Banh tet - Unique culinary culture of the Western people

For a long time, Banh Tet has become a traditional dish of Western people. For people, banh tet is one of the indispensable dishes of every family during the spring days.

Banh tet has a rather vague origin, there are many stories and many different opinions about the origin of banh tet. And there are many opinions that banh tet is a variation of banh chung.

Stories about the origin of banh tet in the West

One of the most mentioned legends is related to the event of King Quang Trung expelling the invading Qing army during the Lunar New Year of the Year of the Rooster in 1789.

Legend has it that in order to create a speedy attack from Thuan Hoa to Thang Long, Quang Trung's army of 70,000 soldiers had to march day and night without stopping.

The army was divided into groups, each group had 3 people, carrying a stretcher. Just like that, one person lies down to rest and eat on the stretcher, then the other two people will carry the stretcher along the way. Now, when it's time for one person to lie down and rest, the other two will carry the stretcher.

To ensure food for the soldiers, King Quang Trung had people cook banh chung, but changed the shape of the northern banh chung into a stick shape like today's southern banh tet so that it is convenient to carry, not bulky, and not expensive. stop cooking.

Another legend that adds to the origin of Banh Tet, the name of the cake and the habit of eating Banh Tet during Tet is as follows:

In the Spring of the Rooster in 1789, Nguyen Hue and our army drove the Qing army out of the country. At that time, the soldiers could rest and celebrate Tet. Among the soldiers, there was a soldier whose family sent him a cake made from sticky rice, filled with green beans, shaped like today's banh tet (but at that time there was no name). The soldier brought a cake to King Quang Trung. The king found it delicious and asked about this cake. The soldier said that the cake was sent to him by his wife back home. Every time he eats cake, he loves and misses his wife more and more. He had a stomach ache (can be considered a stomach ache) but when he ate this cake, he no longer felt pain.

Hearing the soldier's touching story, the king ordered everyone to wrap this type of cake to celebrate Tet and named it Banh Tet to remember the victory over the Qing invaders in the spring and express the close family affection each year. Spring comes. That is considered the origin of banh tet during traditional Tet.

Some other opinions say that banh tet is a product of the interference of many different cultures in the West. Among them, the main one is Cham culture with "prosperous" beliefs. The shape of banh tet is the image of Linga. It is not only a Tet dish but also contains the theory of yin and yang, three talents, five elements with five colors: The green color of the cake wrapping leaves (pandan leaves, dong leaves or banana leaves), the color of the sticky rice is removed when the cake is wrapped. package, yellow green beans for the filling, red and white pork belly for the filling and black pepper mixed into the green bean filling or marinated meat for the filling. Those are the five colors of the five elements in Eastern philosophy: Fire (red), water (black), wood (blue), metal (white), earth (yellow).

During Tet, Westerners only pack two types of banh tet: vegetarian banh tet and salty banh tet. Vegetarian cakes to worship grandparents, heaven and earth, and salty cakes used during meals. Banh Tet is served with cauliflower, pickles, and braised pork.

Unique features of Banh Tet in the West

The most characteristic thing about banh tet in the West is the color: banh tet in Tra Cuon, Tra Vinh has the green color of hibiscus leaves covering the yellow cake filling. Banh tet with camphor leaves in Can Tho with a romantic purple color like pansy flowers. Vinh Long five-color banh tet, then 3-color banh tet, banh tet with honey kidney leaves, banh tet with banana filling. Then there are also extremely attractive red-orange cake made from gac fruit with the meaning of bringing good luck during Tet days. The vibrant colors are taken from naturally occurring leaves and fruits, creating the delicate, unmistakable aroma of Western Banh Tet.

Speaking of long-standing banh tet villages in the West, we must mention Hoi Gia banh tet (My Phong, My Tho City, Tien Giang) on ​​the banks of the Tien River. This place is famous for making banh tet for fifty or sixty years. Coming to Hoi Gia, you can enjoy banh tet with black leaves or banh tet with three colors, but mixed is very popular.

Meaning of banh tet

Besides learning where banh tet comes from, we should also learn about the meaning of banh tet. It is called banh tet because when cutting this type of cake, the user will use a string to circle the peeled top of the cake and then circle each small piece.

Similar to banh chung, banh tet also carries a meaning of remembering the deceased, wishing for prosperity and family togetherness, thanking heaven and earth for giving people a favorable season. Banh tet wrapped in many layers of dong or banana leaves symbolizes a mother embracing her child, the desire of Vietnamese people to reunite after a year of working far away.

Not only that, the yellow green bean-filled banh tet also reminds farmers of the image of a bountiful ripe rice field, the dream of "settle down and work in peace" and peace of all people.

Banh Tet is a very interesting cake, unique in its packaging and delicious in taste. Similar to banh chung, banh tet of the Western people includes ingredients from the countryside such as sticky rice, green beans, and pork. But it is different from banh chung which is only made with white sticky rice, while banh tet can be replaced with black beans or black sticky rice or naturally dyed rice.

The difference between banh tet and banh chung

If banh chung is wrapped in dong leaves, banh tet is wrapped in banana leaves, wrapped in a long circular shape.

If there is a delicious piece of Banh Tet, the wrapper needs to be very meticulous from the preparation stages such as the sticky rice must be new, fragrant, and delicious. Peel the green beans and cook them. Grate dry coconut to get coconut milk. Puree pandan leaves, filter the water and mix with rice to infuse to create a cool green color. Pork belly is cut into rectangles according to the length of the cake, marinated with spices to make the filling.

Boiling banh tet is similar to boiling banh chung. You need to carefully place the cakes in the pot and boil the water. It takes 8 hours for the cake to cook, so you need to keep an eye on the fire so the cake cooks evenly.

After cooking the banh tet, drain it and cut it into beautiful circles to offer to your ancestors during Tet.

Nowadays, we can see that banh tet is very diverse with two types of fillings: sweet and salty, with many creative styles of lucky words in the new year with bright colors such as yellow, purple, red, and eye-catching blue. .

Eat delicious banh tet

When eating banh tet, instead of using a knife to cut the cake, people will use a string to tie the cake to cut into slices of moderate length. The slices used to cut cakes are usually cut into small pieces. The left hand holds banh tet, the right hand holds one end of the rice cake. Bite the other end of the slice into your mouth, then circle the slice around the stripped cake and cut each slice of cake.

To increase the taste of Banh Tet, you can eat it with pickles such as: Papaya, salted carrots, pickled radish, and salted kohlrabi. Or you can fry each taco cavity and enjoy them in a new way. The crust is golden brown and crispy, combined with the rich filling, promising to be one of the most wonderful traditional dishes during every Tet holiday./.