The Southern Folk Cake Festival in Can Tho

“The Southern Folk Cake Festival is a festival to celebrate the diversity and rich cultural history of the provinces in Southern Vietnam, as well as other provinces and countries. The festival is hosted by the Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Travel; the Ministry of Foreign Relations and the Municipal Government of Can Tho. This past April, the festival entered its 5th iteration and featured over 250 stalls showcasing different rice products – ranging from cakes, sticky rice to sweet soups. Through this event, the government hopes to promote the Mekong Delta’s agricultural products and specialties.

Rice has always played an important part in the lives of the Southerners. The art of growing rice began in the 10th century B.C up in the North, but the conditions of the plains surrounding Mekong River and other rivers in the Southwest of Vietnam are still good enough for the rice plants to prosper. It would come as no surprise to know that the Mekong Delta is regarded as “the rice fields of Vietnam”, and is responsible for feeding the nation’s supply of grain. The rice plant and rice grain have become so embedded in traditional Vietnamese culture – a primarily agricultural society – that one simply cannot begin to comprehend the image of rice disappearing from our tables and meals. Whether a poor man’s plate or a rich man’s banquet, the rice grain would appear in one way or another.

The abundance of rice and other fresh products, such as bananas, coconuts or cassava, in the Mekong Delta has led to the creation of many special cakes and treats that are both delicious and reflective of the area. They are vibrant, colorful, rustic yet full of flavor, not unlike the people of the Delta. Some favorites include banh tam khoai mi, a string cake made from cassava flour served with coconut milk and toasted sesames; banh chuoi hap nuoc dua, a banana cake steamed with coconut water; and banh pia, a flaky pastry from the province of Soc Trang, filled with green bean paste and salted duck eggs; banh trang nuong, Vietnamese pizza made by rice paper” – Trung Tran

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Words by Trung Tran
Photos by Nhi Nguyen