Many regional speciality products are pouring into HCM City ahead of Tet (the Lunar New Year), which falls on January 22.
More than 10,000 agricultural products and other items from across the country are being sold at the ‘Tet Xanh qua Viet – Xuan Quy Mao 2023’ festival.
They include safe vegetables and fruits that meet food hygiene and safety standards, cashew nut, candied fruits, pork and beef pastes, spring rolls, rice, vermicelli, dried bamboo shoot, mien dong (vermicelli made of arrowroot starch), spices from the northern mountainous region such as mac khen (wild pepper grown by the ethnic Thai), hat doi, mac mat, and traditional fish sauce.
It has nearly 100 booths set up by start-ups, craft village co-operatives and businesses from various provinces and cities.
The products meet Vietnamese and international quality standards such as OCOP, VietGap, organic, HACCP, and ISO and have High-quality Vietnamese Goods certification, High-quality Vietnamese Goods - Integration Standard certification and geographical indication, or are typical agricultural products of various localities.
Many have a firm foothold in the international market.
Visitors can find ‘new, green - clean - safe’ products, especially for gifting during the upcoming Lunar New Year, those made by start-ups and OCOPs such as vegetarian products by Bien Phuong Trading Service and Binh Loan Company, dried shrimp and crab-based products from Con Tom Co., Ltd, grapes and apples from Chang Farm, brown rice, and wind-hanging persimmon products.
Vu Kim Anh, deputy director of the Business Studies and Assistance Centre and deputy head of the festival organising committee, said: “We also organise many programmes for visitors such as culinary and Tet dishes experience and making essential oils and healthy products from natural herbs.
Tran Trung Hieu, a resident of District 5 and a visitor at the event, said: “I bought more than VND2 million (US$85) worth of sticky rice, dried bamboo shoot, lap xuong (Vietnamese sausage), dried forest shiitake mushrooms, and candied fruits for Tet.”
A cosmopolitan hub where people from all over the country come to live and work, HCM City has huge demand for regional specialities, especially on occasions like Lunar New Year.
Shops selling northern speciality foods on Dien Bien Phu Street and Chu Manh Trinh Street in District 1 and Tran Quoc Toan Street in District 3 are also crowded these days.
Their popular products include kohlrabi, cabbage, garland chrysanthemum, green onion, carrot and other vegetables, alcohol made from sticky rice, and Van village wine.
Processed foods include gio thu (pig's head paste), thit dong (braised frozen pork), bamboo shoot pickles, banh chung (square-shaped glutinous rice cake filled with green bean paste and pork), che kho (soft green lentil cake), and Vu Dai traditional braised fish.
The products are more expensive than during normal days and their prices could increase further before Tet, according to shop owners.
Besides northern specialities, people in the city can also find specialities from southern and central regions such as Ca Mau dried shrimp both with and without the shell, Soc Trang pia cake, Hoa Loc mango, Nam Roi pomelo, Lai Vung mandarin, Tra Vinh Tet cake, dried snakehead fish, Nghe An beef paste, and others.
Supermarkets, traditional markets, social networks, and shopping portals also sell all kinds of regional specialities. — VNS