Travel Snacks

In Quy Nhon, I love to sit on the beach in the late afternoon and turn my face to the sun. I enjoy listening to the tanned kids playing football, watching the shadow of the men on the beach, and listening to the hammering sounds from the nearby shipyard and the noise from the busy fish market. Life in this region feels so simple and so gentle that it's easy to forget that Quy Nhon is the birthplace of many forms of martial arts.

This coastal region features many lagoons, bays and river-mouths. As such, it's famous for its seafood. Leaving the seaside and entering a local market, I realize that Quy Nhon offers lots of agricultural products too. I see an amazing array of rice cakes: banh hong, banh in, banh tet, banh xeo, banh hoi, banh duc, banh dun, banh it, banh re, banh tai vac, banh trang sua...

Banh it la gai (ramie-leaf cake) is a tasty, sweet cake that is mentioned in a popular lullaby: "I want to eat ramie-leaf cakes and marry a man from Binh Dinh but it is too far away."

Banh it la gai are made in many areas of Vietnam. Other regions that are famous for these cakes include Cau Oc, Lang Gia and Ninh Giang in Hai Duong province. The flour wrapping is always tender and mildly scented with ramie leaves, but the flavor varies depending on whether the cake is wrapped in fresh or dried banana leaves. The northern version is square.

In Quy Nhon, banh it la gai are small and triangular. Northern varieties are stuffed with fine mung bean paste, white sugar, coconut, sugared winter melon sugared lotus seeds, and perhaps a piece of crunchy sweetened pig fat. The Binh Dinh versions come in different flavors. The stuffing is usually sweet and consists of either mung beans or sugared coconut.

Eating these tiny pyramid-shaped cakes, I am reminded of lonely Cham towers under the blazing sun and curved boats lying on Quy Nhon’s beaches. In Binh Dinh, the most famous local drink is Bau Da rice wine, which is thick, aromatic and pungent. I recommend pairing this liquor with local snacks like Tay Son mia bird; Cho Huyen fermented meat rolls, and tre (pig's head fermented in rice flour).

I enjoyed watching some strong young men making Cho Huyen rolls. They pounded fresh pork in a mortar, adding salt and sugar. The meat was barbequed and served with herbs, green banana, sour star-fret white garlic, and green pepper. Eating this meat and drinking Bau Da wine made me feel buoyant.

Visitors typically buy Binh Dinh’s fermented meat rolls, called dua cay, to take home as gifts. These snacks feature the mild scent of guava leaf or coral tree leaf Fermented pig's head, or tre, is another surprise. It tastes as good as it looks. The meat is fermented with rice flour and spices like sesame, pepper, minced garlic and galingale to create a distinctive taste. It is wrapped in guava leaves and covered with straw. When finished, tre resembles straw candy - it looks rustic but charming. In the past, it was only served during the New Year festival. Today, it is a popular souvenir.