Paradise on the Tet tray

Almost everyone knows the names of some popular dishes in Hanoi and in general, Hanoi food is considered by many food lovers to be delicious without any doubt. That is certainly criticized for some other things. But Hanoi has a "powerful" position in terms of cuisine, thanks to its location in the center of a delta region with diverse customs, and at the same time being a capital of many dynasties, attracting talents and resources from the highlands to the coastal areas.

Chốn địa đàng nơi mâm cỗ Tết- Ảnh 1. — Tet trays are not only offerings to ancestors but also recreate culinary space.

Hanoi is like a feast where products from all over the world gather. In addition, the weather changes with the seasons, helping the culinary ingredients always have a cycle, different from the cold temperate zone or the year-round hot South. In particular, Hanoi's dishes are bustling during Tet, appearing on the spring feast, which can be compared to the beauty of a beautiful woman being adorned more splendidly. To put it a little bit too much, this can also be called the beauty queen of the feast, or at least the top 3, the top of the behavior group... However, it must be said that the beauty queen's feast is not much different from the usual dining table - meaning that the dish served must be delicious. With the inherently fastidious mouths of Hanoians, in their dictionary there are no unsavory dishes, only edible dishes and dishes that must be urgently eliminated. Hanoi's delicacies are of course therefore always "thúc dac", meaning edible - which in the early 20th century was associated with the "súc đác" sound of two bamboo sticks of Chinese pho street vendors signaling instead of calling out.

The Hanoi Tet feast is a combination of daily meals and street food. For Hanoians, the balance between salty dishes and vegetables, between the taste of the fields and seafood, and a little bit of the color of the mountains and forests is important in the meal. For example, a boiled meat dish always uses the broth to cook with vegetables, dipped in fish sauce from anchovies from the sea or shrimp paste from the river; sometimes the soup is made sour with sour plums, cac fruit or sour ears from the forest... A sea fish dish is braised with pork belly, mixed with delicious mountain plums or bamboo shoots harvested from the mountains cooked with field frogs or river fish, neutralized by herbs grown in fertile fields on the outskirts of the city. Looking at a meal, whether simple or sumptuous, we feel an ecosystem of products present in the city.

In the past, the dishes that were originally only for street people to eat for breakfast or as an afternoon snack have now entered the menu of the feasts on death anniversaries or Tet, bringing a more liberal and joyful feeling to the feasts that strictly adhere to the standard of four plates and four bowls or six plates and six bowls. The "hard" dishes such as boiled chicken, sticky rice with gac fruit, and soup with meatballs and mushrooms... have been added with many "soft" and modernized and "multi-dimensional" dishes such as smoked ham, salami sausage. People can add dishes such as dried beef salad or fried dumplings to add a sweet and sour taste as well as something to pick up to add a spicy touch for diners. A typical restaurant dish of Hanoi, bun thang, was also born as a solution for the excess Tet feast, delicately processed from chicken, pork roll among the "hard" dishes along with shiitake mushrooms, omelettes, pickled radish (ca la thau) with broth eaten with vermicelli, and a little shrimp paste to bridge all those diverse things.

Chốn địa đàng nơi mâm cỗ Tết- Ảnh 2. — Tet offering tray

Of course, the Tet feast not only meets the need to offer to gods and ancestors according to the Vietnamese belief in ancestor worship, but is also a re-enactment of the standard street food space. Sitting down at a family's feast, one can imagine the sophistication and gourmet level of the host in everyday life. A high and full feast can very well fail as usual when a couple of dishes cannot pass the test of the guests' sophisticated mouths. Of course, no one who comes to wish a Happy New Year will criticize the host's feast, but surely only those who share the same taste can understand the intention of the housewife who prepares the food. People have also gradually reduced the custom of inviting to eat at all costs, and Hanoians with their unique lifestyle often reserve a couple of meals for guests who have asked in advance. Inviting a feast for Hanoians means facing the harsh comments and assessments of those who have been eating out for a long time, so it would be strange if they did not make it delicious.

A delicious meal in Hanoi on Tet holiday also needs a special space of a festival, of spring, of reunion, or simply needs a little cold weather, a little drizzle, to make the dishes more delicious, more "mouth-catching" as the townspeople say. For example, the famous brawn or braised meat dish, must be eaten in cold weather to be truly delicious. The stability of the lifestyle also contributes to the delicious dishes being more authentic in the feeling of inheriting tradition. The feeling of tasting delicious dishes that have a long history of cultural practice is what people today still seek and sometimes cause controversy. People are eager to restore the original look of delicious dishes made from "organic" ingredients, without any adulteration, as the women selling ready-made food in Hang Be and Hom markets swear. A smooth piece of ham with the fragrant smell of hand-pounded meat and a little bit of delicious fish sauce is always a very basic concern of urban people when ham shops have switched to using grinders and mixing ingredients to make the ham crispy and last longer. What can make the tradition have lasting vitality, can be seen in the appeal of cuisine, in the way of thinking about delicious food of people in the land where food has imprinted a personality.

Hanoi's food today seems to be like the city's landscape, sometimes quite messy, even chaotic, but to welcome Tet, there seems to be a re-arrangement, everyone tries to create a clear space for enjoyment, for people to relax, to slow down. Tet dishes are like a sublimation of everyday life, carrying the surreal beauty of a paradise that Hanoians have been searching for forever.

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