Tet gift baskets bring the taste of home to the throne

Products from all regions of Vietnam, with both familiar and strange flavors of Tet, appear more and more familiarly in Tet gift baskets this year, whether popular or high-end.

Many dishes with local colors in this year's high-end Tet gift baskets - Photo: TV

A representative of The Bloom, a brand participating in the Tet gift market in Ho Chi Minh City, said that the items and dishes appearing in the unit's Tet gift baskets this year are the result of a long-term "hunt" for local specialties, such as traditional pia cakes, local dried fruits, rice wine, and natural health care products.

Or with the "Tet Tray" gift, there are full dishes with rich flavors of three regions, including: banh chung with herbal pork, Hue pickled onions, beef shank soaked in five-spice fish sauce, pork belly with ribs soaked in fish sauce or ecological dried shrimp ( Ca Mau ) and dried buffalo jerky with pepper (Buon Ma Thuot)...

"Each dish carries a poetic story, cherishing the full flavor of the old Tet, not only to give gifts of joy but also to reconnect and nurture tradition and the present," said a representative of The Bloom.

The trend of returning to traditional, rustic specialties and dishes has been growing in popularity in recent years, but this Tet has become more evident than ever. According to supermarkets, Tet gift baskets are becoming more practical and aiming for "usability" rather than just ceremonial gifts.

The more difficult the economy is, the more useful the Tet gift basket is, limiting "expensive" products such as foreign wine, Korean ginseng, abalone, cordyceps...

As at the MM Mega Market, Saigon Co.op , Tops Market systems... besides Tet gift baskets with cakes, candies, tea, coffee, gift baskets of cooking oil, sausages, spices of all kinds are ordered quite a lot by units and businesses, even at the Topsmarket system, they launched a gift basket worth 99,000 VND, quite well-prepared with soft drinks, candies, nuts...

"Some specialties such as dried fish, dried chicken, shredded squid, dried fruits of all kinds... commonly appear in Tet gift baskets," added a representative of Saigon Co.op.

The special thing is that the designs also follow a rustic and familiar trend such as using hand-woven baskets, bamboo boxes with carved patterns or artistic paper boxes... Even the high-end gift baskets introduced by 4-5 star hotels during Tet also pay attention to local specialties.

Mr. Julian Wong, general manager of Sheraton Saigon Grand Opera Hotel, said that in addition to imported wine and tea, the products in the hotel's gift boxes are handmade cakes and packaged dried flowers and seeds prepared by chefs based on the pride of each region's specialties.

According to records, the price of Tet gift baskets this year is set to be 10-30% higher than last year depending on the segment, with popular baskets starting from 299,000 VND and high-end baskets starting from 1.7 million VND. Not limited to gift boxes, many stores also provide gift wrapping materials for customers to choose their own gifts according to their preferences as well as to suit their needs and budget.

"Beans - Rice - Pineapple" gift basket is a hot seller

Hieu Phat Cooperative introduces gift basket "Hieu Phat Beans - Watermelons - Pineapple" on the occasion of Tet At Ty - Photo: PHUONG DONG

Ms. Le Thi Kim Thoa, Chairwoman of the Board of Directors and Director of Hieu Phat Agricultural Service Cooperative (Phong Dong Commune, Vinh Thuan District, Kien Giang Province), said that during the 2025 Lunar New Year, this cooperative received orders for 500 "Bean - Bamboo Shoot - Pineapple" Tet gift baskets from customers inside and outside the province.

The gift basket includes: whole dried shrimp, pickled onions (associated with traditional Tet), a box of beans (for good luck), goby fish, dried chicken and dried pineapple. The price of this gift basket is about 600,000 VND.

"This is an order placed by the sisters during this Tet holiday. When there are more orders, we will make more. These are products that meet local OCOP standards of 3 stars or higher," said Ms. Thoa, adding that Hieu Phat Cooperative supplies about 5 tons of dried shrimp to the Lunar New Year market.

However, due to the increase in raw material prices, the price of dried shrimp supplied to the market will increase by more than 60,000 VND/kg, around 580,000 - 780,000 VND/kg of dried shrimp depending on the type.

It is known that Kien Giang has 296 OCOP products that meet 3-star standards or higher. Of these, 6 products meet 5-star national standards, 36 products meet 4-star standards and 254 products meet 3-star standards.

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/gio-qua-tet-mang-huong-vi-que-nha-len-ngoi-20250115074126396.htm