The profession of wrapping banh tet and banh u la tre in Hoa Dien

Mrs. Lam Thi Xien's family, residing in Thanh Loi hamlet, has been making banh tet and banh u la tre for nearly 20 years. As soon as they approach her house, visitors can smell the faint smell of kitchen smoke mixed with the smell of banana leaves, the aroma of the banh tet and banh u la tre that have just been cooked. The first batch of cakes is completed when the women are busy preparing for the next batch of cakes from wiping the leaves, soaking the sticky rice, stir-frying the filling... In her house, there are 3-4 women quickly wrapping banh u la tre. In just about 1 minute, the skilled workers have completed the cake from folding the leaves, scooping the sticky rice, adding the filling, wrapping it up and tying it tightly with string.

On normal days, Ms. Xien's family receives orders to wrap about 100 banh tet loaves, from 1,000 to 2,000 banh tet loaves with bamboo leaves to deliver to customers. On holidays, Lunar New Year, Doan Ngo festival, and full moon day, the quantity increases 4-5 times compared to normal days. To deliver to customers on time, she hires 4-5 workers. Ms. Xien shared: "At first, I wrapped a few hundred cakes each day. Then, many customers enjoyed the food and ordered packages for parties, so I wrapped more. On holidays and Tet, I wrapped 4,000 to 5,000 banh tet loaves with bamboo leaves, 1,000 banh tet loaves per day. The income from wrapping cakes is 14-15 million VND per month, helping my family's life to be stable."

Workers wrap cakes for hire at Mrs. Lam Thi Xien's family. Photo: THUY TRANG

The job of wrapping banh tet and banh u la tre contributes to creating jobs for many rural women. Ms. Thi Xuan, living in Thanh Loi hamlet, said: “My child goes to work as a factory worker in Binh Duong , I stay home to take care of him. Thanks to the job of wrapping banh tet, I have extra income to cover my living expenses. Every day, I wrap 1,000 banh tet, the salary is about 400,000 VND”.

Although it brings stable income and livelihood to many families, this traditional profession in Thanh Loi hamlet still faces many difficulties such as: small-scale production; unstable market; uneven cake quality; increasing prices of input materials such as sticky rice, beans, meat, sugar, etc., leading to increased costs and product prices.

To maintain and develop traditional occupations, in 2024, the Women's Union of Hoa Dien commune coordinated with the leadership of Thanh Loi hamlet to mobilize households to join in establishing a cooperative group for wrapping banh tet and banh u la tre in Thanh Loi hamlet, with 14 members. In addition, the Women's Union of the commune guides and helps women promote and introduce products on social networking platforms, display and introduce products at conferences in the commune.

“Joining a cooperative is an effective solution to maintain the traditional profession. Women have a place to exchange experiences in wrapping cakes as well as how to choose ingredients to make cakes that are both delicious and typical of local products. At the same time, women are given conditions to borrow capital from the Social Policy Bank to invest in expanding production scale and buying cheaper input materials,” said Ms. Nguyen Thi Bich Phuong - Head of the Cooperative Group for wrapping Tet cakes and bamboo-leaf cakes in Thanh Loi hamlet.

THUY TRANG

Source: https://baoangiang.com.vn/nghe-goi-banh-tet-banh-u-la-tre-o-hoa-dien-a462137.html