Tourists enjoy the experience at Saigontourist Group's culinary festival

Saigontourist Group's 2025 Food and Drink Culture Festival surpasses previous festivals in terms of the number of dishes and drinks, with over 600 delicious dishes selected and refined from all three regions of the country, and local products.

In addition to cuisine, the program also has a series of unique cultural activities such as water puppetry, Quan Ho, Don Ca Tai Tu, Tay Nguyen gong performances, and a traditional craft village area with artisans making cakes, weaving, pottery, and Dong Ho paintings... attracting a large crowd of locals and tourists.

On the second day of the Saigontourist Group 2025 Food and Culture Festival, the dining areas were packed with seats.

Right from the main gate at Van Thanh Tourist Area, visitors are attracted by the traditional cultural space with street vendors, artisans making figurines, weaving brocade, weaving bamboo and rattan, and folk art performances.

Besides cuisine, the festival is also bustling and vibrant with many unique cultural and artistic activities such as water puppetry, street magic circus, Thai xoe dance, quan ho, don ca tai tu, Khmer monkey dance, Ben Tre sac bua singing, bai choi singing, Hue singing, Central Highlands gong performances of the Xo Dang ethnic group, traditional stone musical instruments, and call-and-response singing.

The festival also attracts visitors with traditional craft village activities, making folk cakes with more than 50 types of cakes, experiencing leaf wrapping, baking, steaming, frying cakes with artisans, learning to make vermicelli, weaving hats, making rice paper, baking rice paper, making rice wine, making Poria cocos and Katum cakes of the Khmer people in the South.

Tourists experience grinding flour with a stone mortar in the traditional way

Bat Trang pottery experience area attracts many tourists to experience. This is a long-standing and typical traditional craft of Vietnam.

“Although the staff gave me detailed instructions, making pottery is not easy at all. I really like the cup I made myself. The experience of making pottery makes me feel very comfortable" - Ms. Greenwood Kim Thu (American tourist) excitedly shared.

“With the enthusiastic guidance from the artisans making Chang Son fans, I think making a fan is really simple. This is really an interesting experience for me” - Ms. Doan Thu (American tourist) happily said.

Folk toys are made from materials such as clay, foam, paint... and are shaped by craftsmen into colorful animals that anyone who sees them will find interesting.

In particular, the notable highlights of this year's festival are two clusters of miniature landscapes of the Central Highlands communal house and the space "on the wharf, under the boat".

The "on the wharf, under the boat" space recreates the floating market of the West, bringing a vivid and authentic experience of the typical river culture. The "on the wharf, under the boat" area is located right at Van Thanh metro station, making visitors excited to check-in as soon as they get off the metro station.

The performance of walking and cooking rice continuously until the rice is cooked and enjoying the hot pot of rice with the fragrant smell of pandan leaves of the artisans of Binh Quoi Tourist Area makes tourists extremely excited.

"Vietnamese rice is delicious," Joe Gioffre (a Canadian tourist) couldn't help but exclaim after trying this rice dish that can be cooked while walking.

This is also the first time water puppetry has appeared in a food festival, attracting visitors of all ages.

Saigontourist Group 2025 Food and Culture Festival is open to the public from 3:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. every day, continuously until March 30 at Van Thanh Tourist Area, Ho Chi Minh City.

The organizers hope that the festival will become an international culinary cultural event, contributing to promoting the image of Ho Chi Minh City and Vietnam to domestic tourists and international friends.

Source: https://nld.com.vn/du-khach-thich-thu-trai-nghiem-tai-le-hoi-am-thuc-cua-saigontourist-group-196250329114724298.htm