Preserving cultural identity: A view from culinary competitions
(Baonghean) -In mountainous districts, during festivals or ethnic cultural festivals, culinary competitions are also one of the events that attract a large number of people and tourists.
At competitions, the organizing committee often sets a maximum limit on the amount of money spent on organizing the meal, while still ensuring nutritional standards. Along with that are standards on ingredients (prioritizing familiar products), processing methods, decoration and attractive explanations. These are the challenges for the participating units. The female contestants are not only skillful, have aesthetic sense, speak flexibly, but also good at calculating to "measure the rice according to the fish sauce". Therefore, the meals of the units participating in culinary competitions all meet the requirements or higher.
Women of Con Cuong district prepare meals for culinary competition
Looking at the meal tray, it is easy to see the very familiar products of the mountains, forests, rivers and villages of Western Nghe An, through the skillful hands of the highland women, immediately become specialties. These are dishes that, just by mentioning them, many lowland guests are delighted, such as hill chicken, black pig, catfish, cool fish, stream snails, bamboo rice, five-color sticky rice, banh chung, croissant cake, cheo, mooc, wild bamboo shoots and can wine... Each season has its own food, each dish has its own way of processing, creating the typical flavor of the highland mountains. The sophistication and ingenuity of highland women are also shown in the way they arrange and decorate the meal tray. Here, there is harmony in materials, shapes and colors. Looking at such meal trays, many people affirm that it is not just a daily meal but has become an art.
Along with the purpose of honoring the ingenuity and sophistication of women, organizing culinary competitions is an opportunity to preserve cultural identity, specifically culinary culture. Modern life has begun to reach the highland villages, people here have also begun to be busier with daily work, no longer have much time to prepare traditional dishes. These dishes require the cook to be meticulous, meticulous and skillful. Along with the development of the market, most of the goods, including food, are transported to each village, very convenient for housewives. Therefore, traditional dishes are gradually disappearing from the family's dinner table. Ms. Ha Thi Hang (Thai ethnic group), Xieng village, Mon Son commune (Con Cuong) shared: "Work is getting busier and busier, there is not much time left to cook traditional dishes, so the annual culinary competition is an opportunity to find the beauty passed down from our ancestors."
Mr. Nguyen Huy Chuong, Director of Con Cuong District Cultural Center said: “On the occasion of the annual Ethnic Culture and Sports Festival, we always spend a considerable amount of time on the culinary competition. This is also an important part of the work of preserving and promoting the national cultural identity, contributing to promoting the local image.”
Tuong Anh
