Family meals strengthen attachment among family members

Grandma, mother and daughter prepare a family meal together

NDO – The 2015 Vietnam Family Festival opened at the Vietnam Centre for Exhibition, Culture and Arts (VCECA), 2 Hoa Lu Street in Hanoi on June 26 under the theme “Family Meal: Cozy and Warm”.

Addressing the event, being held to celebrate Vietnam Family Day (June 28), Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam stressed that family plays a very crucial role in nurturing the vitality of Vietnamese culture. He called on everyone to spend more time with their family and relatives in order to build up strong families and better a society. (Photo: VGP/ Dinh Nam)

According to Deputy Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Vuong Duy Bien, the three-day festival focuses on the theme of family meals, a time for all members to spend together. It is the family table where love begins and grows over time.

The highlight of the festival is a cooking contest hosted by the VCECA and the Vietnam Women’s Union. The contest brings together many women’s associations at local levels in Hanoi.

Thanh Thu (left), a retired woman from Lang Ha ward in Dong Da district, said she was happy to join the festival, where she can introduce her best dishes to others.

Visitors and the jury were impressed by a heart-shaped coconut jelly made by Thu’s mother-in-law. All parts of the jelly are edible, including the little pink flowers.

Meanwhile, members from women’s association of Tran Hung Dao ward, Hoan Kiem district, put on table typical Hanoi dishes, including lotus root salad, steamed glutinous rice with chicken, steamed snails, and stuffed tomatoes.

Cooks from the women’s association in Ba Vi district showed that with a budget of only VND 500,000 (US$22.9), people can create hearty meals rich in nutritional value for their family.

The contest is an opportunity for participants to show their talents in cooking but also in decoration and fruit pattern carving

Trinh Lan Anh, a third grader of Nguyen Ba Ngoc in Hoan Kiem district, said she wanted to send her love and thanks for her mother on Vietnam Family Day. In her note, she also hoped that her family members would always love each other.

Photos featuring memorable moments from Vietnamese families across the country are also on display at an exhibition held as part of the festival. The photos are the winning entries to an annual contests held by the ‘Four Seasons of Love’ TV programme’s organising board over the past five years.

“This festival helps me be more aware of the importance of family meals”, shared Cao Thi Thuy Nhan from Duong Lam commune, Son Tay district. “I also leant many tasty and healthy dishes from mothers and sisters here, and I will surely try to make them for my husband and children”, she added.

Hang Thu

Family meals strengthen attachment among family members Related image(s)