Vietnamese Lunar New Year food in the North-Central-South regions

The 2024 Lunar New Year is coming soon. This is also the best time for everyone in the family to reunite after a year of hard work. Therefore, the feast on Tet days also needs to be prepared extremely sumptuously and fully. Not only does it represent prosperity and happiness, but it also represents the wish for a full and prosperous new year.
Today, Vietcruisetours would like to share a list of Vietnamese lunar new year food in the North-Central-South regions.
Delicious dishes on Tet holiday in Vietnam

In our country, each region has a Tet feast with different characteristics. However, it has created a rich and diverse Tet culinary culture only found in Vietnam.
- Delicious dishes on Tet holiday in the North

In the culture of ancient Hanoi people, they always favored appearance, so the Tet meal tray needed to be prepared very elaborately and beautifully. A large feast must have 6 bowls and 6 plates or 8 bowls and 8 plates to symbolize prosperity and fortune. Going through different periods, the Tet feast in the North still retains the traditional nature of the Vietnamese people.
1. Banh Chung - Chung cake ( Square sticky rice cake )

Banh chung is a dish with a long history in Vietnamese culinary culture. Therefore, this dish cannot be missing in the Tet feast of Northerners. The cake symbolizes the earth and is used to express Prince Lang Lieu's gratitude to the 16th King Hung and heaven and earth.
The harmonious combination of sticky rice, sweet beans, mildly spicy pepper, and fatty meat creates an unmistakable Tet flavor, a delicious and well-rounded cake. The scene of waiting for a pot of Banh Chung to cook has entered the subconscious of Northern people every time Tet comes.
Not only is it displayed on traditional trays of Northerners, but this dish can also be used as a gift for relatives or friends.

Chung cake ( Square sticky rice cake )​

2. Xôi Gấc - Baby jackfruit-flavored sticky rice

According to ancient beliefs, red is the color of luck, the color of happiness. Therefore, on full moon days, and holidays, especially Tet, you must have a plate of Gac sticky rice.
Gac sticky rice is cooked from delicious sticky rice and mixed with fresh gac and then put in a steamer. After being cooked, the sticky rice will have a beautiful bright red color. When you eat, you will feel the taste of sticky rice, the fatty taste of coconut milk, and the sweetness of sugar.

Baby jackfruit-flavored sticky rice - red is the color of luck​

3. Dưa hành - Pickled onion

In the Tet tray of Vietnamese people, there are many kinds of dishes, from delicious delicacies to extremely simple and rustic dishes. One of the rustic dishes that has a special place in the traditional feast of the Northern people is pickled onions, also known as pickled onions.
With a mildly sour and spicy taste, it is delicious and served with banh chung or frozen meat. This is the most effective anti-bore dish during Tet that you may know. Even though life is alway changing, one thing is true: if Vietnam still has Tet, there will still be banh chung and pickled onions as dishes that accompany the nation's Tet days.

Dưa hành - Pickled onion​

4. Giò - Lean pork pie

With its central position in the Tet feast, sausage seems to be one of the must-have dishes. The meaning "warm inside and outside, happiness fills the house", an indispensable part of Vietnamese cuisine.
This delicious dish is made from pork, pounded in a stone mortar, wrapped in banana leaves, and then boiled. The smooth, crispy, delicious white sausages are not only delicious dish but can be given to your family members.

Lean pork pie - The meaning "warm inside and outside, happiness fills the house"​

5. Gà luộc - Boiled chicken

In every feast from weddings, engagements, birthday celebrations, and housewarmings, boiled chicken is indispensable. And during the holidays, it is no exception. A simple but indispensable dish in the Tet feast of Northerners. The sweet and fragrant taste of chicken pieces served with lemon leaves, dipped in lemon and chili salt will create a unique and unforgettable flavor.

Boiled chicken​

6. Nem rán - Fried spring rolls

Golden on the outside, and filled with meat, wood ear mushrooms, and bean sprouts on the inside, fried spring rolls are a unique and attractive dish that is indispensable during the Tet days of Northerners. This dish is loved by many people and is also considered the "national soul" of Vietnamese people.

Fried spring rolls - a unique and attractive dish during the Tet days of Northerners​

- Delicious dishes on Tet holidays in the Central region in Viet Nam

In the North, people welcome spring with peach blossom branches, green banh chung, fatty meat, and pickled onions. The Central region is also excited to welcome spring with yellow apricot branches, banh tet, vinegar meat, fermented pork rolls,...
1. Banh tet

Banh Tet means the convergence of earth and sky, one of the indispensable traditional dishes in the Tet feast of Central people. If the North has banh chung wrapped in dong leaves, banh Tet in the Central region is wrapped in banana leaves.
Although the ingredients are same, Banh Tet is wrapped into cylindrical pieces. Thanks to the simplicity of the cake, diners can clearly feel the taste of each ingredient inside, delicious and attractive.

Banh Tet means the convergence of earth and sky,​

2. Nem chua - Sour meat pie

If you have more chance to celebrate the Tet holidays in the Central region, you will be treated to a few sips of wine and grilled spring rolls by the people here. This specialty dish is made from pork, after being marinated with spices, the meat is wrapped with Guava leaves and gooseberry leaves left for a few days to have a sour, crispy, spicy taste.
Nem chua in the Central region is smooth, mild in flavor, and it is served with garlic cloves to enhance the flavor.

Sour meat pie - Tet holidays in the Central region​

3. Dưa món - Pickle dish

If the North has pickled onions during Tet, the Central region has the Pickled Onions. Combine with many different ingredients such as radishes, carrots, cucumbers, papaya, yam, ... creates an irresistibly delicious dish.
Although it sounds simple, to be able to make colorful and flavorful pickles takes a lot of time and meticulousness. Slices of soft, flexible banh tet served with crunchy, sour pickles give diners a strange, unforgettable feeling, and a very unique flavor during Tet days.

Pickled Onions dish in the Central region of Viet Nam​

4. Tôm chua - Sour shrimp

Another indispensable dish in the Tet feast of Central people is sour shrimp, a specialty of Hue.
The sweetness of shrimp, the greasiness of meat, the spicy and aromatic taste of galangal, garlic, and chili, the sour taste of star fruit, the astringency of fig, the scent of herbs,... All create a "symphony of flavors" So attractive that anyone who eats it once will remember it forever.

Tôm chua - Sour shrimp​

5. Chả bò - Beef patties

At the banquet table for guests in the early days of spring, Central people often have red and pink beef patties. With enough salty, sweet, crunchy, chewy, spicy flavors mixed with the characteristic strong aroma of black pepper, this dish is indispensable during the Tet holidays.

Beef patties​

6. Thịt ngâm mắm - Meat soaked in fish sauce

Every Tet and Spring season, meat soaked in fish sauce is the most popular way to salt meat in many Central provinces. The ingredients can be pork or beef. After being processed, they are soaked in mixed sugar fish sauce and cooked in a certain ratio. This meat dish is salty and sweet and is often served with pickles, sweet and sour tubers, raw vegetables, and herbs.

Meat soaked in fish sauce for every Spring season​

- Delicious dishes on Tet holiday in the South.

The South of Vietnam is a region with a developed economy and multiculturalism, so the cuisine here is imported and mixed from many places.
1. Thịt kho nước dừa - Braised pork in coconut juice

Among the countless delicious dishes in Saigon, the most famous traditional Tet dish for Southern people is probably meat braised in coconut milk. Also known by other names: braised meat with rum, braised meat with duck seeds. On the days leading up to Tet, besides cooking banh tet, southern households often prepare a large pot of meat braised with coconut water to eat on these days. Braised duck meat looks very attractive, easy to eat, and very delicious. If you want to enjoy this dish without feeling sick, you can eat this dish often with bean sprouts.

The most famous traditional Tet dish for Southern people​

2. Củ kiệu tôm khô - Dried shrimp root

One thing in the South that is completely different from the Central region is that the palanquin root is not eaten with Banh Tet, but is often eaten with dried shrimp as a separate dish. The tubers are pickled sweet and sour, and when eaten with dried shrimp, sprinkled with granulated sugar will make the dish have enough crunchy, chewy, pungent, salty, and sweet flavors for men to enjoy and enjoy.

Dried shrimp root​

3. Banh tet

While Banh Tet in the Central region is made quite simply, in the South it has been significantly "improved". There are two types of cakes here: banh tet with salty filling and sweet filling. With salty fillings, in addition to the traditional ingredients of beans and fatty meat, many restaurants also add salted eggs and sausage to add many different flavors.
Besides, sweet tet cakes are popular with bananas, red beans, green beans... Especially the Southwestern Banh Tet looks very eye-catching, squarely packaged, and sturdy. One of the famous localities with mixed banh tet that is not only delicious but also beautiful is Tra Vinh with Tra Cuon banh tet.

Banh Tet in the Central region​

4. Canh khổ qua - Pork stuffed bitter melon soup

For every Southern family, bitter melon soup stuffed with meat is a familiar daily dish. It is also used during Tet holidays with the meaning of repelling passing difficulties. Not only that, this is also a nutritious dish to cool the body during Tet days.

Pork stuffed bitter melon soup with the meaning of repelling passing difficulties in the South ò Viet Nam​

5. Lạp xưởng - Chinese sausage

One of the popular dishes in the South that everyone knows is the Chinese sausage. Every Tet holiday, the need to buy peanuts is indispensable at the Southern people's dinner table. With many types of sausages from fresh, dry, lean, shrimp, fish...
Sausage can be prepared in many ways such as boiling, frying, or grilling before eating. One of the ways that many people like is frying with water (without using oil), which is both delicious and safe for health.

Chinese sausage​

Each dish on Vietnamese Lunar New Year has its own meaning and characteristics of each region. This demonstrates the diversity of culture, customs, and traditions that help unite the spirit of solidarity of 54 ethnic groups across the country.
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