One of simple but meaningful customs they maintain every Lunar New Year Festival (Tet) is gathering together to make Chung (square sticky rice) cake.
From early morning on February 15, the 27th day of the 12th lunar month, many Vietnamese families gathered at the house of Nguyen Le Thi Tuy Hanh, who has lived in Bali for nearly 20 years.
Her small house has become a familiar meeting place where the overseas Vietnamese community reunites in a warm, close-knit atmosphere. With only a tray of sticky rice, mung beans and pork, the spirit of Tet from the homeland clearly comes alive in this distant land.
Explaining why she organises the gathering to make Chung cake, Tuy Hanh said that her greatest wish is for everyone to come together like one family, to share memories of Tet in Viet Nam and, more importantly, to preserve traditions for younger generations born or grow abroad.
Without dong (Phrynium placentarium) leaves, banana leaves, which are abundant on this tropical island, are an excellent replacement. Sticky rice, mung beans and pork are all chosen from available source of food in the locality.
Only the soft, durable bamboo strings used to tie the cakes are brought from Viet Nam. Hanh jokingly said that those tiny strings are like a delicate link, connecting the flavours of Tet in a foreign land with our homeland.
Le Thi Vui, who travelled to Bali to celebrate Tet with her daughter’s family, shared that making Chung cake is an important tradition of Vietnamese people and she happily teaches her children and grandchildren to preserve the national tradition. Her experienced and skillful hands fold sticky rice, mung beans and pork into squared Chung cake in green banana leaves.
Children of Vietnamese origin born in Sweden and the US, who are learning to speak Vietnamese, eagerly join in and delight in holding their first Chung cake.
Some young people had never made Chung cake before. Initially watching with excitement, they later tried it themselves under Vui’s careful guidance, successfully making their first square cakes and, in the process, wrapping their emotional connection to the homeland.
Nguyen Phan Thien Huong, who has lived in Bali for nine years after marrying a British husband, said that although it seemed difficult at first, it was deeply moved when holding the cake she had made by herself.
Stories of Tet in the past, family meals and reunion moments in Viet Nam are shared, making geographical distance seem to disappear.
Nguyen Thi Thanh Trang, who has joined the Chung cake making in Bali for several years, said that she eagerly looks forward to meeting Vietnamese fellow-countrymen every Tet. For her, it is a precious opportunity for overseas Vietnamese.
“Being far from home, just gathering together to make Chung cake and talk about Tet makes me feel warm and at home,” she said.
Beside the steaming pot of Chung cake, stories about Tet of the past, about family meals, and about moments of reunion in their hometowns are retold. In that warm atmosphere, daily worries seem to subside, giving way to a feeling of peace and connection among those who are far from their homeland.
Once finished, the Chung cakes will be shared during the New Year’s Eve celebration of the Vietnamese community in Bali and also given to fellow-countrymen in difficult circumstances as wishes for a peaceful and prosperous new year.
Far from home, Chung cake wrapped in Balinese banana leaves and tied with Vietnamese bamboo strings is not only an indispensable dish during the traditional Lunar New Year, but also a symbol of memory, reunion, and the spirit of preserving Vietnamese identity.
