My dear friend Kim was kind enough to share some banh chung with me. It's a rice cake made with pork, bean and wrapped with a banana leaf. It tasted like really good comfort food to me. The rice was light and spongy and the combination of flavors very nice.
There is a long history associated with Banh Chung it is one of a variety of Special Tet Foods.
It is very interesting to read about this dish called Banh Chung. I like this description of a family sitting by the warm fire telling stories from the past with hopeful wishes for the New Year, from vn-style.com
"In Vietnam, you can enjoy Rice cake at any time, but you can feel it clearly in the Lunar New Year. At that time, beside the dish of rice cake you could see dishes of lean meat pie, salty onion to eat with. In the tradition of Vietnam, before the New Year one or two day, by the warm fire, the family sit aside telling the past stories and ready for a New Year with hopeful wishes of the best thing."
This description of Tet at Web Holidays has some interesting background, it says Tet falls on February 9th this year. I'm not really sure though...surfing around the web I've seen a few different dates. Maybe because it's a celebration that lasts up to a week. I'll have to ask someone who knows.
The Welcome to TET IN SEATTLE has some good information and a schedule of events that will be going on at the Seattle Center on Saturday and Sunday February 5th and 6th.
Wishing you a hope-filled life, a warm place, loving family and friends...good stories and good food. Maybe some fireworks thrown in for excitement...
Jack
