The 2nd Traditional Culinary Competition held by Nha Trang City People's Committee at Yen Phi Park on May 11 was one of the interesting events in the framework of Sea Festival Nha Trang - Khanh Hoa 2019...
The 2nd Traditional Culinary Competition held by Nha Trang City People’s Committee at Yen Phi Park on May 11 was one of the interesting events in the framework of Sea Festival Nha Trang - Khanh Hoa 2019. The Culinary Competition created impressive food culture space, contributing to promoting the values of Vietnamese cuisine.
The competition drew the participation of 120 contestants from 27 wards and communes and 1 from Nha Trang City Public Security. Each group set up one booth, choosing a savory or sweet dish to serve some 150 people. The cooking time was 60 minutes. All the participating dishes showed creativity and innovation, featuring the characteristics of coastal communities, rural or mountainous areas. Each dish is simple in ingredients but rich in flavor with creative and eye-catching decoration.
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The first impression was maybe Vietnamese noodles named “banh canh”, “bun ca sua” jellyfish noodles which are popular in coastal areas. They are among must-eat dishes in Nha Trang Beach City. The freshness and tastiness of the broth, good texture of the fish balls and jellyfish, all created the delicious sea flavor. Mai Do Phuoc Chau, Chairperson of Vinh Nguyen Ward Women’s Association says, “fish and jellyfish were caught by themselves in Tri Nguyen Waters. This dish seems easy to cook but not everyone can cook it well. The secret lies in how to cook the broth well.”
In addition, village dishes such as banh it (sticky rice cakes), banh bot loc (steamed clear tapioca cakes), baked banana cakes, baked sweet potato cakes, banh can (rice cakes), banh xeo (pancakes), banh cuon (rolling steamed cake), xoi (sticky rice), etc were skillfully cooked and beautifully and colorfully decorated. Only natural colors were used such as the orange-reddish from Momordica cochinchinensis, green from pandan leaves and blue from Clitoria ternatea petals.
Especially, "Com lam" (bamboo cooked rice), a Vietnamese bamboo-tube rice known as a specialty in the cuisine culture in the Northwest Mountainous Area was cooked by the group from Nha Trang City Public Security. A member named Tran Thai Khanh Thuy says, “The sticky rice for the food must be grown on the mountain. The most difficult about the cooking is how to press sticky rice into bamboo tubes properly. We have cooked the dish quite well but we think we need to learn more to do it better.”
There were a wide variety of dishes, 22 savory dishes and 6 sweet ones. Compared with the last time, contestants had better preparation in food selection, processing, cooking with creative decoration. Besides, the booths were beautifully decorated with environmentally friendly materials based on the characteristics dishes and localities. The culinary competition was a good chance for women to show their skillfulness and creativity in cooking as well as promote the traditional cuisine and the destination, according to Nguyen Thi Phuong Duyen, Chairperson of Nha Trang City Women’s Union.
Written and translated by N.T
