Tết: A Cultural Tapestry of Culinary Traditions
Tết typically begins on the 30th day of the last lunar month (at least until the 4th or 5th day of the new year) in some regions, where people celebrate with festivities, village festivals, and joyful gatherings that can extend through the entire first month. However, preparations often commence in the early days of the last lunar month and must be completed before noon on the 30th. This is also how descendants express their remembrance and gratitude toward their grandparents and ancestors. Depending on each family's circumstances, they arrange a large offering tray to welcome their ancestors at noon or in the afternoon of the 30th, and another tray on the 3rd or 4th day of Tết to bid them farewell, known as the "sending-off" offering.
Due to geographical conditions, dietary habits, and regional customs, each region has its own unique Tết offering tray. In the North, it is called mâm cỗ; in the Central region, mâm cộ; and in the South, mâm cơm cúng ông bà. The Northern Tết tray follows a traditional structure, typically featuring four bowls and four plates. For grander feasts, there may be six bowls and six plates, or eight bowls and eight plates, sometimes stacked two or three tiers high. Before offering to ancestors, the bowls and plates are covered with gold paper for hygiene, purity, and aesthetic appeal.
The four bowls include: pork knuckle stewed with bamboo shoots, floating rice puffs, glass noodles, and meatballs. The four plates consist of: chicken, pork, pork sausage (giò lụa), and cinnamon-flavored pork loaf (chả quế). Additional plates may feature: jellied pork, head cheese, stir-fried almonds, dried Chinese sausage, salted eggs, braised fish with galangal, and jellyfish or vegetable salads. The most popular Tết cake in the North is bánh chưng, served with pickled onions. Signature desserts include lotus seed candied fruit, kumquat preserves, ginger jam, dried persimmons, and ginger-salted apricots. A special dish is chè kho, known for its detoxifying and alcohol-reducing properties.
In the South, the ancestral offering tray on the 30th day of Tết always includes pork braised in coconut water with eggs or snakehead fish accompanied by pickled bean sprouts, and bitter melon stuffed with meat (canh khổ qua nhồi thịt). The bitter melon symbolizes letting go of the hardships of the past year to welcome the blessings of the new year. Cold dishes include lotus stem salad, pickled pig ears, dried shrimp with pickled leeks, stuffed pork knuckle, fresh Chinese sausage, phá lấu, nem, and chả. The most common cake in the South is bánh tét, served with pickled carrots and daikon radish in fish sauce. Desserts feature fruit preserves such as coconut jam, tamarind candy, sweet potato jam, guava preserves, custard apple jam, water chestnut candy, sweet rice cakes, kẹo thèo lèo, and banana candy. Another distinctive dessert is cơm rượu (fermented sticky rice).
The Central region's Tết tray features soup dishes such as chicken simmered with lotus seeds, golden needle flower soup with shrimp and pork, and braised pork knuckle. Savory dishes include caramelized shrimp, braised pork in coconut juice, spring rolls, thịt hon, fried chicken, thịt phay, nem, chả, tré, and meat soaked in fish sauce. Vegetable dishes include stir-fried dried bamboo shoots with meat, jackfruit salad, and stir-fried bean sprouts. Desserts are abundant, featuring citrus preserves, lotus seed jam, and ginger jam (similar to the North), as well as tamarind and coconut preserves (like the South). Additionally, there are preserves made from arrowroot, yam, lotus root, lemon, and star fruit. Cakes include bánh sen tán, bánh măng, bánh mận, bánh bó mứt, bánh thuẩn, bánh phục linh, bánh nổ, and bánh tổ. The Central region features both bánh chưng and bánh tét, served with pickled vegetables. However, in folk tradition, while both cakes appear on family trays, only bánh chưng is offered in imperial temple ceremonies—bánh tét is not used as an offering to ancestors.
This differs from the raw offerings (mâm sinh soạn) used in ceremonies for Heaven, Earth, deities, and royalty. For instance, when the king performed the Heaven worship ceremony at the Nam Giao Altar or honored former emperors at the Thế Miếu, the offerings included a set of three raw animals (tam sinh): a buffalo, a pig, and a goat, known as cỗ thái lao. In folk practice, when worshiping the Earth, the tam sinh consisted of a piece of pork, a crab, and an egg, simply boiled and unprocessed.
The family meal offered to ancestors during the three days of Tết, however, is a fully prepared feast featuring a variety of dishes from all categories: Thượng cầm (flying poultry such as birds, chicken, duck), Hạ thú (land animals like pig, cow, chicken), and Thủy tộc (aquatic creatures such as shrimp, crab, fish). In folk tradition, such a meal is called hào soạn. In the imperial court, the offering tray presented at temples was called ngọc soạn, consisting of dishes made from rare and precious ingredients sourced from across the country, meticulously prepared and elaborately presented. These dishes included: stuffed sâm cầm bird with bird's nest, sea cucumber stew, shark fin soup, fish maw soup, cửu khổng soup, deer tendon, peacock nem, and phoenix chả. Desserts included ginseng jam, bát bửu jam made from precious preserves and roasted pork, whole citron preserves, and candied fruits and vegetables such as winter melon, papaya, and ginger, carved into shapes of the eight treasures (bát bửu) or the four mythical creatures (long, lân, qui, phụng) and dried. Sweet cakes were typically dry cakes made from cereal flour, pressed into rectangular molds imprinted with plum or peach blossoms, or the characters Phước (blessing), Lộc (prosperity), Thọ (longevity), wrapped in five-colored paper—carrying auspicious New Year wishes. Additionally, cakes shaped like deer antlers, plum and peach blossoms, and fruits such as Buddha's hand, pomegranate, peach, and ginseng were dried and arranged into a tower atop a vermilion-lacquered or blue-glazed porcelain pedestal as ancestral offerings.
Alongside the folk hào soạn and imperial ngọc soạn, in the Central region, Buddhist families often prepare a vegetarian tray on the first day of the new year, called mâm trai soạn, for ancestral offerings.
Through the Tết offering trays of the Vietnamese people, we see the incredible diversity and richness of Vietnamese cuisine. From humble dishes like bamboo shoot stew and jackfruit salad to luxurious preparations using native ingredients, there is an abundance of rare and nourishing delicacies recognized worldwide, such as bird's nest, abalone, and shark fin. These are age-old Vietnamese dishes, yet regrettably, for a long time, they were mistakenly regarded as exclusively Chinese specialties.
In traditional Tết trays from all three regions, beef was historically absent. It was only in the early 20th century, with the influx of Western influence, that beef dishes became popular. Today's Tết trays, while retaining traditional dishes, also incorporate new recipes and cooking techniques from around the world, such as beef stewed in red wine, curry, and ragout.
In summary, the Tết offering trays of the three regions have certain local differences. However, the fundamental elements common to all are rice and sticky rice, especially bánh chưng and bánh tét, served with regionally distinctive pickled vegetables. These cakes, though differing in form and symbolism—bánh chưng representing the Earth (Yin) and bánh tét, when sliced into round pieces, representing the Heaven (Yang)—are made from nearly identical ingredients. This shared characteristic reflects the cultural, historical, and geographical identity of a nation with a wet-rice civilization like ours.
Source: Author HỒ THỊ HOÀNG ANH