LookAtVietnam – HCM City gastronomes were pampered last week at the Fourth Taste of the World Festival which closed yesterday, December 6, at September 23 Park.

We are the world: The Exchange and Meet segment at the festival featured 20 dancers from different countries in their traditional costumes performing folk dances.

It began with a street festival at 6:30pm on Thursday which saw its entire route along Pham Ngu Lao, Do Quang Dau, and Le Lai streets crowded with thousands of people.

Around 100 artists from 18 countries took part, playing drums, enacted the legend of Banh Chung Banh Day (Square and Round Glutinous Rice Cakes) going back to the time of Viet Nam’s founders, the Hung Kings.

Children and young women in ao ba ba (loose-fitting collarless blouse) performed traditional dances.

The most interesting part of the street festival was a segment called “Exchange and Meeting” featuring 20 dancers from various countries in traditional costumes performing folk dances. It was greeted with thunderous applause by bystanders on Do Quang Dau Street.

The one-hour street festival ended with thousands flocking to the venue of the food festival from where the opening ceremony was broadcast live on HCM City Television’s HTV9.

The booths were all decked up and had attractive receptionists in traditional costumes to not only attract visitors but also hopefully win the prize for the best booth.

The Indonesian booth was among the easier to find - a visitor just had to follow the sound of the Gellddange drum, an indispensable instrument in a traditional Indonesian orchestra.

Tran Thi Tu Uyen, a visitor, said: “The festival is not only satisfying my appetite but also helping me to know about other countries’ cultures. Each booth has a different cultural hue.”

People queued up at the booth put up by Byblos, a HCM City-based Lebanese restaurant, for its special salad and skewered chicken roll.

“It’s strange. They use a thin slice of kneaded dough which is like a small pizza, roll it with salad and a little bit of skewered chicken. I cannot describe its flavour but it’s really worth it at just VND25,000,” Mai Xuan Huong said.

“Most of the foods cost from VND10,000,” another price-conscious visitor said.

Trung Nguyen Coffee, where a barista made espresso, attracted crowds from 7pm to 8pm every day when there was a traditional Tay Nguyen (Central Highlands) music performance.

There was the Global Pizza Contest between chefs from famous city hotels like Park Hyatt and Majestic. The jury and other experts also advised visitors on how to use wheat flour, the secret to making a delicious pizza. Visitors were allowed to taste the delicious pizzas the contestants whipped up.

“It’s not easy to make a delicious pizza,” a foreign expert told a curious visitor. “Ingredients play an important part and they must be used in the right way. Otherwise, even expensive ingredients will not make for a good pizza.

VietNamNet/Viet Nam News