Making Northerners feel right at home

Natives of northern provinces who live in HCM City will enjoy every traditional Tet speciality from their hometowns as they welcome the Lunar New Year this month.

Many stores and supermarkets in the city have stored many varieties of food items from the north for the upcoming vacation.

The Ha Noi Supermarket in District 1 has already imported specialities like the gio (pork paste) from Thanh Tri District and nem chua (fermented pork roll) from Ha Dong District, both in Ha Noi.

Special ingredients for making northern traditional food – nep Quyt and nep Nuong (Quyt and Nuong sticky rice) from northern mountainous Son La Province and Tuyen Quang Province’s mang luoi lon (pig tongue shaped dried bamboo shoots) and mang vau (vau dried bamboo shoots) – are also available in the supermarket.

Tran Thi Tham, the supermarket’s deputy business manager, says they have maintained the same order for northern specialities this year as for the last Tet.

"We booked a tonne of spring onions for pickles in Dong Anh District," she says. "An additional tonne will be delivered before Tet.

"As usual, we also booked three tonnes of pork paste and fermented pork rolls from Thanh Tri District."

Food shops specialising in Ha Noi food on Dien Bien Phu, Cao Thang and Nguyen Thien Thuat streets in District 3 and Tan Son Nhat market in Go Vap District have also prepared stock to meet demand from customers, especially those from northern provinces.

Nguyen The Bang, owner of the Tien Hue shop, says they have stored Quyt sticky rice for the upcoming Tet season.

The city’s supermarkets and stores are also finding ways to decrease prices by selling homemade northern specialities.

Tham says this year the Ha Noi Supermarket would sell banh chung (square glutinous rice cake) made by its staff.

"The price will reduce 15-20% compared with the ones brought from northern provinces," she says.

This year, Sai Gon Co-op has co-operated with the Dong Nai Food and Foodstuff Processing and Trading Company to produce pork paste with the "Ha Noi taste".

Bui Hanh Thu, Sai Gon Co.op’s deputy general manager, says these products would be priced 10-25% cheaper than the market price.

Many retail stores in the city say they are also supplying homemade northern food – thit dong (frozen meat) – for this Tet holiday. (VNS)