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Unique taste of Tet in Da Nang

By DA NANG Today / DA NANG Today
January 21, 2025, 17:34 [GMT+7]

At the end of the year, traditional markets in the Da Nang centre become bustling and joyful with stalls selling a variety of Tet (traditional Vietnamese Lunar New Year) sweets. In the space filled with modern goods, the stalls selling rustic traditional Vietnamese cakes sourced from the countryside still retain their own appeal. For many people, it is not only a familiar gift but also a way to preserve memories of the old Tet flavour.
 

Nguyen Thi Truyen's rustic cake stall at the Han market is always popular with tourists. Photo: KIM ANH
Nguyen Thi Truyen's rustic cake stall at the Han market is always popular with tourists. Photo: KIM ANH

In the cold weather, Ms. Nguyen Thi Truyen’s stall on Nguyen Thai Hoc Street, Hai Chau District, Da Nang located at the corner of Han Market sells typical cakes from her hometown in neighbouring Quang Nam Province such as ‘banh to’, ‘banh it la gai’, ‘banh chung’, ‘banh tet, ‘xoi duong, ‘xu xue’ with a unique, simple beauty that attracts passersby. These are popular cakes during Tet, bought by urban people to enjoy or for display on the ancestral altar to preserve the traditional culture of their hometown in the city.

“The most popular cake here is ‘banh it la gai’ (thorn leaf sticky rice cake) because of its chewy crust, the fragrant smell of banana leaves, and the rich, fatty green bean filling inside. Not only do market-goers love it, but many restaurants and hotels also order it during Tet,” Ms. Truyen shared.

Compared to the taste of the cakes in the past, to satisfy the sugar-free tastes of urban people, today’s country cakes are also made to be more delicious and less sweet. Not fussy about the appearance, ‘banh it’ and ‘banh xu xue’ are neatly wrapped in banana leaves in a variety of square and round shapes, and are a hard-to-find gift for many people, because each market only has a few shops selling these types of time-honoured traditional cakes.

As someone who loves to eat countryside cakes made through traditional handmade methods, Ms. Le Thi Be, a shopper from Hoa Cuong Bac Ward, Hai Chau District said: ‘Banh to is the type of cake that my family buys every Tet. This type of cake is rarely sold on normal days, so we can only eat it at the end of the year. This cake is very sweet and having it makes you feel the Tet atmosphere. To serve it well, when frying, you need to slice it and wrap it in a thin layer of rice paper to prevent the cake from sticking, and make the outer layer crispier and tastier," Ms. Be confided.

At the intersection of Mai Di - Hoa Que Trung 3, Ms. Nguyen Thi Chiec’s stall in Hoa Cuong market, Hai Chau District is always bustling with customers. ‘Banh it’, ‘banh u’,, and Tet items such as grilled green bean cakes with meat filling, ‘banh chung’, and ‘banh tet’ brought by Ms. Chiec from Cam Kim commune, Hoi An city, Quang Nam Province, all retain the flavour of their hometown.

Although it is just a small stall, Ms. Chiec’s stall has become a familiar venue for many customers living nearby at the end of the year. They come not only because of the fresh quality but also because of the close, rustic feeling from the products imbued with the soul of the countryside.

“Every day I wake up at 2:00am to get cakes from different places in Hoi An and then bring them to Da Nang for sale. Although the work is hard, the products from the countryside to the city are always welcomed by many city-dwellers especially the traditional cakes with the rich flavour of the Quang Nam land,” Ms. Chiec shared.

Like many young people who are passionate about the traditional cake making profession, Ms. Nguyen Thi Thanh Nhung, the owner of Phi Thien Da Nang baked green bean cake production facility in Cam Le District is still continuing to maintain the passion of the profession from her husband’s family. “In the past, my husband’s family made handmade baked green bean cakes, mainly selling to people around.

Because of my love and desire to maintain the traditional profession that my ancestors left behind, I still want to continue to stick with it and maintain making cakes for the past four years,” Ms. Nhung said.

According to Ms. Nhung, for the traditional cake making profession, the most difficult thing to maintain is probably the competition in design with modern imported cakes and candies. However, that does not mean that the rustic cakes have stopped developing.

People’s preferences and tastes always change over time, so we always innovate the design and quality of cakes to suit customer needs. Currently, Phi Thien green bean cake is the least sweet of its kind on the market. Ingredients such as green beans and pork are all carefully selected and have clear origins.

Although today, traditional cakes are gradually fading away, the story of Ms. Truyen, Mrs. Chiec and Ms. Nhung is proof of the enduring vitality of rustic cakes through many ups and downs. In the face of competition from modern industrial cakes, the rustic flavour of traditional cakes still holds its own place every time Tet comes.

Reporting by DOAN LUONG - KIM ANH - Translating by A.THU

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