Binh Thanh Countryside Cuisine

People in Binh Thanh village, Hanh Nhan commune (Nghia Hanh) are actively participating in community tourism and promoting local cuisine. Many tourists and students coming here have had interesting experiences when they made and enjoyed rustic, traditional local dishes.

Countryside cuisine is one of the highlights that attracts tourists to Binh Thanh village. In late March, many groups of students from schools in the province came to this peaceful countryside to learn about traditional cuisine.

More than 100 students from Song Ve Town Primary School (Tu Nghia) were excited to see and make cakes with the main ingredients of rice and sticky rice, which are closely associated with the lives of local people. Mrs. Tran Thi Nhon happily showed the children how to make banh xeo.

“Banh xeo is made from rice, meat... and is molded on a cast iron mold over a wood fire. This dish is familiar to the people of Quang Ngai, but the children have not had the experience of making the pancakes themselves, so all of them are excited to make it themselves,” said Ms. Nhon.

The freshly cooked pancakes were placed on green banana leaves, making the students extremely excited and looking forward to enjoying the pancakes they had made with their own hands. Pham Nguyen Hoang Long, a 4C student at Song Ve Town Primary School, shared that he really enjoyed the feeling of making and eating the pancakes himself. He had eaten pancakes many times before, but had never had such an interesting experience.

In addition to experiencing making banh xeo, visitors and students coming to Binh Thanh village are also instructed on how to make traditional cakes such as: Banh it la gai, banh uot, banh xu xue...

Ho Cam Vien, a 4B grade student at Song Ve Town Primary School, excitedly said that it was a pleasure to be able to make a beautiful banh it by herself from gai leaves, bean paste, sesame and banana leaves. Making banh it is simple but requires high concentration. We listened to the teacher's instructions and paid attention to the small details to create a beautiful cake.

Ms. Ho Thi Thiep guided the students to make Banh It while sharing that Banh It La Gai is wrapped in banana leaves and shaped into a long pyramid. When opened, the cake has a light aroma of green beans, sesame combined with the scent of Ramie leaves. With a pure black color, the cake looks smooth and feels sticky.

The Banh It La Gai cake, although simple, contains a lot of effort and perseverance from the person who makes it. This is one of the traditional cakes, bringing diversity and richness to the cuisine. It is also a beauty that needs to be preserved and promoted in the culinary culture of the nation.

“To make a Banh It La Gai, the process of making the crust is important. Choose new sticky rice, wet grind it, pound it with the leaves of the Gai. Steam the green beans until cooked and then pound them, choose old coconut, combine with ginger and sugar to create a unique and delicious flavor. After finishing, let the filling cool and roll it into small round balls,” said Ms. Thiep.

The ingredients for making traditional cakes are quite simple. However, the way to wrap and cook the cakes requires skillful hands, aesthetic training, or color mixing and dough kneading skills. Although they are all made from familiar agricultural products, each type of cake has its own distinct flavor and contains its own story.

The students made cakes while listening to local people tell stories about rural life in Binh Thanh village. Their faces were sweaty but filled with joy when they finished a cake. This activity brought novelty and appeal, attracting many students to participate attentively.

Ms. Do Thi Thuong, owner of Ms. Thuong's bakery in Binh Thanh community tourism village, shared that this experiential activity has contributed to promoting and widely introducing to students the diversity of traditional cakes. These are all products associated with the childhood of rural children.

Ms. Thuong guides children to make xu xue cake.

“We attract tourists with traditional cuisine. The baking experience will help students unleash their creativity and gain knowledge about Quang Ngai’s traditional cuisine,” said Ms. Thuong.

T.PHUONG - T.NHAN

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