The unique culinary beauty of Ha Giang Stone Plateau

Mountain-flavored dishes are the culinary quintessence of the 19 ethnic groups in Ha Giang, each with its own unique characteristics.

Nét đẹp ẩm thực xứ sở Cao nguyên đá Hà Giang

Ha Giang specialties are not only because of the name but also because of the beauty of village culture incorporated into local cuisine.

Ha Giang is not only famous for its majestic, overlapping landscapes, golden terraced fields in the ripe rice season, poetic buckwheat flower fields, and unique national cultural identity, but is also a place where diverse and rich culinary quintessence converges with specialties that attract diners when coming to the land of the Stone Plateau.

Ha Giang currently has 4 specialties in the top 100 outstanding gift specialties including: Mint honey, Hoang Su Phi Shan Tuyet tea, buckwheat cake, Quan Ba seedless persimmons and 4 dishes in the top 100 outstanding specialties including: Men men, Au Tau porridge, Thang Co and Grilled meat; 3 dishes in the top 121 typical Vietnamese culinary dishes including Bong fish, corn pho, Au Tau porridge.

These dishes with the flavor of the mountains and forests, along with five-color sticky rice, buckwheat cakes, corn wine with yeast leaves, grilled moss, humpbacked banh chung, Chinese sausage, thang co... are the culinary quintessence originating from the living and working process of the community of 19 ethnic groups, each with its own unique characteristics.

When mentioning Ha Giang, tourists often think of the specialty of Au Tau porridge. This dish tastes quite strange. The bowl of porridge has a fatty taste mixed with a little bitterness of Au Tau, the delicious aroma of chicken eggs and the accompanying herbs. Au Tau is a typical tuber of Ha Giang, containing toxins.

Famous au tau porridge.

The Mong people detoxify water chestnuts by soaking them in rice water and simmering them for about 4-5 hours. Then, they are crushed and cooked with bone broth and yellow sticky rice mixed with a little rice. When the porridge is cooked, it is scooped into a bowl and served with minced lean meat, salt, pepper and green onions. Water chestnuts are a nutritious dish that can cure colds, aches and pains, etc. On cold winter days, enjoying a bowl of hot, nutritious water chestnut porridge is definitely an unforgettable experience for visitors.

In addition to Au Tau porridge, Thang Co is an irresistible delicacy for diners when coming to the Stone Plateau. Thang Co means meat soup, a traditional dish of the Mong people, made from horse meat with a very unique flavor. Nowadays, to suit tourists, the restaurant owner has replaced the ingredients with buffalo, beef, and pork. The locals here also use cow organs to cook, because horse meat is very difficult to buy.

The essence of thang co is especially in the broth, simmered from bones and internal organs and mixed with 12 typical spices such as star anise, cardamom, lemon leaves... creating a fragrant pot of broth. The meat will be fried first and then put into the broth to simmer until soft. This dish has a strong smell for those who try it for the first time, but the more you eat, the more addicted you become. It will be more attractive when eaten with men men, grilled corn cakes and corn wine.

Corn Pho, one of the specialties of Ha Giang Stone Plateau

Tourists coming to Ha Giang to experience the paradise of buckwheat flowers should not miss the opportunity to enjoy the delicious and unique specialties made from buckwheat seeds, such as: cakes, pho, beer, noodles, dried vermicelli, wine. Buckwheat is a herb, long famous as one of the symbolic flowers of the Northeastern region of Ha Giang.

On the journey to explore the Stone Plateau, visitors can also enjoy other wonderful dishes such as: Dong Van ancient town rice rolls, humpbacked banh chung, Dong Van egg rice rolls, Bac Me bamboo tube rice, smoked buffalo meat, sour pho, thang den... If you have the opportunity to taste it, diners will have an aftertaste of the dish and remember it forever.

In recent years, Ha Giang has emerged as a leading attractive destination, with tourism becoming a driving force for local economic growth. Among tourism products, the community tourism model incorporating the quintessence of local culinary culture is the most effective development direction. Homestays, with the support and facilitation of authorities at all levels, have cleverly exploited the unique culinary cultural values in the service process to give visitors the most satisfying experience.

Thang Co, a typical dish of the Mong people.

Visitors not only enjoy the specialties but also witness the food preparation process, and are informed about the completely natural origin of the ingredients available in the forest such as: bananas, mac khen, bamboo shoots, colorful leaves to make five-color sticky rice or the plants and animals that are raised, grown, and cared for to prepare dishes according to traditional recipes.

Recently, in order to honor, preserve and promote the culinary culture values of the locality, Ha Giang province has organized the 2023 North - Central - South and Ha Giang Culinary Culture Festival in Ha Giang city with many exciting and attractive activities, attracting a large number of domestic and international tourists. To continue the success of this event, Ha Giang plans to organize the 2024 Ha Giang International Culinary and Tourism Culture Festival for 3 days, from March 29 - 31, 2024 at Square 26.3 and Green Tree Park, Ha Giang city.

With the theme Ha Giang - Culinary quintessence - Asia's leading destination, Ha Giang is determined to enhance the values of local culinary culture, widely introduce and promote to domestic and international tourists; build and effectively exploit the culinary tourism brand through collecting, restoring, developing a quintessential, unique and quality culinary and tourism culture; promote cooperation in tourism development, promising to bring many interesting experiences to tourists.

According to the plan, the 2024 Ha Giang International Food and Tourism Culture Festival will include a series of unique and special events, the most notable of which is the program to set a Vietnamese record of "50 culinary dishes and drinks made from Buckwheat" with the participation of chef experts from the Japan - Vietnam Culinary Association directly preparing dishes and drinks, creating a menu of 50 dishes from the main ingredient of Buckwheat according to the five combinations of "tree, animal, flower, root, fruit".

In addition, there are a series of activities such as: Organizing the judging and awarding of typical dishes of provinces and cities; activities to experience and exchange culinary and tourism culture; mass art performances; survey program of Asia's leading typical destination - Ha Giang 2023; Workshop on positioning the Ha Giang tourism brand.

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