Traditional cakes The tradition of using leaves to wrap food of the Vietnamese people is shown most strongly and clearly in traditional cakes. Banana leaves are the most popular, but sometimes they can be replaced with coconut leaves, dong leaves… but the trend of using natural leaves for wrapping cakes remains unchanged. No matter how deep the history of Vietnamese cakes, the leaves have accompanied them for such a long time. The oldest can mention banh chung. Right from the first appearance in the legend, it was also introduced as a cake wrapped in dong leaves. According to the development of Vietnamese cuisine, in turn, other leaf wrap cakes gradually appeared, not limited to a certain region but almost any cake, specialties of any region will be wrapped in leaves. . From far away, from gai cake, honey cake of the North to Hue cakes such as Nam cake, filter cake. In the Southern region, we have banh ú and little cakes that are also associated with the leaves picked in the garden. Spring rolls, spring rolls, spring rolls All dishes made from meat and to be eaten for a long time, gradually eaten like spring rolls or fermented meats like spring rolls are wrapped with banana leaves. This is an old way of doing things, because banana leaves have the ability to keep fresh very well and can help preserve food in conditions where there is no refrigerator. The spring rolls and spring rolls that we often prepare during Tet holidays are wrapped in leaves. On the other hand, some spring rolls, small rolls such as spring rolls, sweet rolls… are also meticulously wrapped with banana leaves into pretty small packages. It can be seen that, even if it is a large size of spring rolls or tiny pieces of spring rolls, grandparents do not change their ways because of a word “convenient”. They still take the time to carefully wrap and tie each spring roll, one by one. Sticky rice and rice dishes No matter what kind of rice is sticky rice, what color, served with beans or coconut or savory dishes, sticky rice with banana leaves is almost never changed. Currently, there are many places that use styrofoam boxes to store, but the image of sticky rice wrapped in banana leaves – lotus leaves is so familiar that we all prefer such traditional sticky rice shops. Snacks, snacks Not only in traditional cakes, spring rolls or sticky rice dishes. Grandparents also used leaves in “seafood” dishes, such as pandan tube cake, baked sticky rice, banh xeo, and molded cake… In addition, do we have a “theorem”? The official is: any dish eaten with mam, rattan basket, that dish must be lined with banana leaves such as bean vermicelli, cakes… Along with the long history of cake culture in Vietnam, the leaves have contributed significantly to creating a delicious and close taste. It has wrapped and protected the cake to keep the perfect color, smell and taste that very few people notice.

Tao Thanh Pho restaurant has passed 3 generations of development in Binh Da Ward. Photo: Thuy Moc Bien Hoa is famous for its traditional craft villages such as tet cake making (Hiep Hoa Ward), gai cake making (Tan Mai Ward, Ho Nai Ward), Ben Go Wine (An Hoa Ward)… and shops. Long-term food with bold Southern flavor. * Nostalgic for old dishes Pho is one of the dishes present in most places in Vietnam. For Vietnamese people, pho is considered a national dish, a culinary specialty of Vietnam in the world. Pho in any region will have its own flavor of that region. And few people know that, in Bien Hoa City, there is a shop that has become nostalgic for many generations with the name Tao Thanh Pho restaurant. Tao Thanh Pho restaurant is located on Tran Quoc Toan Street (Binh Da Ward) since the 1960s, built by Mr. Hoang Dinh Tao. Ms. Hoang Thi Nuong, the daughter of Mr. Hoang Dinh Tao, who succeeded the current Tao Thanh Pho restaurant, said that since 1955, her father had returned from Saigon to Bien Hoa to work as a street vendor selling pho. After a few years, her father saved up capital and opened a pho restaurant named Tao Thanh with the meaning that the shop was created by Mr. Tao himself. Before 1975, Tao Thanh Pho restaurant was located right at the Xe Lam station at Tam Hiep junction, so today the shop is not only a perennial restaurant in Bien Hoa, but it is also a memory of the youth and childhood of many people. many people, especially the expatriates. Ms. Nuong shared that in previous years, the pho shop sometimes welcomed elderly diners from abroad to visit the restaurant for breakfast and tell stories about the old times when they used to eat Pho Tao Thanh. Now, the old generation is older, sometimes Tao Thanh restaurant welcomes a few young people, who are descendants every time they have the opportunity to visit their hometown, they come to the shop to enjoy the countryside and take pictures to send to their grandparents. , elderly parents are living abroad. Ms. Nuong shared: “I am 70 years old this year, this pho shop will continue to be maintained by my nephew. My grandson used to be a teacher, but because he wanted to keep the job left by his grandparents, he decided to continue the pho restaurant left by his grandparents, because the shop has attached too many memories not only of the family but also of many generations. for decades now”. Banh tet Cu Lao Pho with the typical flavor of Southern sticky rice. Photo: Thuy Moc Coming to Bien Hoa, many people heard and looked to buy banh tet, banh ú made by the hands of bakers in Hiep Hoa Ward (also known as Cu Lao Pho). Pho islet is known by many people for its rustic dishes like the people who were born and raised on this land. Currently, the area of ​​Hiep Hoa has about 10 baking households with decades of seniority. Every Tet holiday comes, bakeries are busy with packers and customers coming in and ordering cakes. Ms. Tran Cuc Lang has more than 30 years in the baking profession, which has been passed down from her parents’ generation. Ms. Lang said that her bakery now needs about 50kg of sticky rice every day to pack all kinds of banh tet and banh ú, both retail and deliver to wholesalers. Every afternoon, Mrs. Lang’s small cake stall located right on Ha Huy Giap Street (Quyet Thang Ward) for nearly 20 years has become a destination for city people after work. Most people who buy cakes are familiar with the taste, so there is no need to ask for each item or the price. * Unforgettable delicacies Talking about the delicious dishes of Bien Hoa, many people also know famous dishes such as: Tan Mai fish salad, Nam Ri shrimp hot pot, popular restaurants crept in residential areas with a thickness of decades. . With the advantage of having the Dong Nai river in the heart of the city, the people of Bien Hoa take advantage of the natural environment to form an area for raising rafts on the river. With abundant raw materials available, people in the fishing village area have created a special dish from fish, in which Tan Mai fish salad is known to many people for its very own delicious taste. Tan Mai fish salad is made from red snapper, carp or giant fish. Ingredients from red snapper are most commonly used by chefs for fish salad because this is a meaty species. Fresh fish after cleaning, the chefs take the bones and cut them into thin pieces, just eat and mix with spices. Tan Mai fish salad, when eaten, cannot be without a dipping sauce made from the meat, liver and fat of the fish boiled with onions, lemongrass, galangal, and roasted sesame seeds. The taste of the sauce is the factor that determines whether the fish salad is delicious or not. Along with sauce, wild vegetables to serve fish salad with many kinds such as cloves, guise leaves, apricot leaves, fig leaves, basil, coriander, perilla, lettuce … Nam Ri shrimp hotpot is famous for many years in Bien Hoa city. Photo: Thuy Moc As a newcomer living in Tan Mai Ward for more than 10 years, Mr. Tran Hoang said that before, he was afraid to eat raw fish. However, after eating it for the first time, Mr. Hoang was no longer afraid to use raw fish. Whenever friends and relatives come to visit, Mr. Hoang often treats guests with this unique raw fish dish, which everyone compliments on its rich and unique taste. Coming to Bien Hoa, if you have a little time to wander in the alleys in the residential areas of local people in wards such as: Hiep Hoa, Tan Van, Buu Hoa, Tan Mai… visitors from afar will come across these A small old restaurant with the taste of the Southern region. Today, in the face of the need for integration and development, Bien Hoa City not only retains traditional popular dishes but also is a place where many culinary styles from countries around the world converge such as: culinary Japan, Korea, China, European countries… Therefore, preserving local culinary values ​​is a matter of great interest to many people, especially in the field of tourism. Because in the process of integration, exchange opportunities between countries are promoted, tourism has development conditions, cuisine will be a potential that needs to be invested and promoted in the most effective way. the promotion of the image, richness and distinctiveness of the cuisine and culture of the local people.

It’s an early packet of sticky rice that my mother put in a bag to eat on the way to school Packages of sticky rice as a favorite snack, once cost only two to three thousand children. Sticky rice appeared in the lives of Vietnamese children very early, maybe from the time they started to eat and chew, adults would give them some soft sticky rice, sometimes from a pack of sticky rice that their mother bought in a hurry at the beginning of the alley. Then put it in a school bag for your child to eat on the way to school. Just a daily food, but sticky rice also comes to us in many different forms: from sticky sticky rice (mixed with pounded green beans, eaten with fresh and fleshy flesh), xoi xeo (finely pounded green bean sticky rice is held and served with onions. phi), or sticky rice with peanuts, white beans, and black beans. There are also salty sticky rice, served with sausages, spring rolls, pate and quail eggs. No exaggeration, we can eat sticky rice continuously seven days in a week without feeling bored, because no other sticky rice dish is the same. It is a solemn gift that is always included in memorable milestones in a person’s life Having accompanied from the day of school to adulthood, sticky rice is also an indispensable dish on important occasions. Sticky rice has appeared as an indispensable offering item in the cradle party (when children turn one year old), and must also be present in the Worshiping ceremony (the custom of worshiping when children turn 12 years old in the lunar calendar, on the occasion of a full round of rice). 12 zodiac animals). Moreover, sticky rice is also indispensable in both weddings and engagements. Sticky rice on this occasion must also have a fresh color, those who are skillful can shape sticky rice into the word “happiness”, apricot blossom, carp… It can be seen that, more than a simple dish, sticky rice is associated with many important customs in the spiritual life of Vietnamese people. Sticky rice on the occasion of the worshiping ceremony is often accompanied by water-dried tea, bean tea of ​​all kinds, etc., so there are often stories of stalls selling sticky rice or tea from two combined into one, selling both sticky rice and tea. Sticky rice on this occasion is different from regular sticky rice, made in larger quantities and beautifully shaped and bright with the desire to bring good things. Among them, sticky rice is the most popular dish due to its bright and eye-catching red color. In addition, green bean sticky rice with yellow color is equally popular. It is a dish deeply attached to the spiritual culture of the Vietnamese people Sticky rice, no matter what form it takes, in the Vietnamese mind is always associated with the image of a delicious dish. Just mention the story of the rich man and the famous man, when Bom was nothing more than a handful of sticky rice: Phu Ong asked for a handful of sticky rice, Bom smiled “. This story is about the difference in opinion of the value of children and adults, while adults think that other things are precious, for children, just a handful of delicious sticky rice is enough to have fun all day. Writer Thach Lam once described sticky rice as very dear as follows: Sticky rice with beans, sticky rice with peanuts, sticky rice with sesame oil and coconut. Oh, the fat sesame sticky rice, holding each child’s fist, eating is both rich and fleshy. But it’s not expensive! One or two cents is enough. In the cold season, the sticky rice is hot, still slightly rising like a fog, eating both hot and confident. ” It can be seen that sticky rice in Vietnamese cuisine is a gift that is deeply attached to the spirit of the Vietnamese people. Xoi accompanies the Vietnamese generation from childhood to adulthood and old age. This is a dish that all generations, all classes of Vietnamese people love.