Rich and unique experience

Coming to Ha Giang , besides experiencing the scenic spots and unique customs, visitors certainly cannot miss enjoying traditional specialties at stops in the villages.

Ẩm thực cao nguyên đá Hà Giang: Trải nghiệm phong phú và đặc sắc

Humpback Chung cake, one of the culinary quintessence of the rocky plateau of Ha Giang.

Ha Giang is not only famous far and wide for its majestic, undulating highland landscape, golden terraced fields in the ripe rice season, poetic buckwheat flower fields, brilliant pink colors or unique national cultural identity, but also a place where diverse and rich culinary quintessence converges with specialties that attract diners when coming to the rocky plateau land.

Ha Giang currently has four specialties in the Top 100 outstanding gift specialties including: Mint honey, Hoang Su Phi snow tea, buckwheat cake and Quan Ba seedless persimmons and four dishes in the Top 100 outstanding gift specialties including: Men men, Au Tau porridge, Thang Co and Smoked Meat, 3 dishes in the top 121 typical Vietnamese culinary dishes including silver carp, corn pho, and Au Tau nephew.

These irresistible delicacies with the flavor of the mountains and forests, along with five-color sticky rice, buckwheat cakes, corn wine with yeast leaves, grilled moss, humpbacked banh chung, sausage, thang co... are the culinary quintessence originating from the living and working process of the 19 ethnic communities here, which have many traditional dishes, bearing the characteristics of each ethnic group, along with special ingredients that nature has bestowed on the northern mountainous region of the Fatherland, such as: Mac Khen, Doi seeds, star anise, cardamom, honey.

Coming to Ha Giang, besides experiencing the scenic spots and unique customs, visitors certainly cannot miss enjoying traditional specialties at stops in the villages.

Corn pho is a culinary specialty that can only be found in Ha Giang.

When mentioning Ha Giang, tourists often think of the specialty porridge of au tau. This dish tastes quite strange. The bowl of porridge has a fatty taste mixed with a little bitterness of au tau, the delicious aroma of chicken eggs and the accompanying herbs. Au tau is a typical tuber of Ha Giang, containing toxins.

But the Mong people detoxify the water chestnuts by soaking them in rice water, then simmering them for about 4-5 hours. Then, grind them, cook them with bone broth and yellow sticky rice mixed with a little sticky rice. When the porridge is cooked, it will be scooped into a bowl and eaten with minced lean meat, salt, pepper and green onions. Water chestnuts are a nutritious dish, curing colds, aches and pains... During the cold winter days in the rocky mountains, enjoying a bowl of hot, nutritious water chestnut porridge is certainly an unforgettable experience for tourists.

In addition to Au Tau porridge, Thang Co is an irresistible delicacy for diners when coming to the stone plateau. Thang Co means meat soup, a traditional dish of the Mong people, made from horse meat with a very unique flavor. Nowadays, to suit tourists , the restaurant owner has replaced the ingredients with buffalo, beef, and pork. The people here also use beef organs to cook, because horse meat is very difficult to buy. The essence of Thang Co is especially in the broth, simmered from bones and internal organs and mixed with 12 typical spices such as star anise, cardamom and lemon leaves... creating a fragrant pot of broth. The meat will be fried first and then put into the broth to simmer until soft. This dish has a strong smell for those who try it for the first time, but the more you eat, the more you will be addicted. It will be more attractive when eaten with men men, grilled corn cakes and corn wine.

Tourists coming to Ha Giang to experience the paradise of buckwheat flowers should not miss the opportunity to enjoy the specialties made from buckwheat seeds, which are very delicious, unique, and very popular, such as: cakes, pho, beer, noodles, dried vermicelli, wine. Buckwheat is a flowering herb with many colors: white, pink, purple, red, and has long been famous as one of the symbolic flowers of the Northeast region of Ha Giang.

On the journey to explore the rocky plateau, visitors can also enjoy other wonderful dishes such as: Dong Van ancient town rice rolls, humpbacked banh chung, Dong Van egg rice rolls, Bac Me bamboo tube rice, smoked buffalo meat, sour pho, thang den... If you have the opportunity to taste them, diners will have an aftertaste of the dishes and remember them forever.

Corn pho is a culinary specialty that can only be found in Ha Giang.

In recent years, Ha Giang has emerged as a leading attractive destination, tourism has been shaped into a driving force for economic growth in this locality. Among the tourism products, the community tourism model integrating the quintessence of local culinary culture is the most effective development direction. Homestays, with the support and facilitation of authorities at all levels, have cleverly exploited the typical culinary cultural values in the service process to give tourists the most satisfying experience.

Tourists not only enjoy the specialties but also witness the food preparation process, and are informed about the completely natural origin of the ingredients harvested by ethnic people in the forest such as: wild bananas, mac khen, wild bamboo shoots, colorful leaves to make five-color sticky rice or plants and animals that are raised, grown, and cared for to prepare dishes according to traditional recipes.

Recently, in order to honor, preserve and promote the culinary culture values of the locality, Ha Giang province has organized the 2023 North - Central - South and Ha Giang Culinary Culture Festival in Ha Giang city with many exciting and attractive activities, attracting a large number of domestic and international tourists. To continue the success of this event, Ha Giang plans to organize the 2024 Ha Giang International Culinary and Tourism Culture Festival for 3 days, from March 29 to 31, 2024 at March 26 Square and Green Park, Ha Giang city.

With the theme Ha Giang - Culinary quintessence of Asia's leading destination, Ha Giang is determined to elevate the local culinary cultural values, introduce and promote widely to domestic and international tourists; build and effectively exploit the culinary tourism brand through collecting, restoring, and developing a quintessential, unique, and quality culinary and tourism culture; promote cooperation in tourism development, promising to bring many interesting experiences to tourists.

According to the plan, the 2024 Ha Giang International Food, Tourism and Cultural Festival will include a series of unique and special events, the most notable of which is the promotion program, setting a Vietnamese record of "50 culinary dishes and drinks made from buckwheat" with the participation of chef experts from the Japan - Vietnam Culinary Association directly preparing dishes and drinks, creating a menu of 50 dishes from the main ingredient of buckwheat according to the five combinations of "tree, animal, flower, root, fruit".

In addition, there are a series of activities such as: Organizing competitions and awarding prizes for typical dishes of provinces and cities; organizing culinary and tourism cultural exchange and experience activities; mass art performances; Organizing a survey program for Asia's leading typical destination - Ha Giang 2023; organizing a workshop on positioning the Ha Giang tourism brand.

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