of the hearts of children and grandchildren in the family to the deceased, about gratitude for giving birth to them.

The dishes made from skillful and elaborate hands are presented on the offering tray. When the food is offered to the gods, there is sacred energy in the spirit world, the ancestors. The shaman tells the gods and ancestors about what has been achieved in the past year and prays for a good new year, healthy descendants, and a bountiful harvest for the community and village. An offering tray is offered on the 30th day of Tet to expect grandparents and ancestors to reunite with their families. Banh chung is offered on the 30th day of Tet, while honey cake is offered to the gods on the 1st day of the New Year to pray for a good year. This is the unique difference in the ritual culture of the Dao people's offerings. Not only the ingredients from livestock and plants are selected in an unusual way, but even daily vegetables are specially selected in the New Year's offering. The Dao people choose vegetables to offer to represent purity and lushness. The food that has been offered on the altar according to the ritual is sacred, so after the offering, it will be reclined and distributed to the descendants. When you eat these dishes, you will enjoy your fortune, receive your luck, your wishes and your wishes for your family, village and community.

The way to make offerings of cakes on Tet holiday is both elaborate and sacred. Elder of the village Hoang Sy Luc, Lang My village, Bao Thang, Lao Cai said: “We make a cake for worship on the night of the 30th Tet, and the cake we worship on the 1st of Tet. The responsibility of the bakers is the sisters, especially not to have fat, meat for bread to worship gods, house gods, Ngoc Hoang or to worship Loi Vuong, god of agriculture, land ... gods according to mandarin. The Dao people's concept is not to eat meat. For savory cakes used to worship grandparents and ancestors. Banh chung is wrapped with dong leaves, glutinous rice, and glutinous rice straw to worship grandparents and ancestors. In the year, Lunar New Year, we abstain from eating fat, do not eat meat, but worship with honey cakes. Honey cake consists of two thin flat pieces pressed against each other, rectangular in shape, meaning the sun, one half is in the shape of a moon. Nhat and lunar are combined into the word "Minh" which means purity, we Dao people believe that having the word "Minh" means civilization, glutinous rice flour and sugar are both sweet and supple, praying for a happy family year. We Dao people attach great importance to honey cake, worshiping to pray for a sweet and emotional family year. For banh gio, the color of the cake is indigo which represents the color of our clothes dyed in indigo. As for the frame, according to the Dao's concept, it is the mother's milk, the source of the Dao, so the cake mold is slightly hunched, symbolizing the mother's milk."

The dishes on Tet holiday with cakes offered by the Dao Tuyen people are a symbol that reflects each stage of production development from the gathering and hunting economy to the cultivation of rice and food crops. The food on these happy days carries great spiritual significance. It is not only enjoying the fruits of their own labor, but it is also a bond of community and village sentiments, a continuation of the cultural and culinary traditions of the ancestors. The Dao Tuyen people believe that the Lunar New Year is the most sacred festival, everyone must prepare thoughtful gifts and the ritual must be fully performed. After enjoying the food, everyone in the village gathered on the large lawn to dance together.

In the process of learning the beauties of Vietnamese culinary culture, it is impossible not to mention the unique dishes in the wedding ceremony of the Red Dao people, Lao Cai, which clearly show the identity of the highland residents with harsh nature and ingenuity of the sisters preparing for a wedding ceremony. The ingredients for the wedding dishes are mainly farmed products such as pigs, cardamom, lemon leaves, especially fatty meat, which is focused on fighting the cold here. The fire stove of the Dao people is always bright red. Like the Muong, sticky rice is considered the main dish of the wedding ceremony by the Red Dao people. It is the expression of the concept of rice agriculture that is always present in daily life as well as in holidays.

The vegetables at the wedding grown by the Dao people are carefully selected to prepare the dishes. The wedding ceremony is more jubilant and bustling, the atmosphere is cheerful and bustling when making dishes in the kitchen. According to the custom of the Red Dao people, the tray is arranged in a certain way, which is both aesthetic and shows the ethnic's own custom of praying for harmony and development. Dishes at Dao weddings are cooked continuously from morning to night because guests can stay overnight to congratulate and enjoy the food. For the Dao, hanging pork in the bride's room has a very important meaning, it is a prayer for a prosperous and full family. Eating and drinking at a Dao wedding has a very unique beauty, but the expression of the polite beauty of the Dao is the preparation for the bride's family to bring home carefully divided baskets of barbecued meat according to customs and traditions. . Those idyllic beauties are really vivid imprints that blend into the culinary culture of the Vietnamese nation.

 vietbao