Unique cuisine in Dong Nai

​Deep-fried sticky rice, a specialty of Dong Nai's cuisine.

Today, Dong Nai cuisine has had an exchange and acculturation to not only serve indigenous people, or groups of expatriates living in this land, which gradually becomes an indispensable part in the colorful culinary image.

Unique features

Talking about Dong Nai's products, national cultural celebrity Trinh Hoai Duc used the folk language in “Gia Dinh Thanh Thong Chi” book: Nai Ria rice, Ri Rang fish (rice in Dong Nai, Ba Ria; delicious fish in Phan Ri, Phan Rang). Dong Nai people are always proud of “Gạo Cần Đước, nước Đồng Nai”/("Can Duoc rice, Dong Nai water"); “Đồng Nai gạo trắng nước trong/ Ai đi đến đó lòng không muốn về/ Đồng Nai gạo trắng như cò/ Trốn cha trốn mẹ xuống đò theo anh” / (“Dong Nai, white rice, clear waters / All who come wish never to leave / Dong Nai’s rice is white as tork / Escape your parents and come along my boat”). Sometimes, Dong Nai's culinary specialties have become Vietnamese folk songs: “Đồn rằng con gái Phú Yên/ Đồng Nai đi cưới một thiên cá mòi/ Chẳng tin giở quả ra coi/ Rau răm ở dưới cá mòi ở trên…Chị Hươu đi chợ Đồng Nai/ Bước qua Bến Nghé còn nhai thịt bò”. / (It was rumored that daughters of Phu Yen / Dong Nai were proposed by a thousand sardines / If you do not believe it, open the wedding fruit trays / Lettuce on the bottom, sardines on top / Ms. Huou went to Dong Nai market / Walking past Ben Nghe but still chewed beef".)

Dong Nai people have a habit of eating 3 meals a day with dishes such as bean porridge with Braised snakehead fish, Gourd soup cooked with yellow catfish, bean porridge with coconut milk, sauce of macerated fish with eggs, stuffed bitter gourd soup, white rice, sweet and sour snakehead fish soup, etc. In terms of food processing techniques, Dong Nai people are also quite sophisticated and stylish. Dong Nai people like to eat chicken mixed with salad (shredded chicken) with sour taste of lemon, spicy taste of chili pepper, strong taste of coriander, fresh crispy taste of banana flower, sweet taste of chicks; or crab, shrimp, crab dishes... roasted with tamarind and salt are specialties of riverside areas.

Almost the famous delicacies of land of Bien Hoa - Dong Nai famous near and far are processed from simple ingredients. Some of the dishes from pomelo such as pomelo wine, pomelo tea, pomelo salad, pomelo rolls (Vinh Cuu district); carp, blood cockle from Phuoc An, Phu Hoi tea (Nhon Trach district); Tan Mai fish salad, fried sticky rice with grilled chicken, mussel of Cu Lao Pho (Bien Hoa city)... Gourmets in Dong Nai and neighboring provinces often date or bring family and friends to Bien Hoa for weekends to enjoy fried sticky rice, bread soup, grilled spring rolls, pomelo salad, fish salad. When they returned, they did not forget to buy some fried sticky rice as gifts.

In addition, the dishes with the flavor of mountains and forests, showing cultural features, customs, habits and lifestyle of the ethnic communities are also very interested in. It is “rượu cần”/ “stem wine/tub wine”, “cơm lam”/ “bamboo cooked rice”; grilled meat skewers; forest vegetables, sour salad, boiled bitter bamboo shoots, sweet and sour soup with crystal eyed catfish... Although it is simply processed, the form is rustic and delicious, it always brings a unique characteristic that makes anyone unforgettable when enjoying it.

Cohesion of tourism development

Journalist Bui Thuan said that Dong Nai in the current integration period now has everything, from outside the North, in the South to the highlands and seas; As for the specialties, the season is full of food in all regions, including foreign products with diverse origins. Also because of the exchange and contact with many different cultures, the old and present Dong Nai land has converged and distilled the quintessence of regional cuisine. In particular, the diversity in processing and unique eating habits inherent in the people here has become a beauty in Dong Nai culture.

According to Master Nguyen Van Quyet (lecturer at Dong Nai University), referring to Dong Nai cuisine, it is impossible not to say that it is an extremely rich and diverse treasure of "art". Many dishes have become brands and become popular everywhere. However, cuisine is a form of living culture, always keeping its basic characteristics but never with an unchanging pattern. There will never be a dish exactly like it was 50 years or 100 years ago; Because of changes in demand, taste, and living conditions, food also changes.

Assoc.Prof. Dr. Nguyen Cong Hoan, Head of the Department of Travel and Tourism, University of Finance & Marketing, said that enjoying food is indispensable in the travel itinerary. Basically, Bien Hoa - Dong Nai cuisine meets the needs of different types of tourists, from specialties to ethnic folk cuisine. However, it also stopped at the basis of “their own discretion and preference”. Therefore, the combination of food and tourism needs to be organized more methodically to introduce this attractive brand to public.

No one can make an inventory of how many regions, how many ethnic groups are living, working and living in Dong Nai today. It is only known that the cultural access to different regions has created a beautiful lifestyle in Dong Nai people's life, especially those who love the culture of the land more than 320 years of formation and development.

Thanh Thanh