Traditional Lunar New Year delicacy featured in various news reports

Lunar New Year has come to every home, every family. The spring feast with traditional banh chung and banh tet, Vietnamese glutinous rice cakes has special meaning in the hearts of every Vietnamese person, no matter where they are. The warm, bustling atmosphere of welcoming the traditional Tet has been reported by many international news agencies in the first days of the Lunar New Year.

South China Morning Post (Hong Kong) has published an article titled “Vietnam’s ‘delicious’ Lunar New Year delicacy takes 12 hours to make”, describing how to make banh chung and banh tet from preparing ingredients to wrapping and cooking. To make the cakes, we must prepare ingredients such as glutinous rice, green beans and pork belly.

Gathering together to make the cakes fosters an atmosphere of love and togetherness.

“The wrapped cakes of glutinous rice, green beans and pork belly have been a Lunar New Year specialty in Vietnam for centuries. We can buy ready-made banh chung but it doesn’t create that Tet atmosphere.”

Once all the cakes are wrapped, they are placed in a large pot of water and boiled for several hours. The family members are together tending to the fire, creating a warm and festive atmosphere. The aroma of the cooking banh chung fills the house, and everyone eagerly awaits the moment when they can finally taste the fruits of their labor. “It keeps me busy, and it’s tiring, but I still love making the cake myself,” said Hong, 55, who has labored over the dish. The banh chung are often laid at family altars as an offering to ancestors in Vietnam.

Nowadays, many families no longer have time to make the cakes at home but for those that keep the tradition, the work usually falls to the elders of the family. Especially some elderly people still maintain the custom of making cakes for Tet because they like to make the delicious cakes for their children and grandchildren every Tet holiday, creating an intimate family atmosphere.

Anh Khoi said “Our generation has so many other things to worry about, so I am not sure I can keep this up,” but he is still happy to enjoy the rich and comforting cooking of his mother. “I can’t imagine a Tet without banh chung,” he added.

Agoda, an online travel agency has also published “Culinary Delights: Feasting on Vietnamese New Year”. Vietnamese families prepare an array of traditional dishes, each with its own symbolic meaning. These culinary delights are shared with family members and friends, embodying the spirit of togetherness and gratitude as they bring everyone closer and strengthen the bonds of kinship.

According to a recent article on the New York Times, Tet is the most important holiday in many Asian countries, including Vietnam. “Lunar New Year traditions vary across and within countries, but similar threads run throughout: family time, rituals for prosperity and to honor ancestors, and marathon feasts. Many flock to temples to place offerings of traditional food, and light incense at altars for ancestors and elders.”

N.T