Traditional corn flour food of Ha Giang’s Mong people

Ha Giang (VNA) - Men men (steamed corn flour) is an indispensable traditional food from the diet of the Mong ethnic people in the northern mountainous province of Ha Giang.

Fine corn flour (Photo: VNA)

Mong ethnic people living in Ha Giang fill hollows on rock plateaus with earth and drop in corn seeds which grow into strong maize stems and yield good ears of fresh corn. Not only good at the cultivation of maize, Mong people are also experts in processing unique and attractive dishes from corn, the most typical of which is men men which has for generations become their traditional food. Not only food, men men is also part of the culture of the Mong people. Simple as it is, men men provides visitors with an attractive experience.

The special taste and smell of Ha Giang men men is an outcome of the best variety of the local maize.

Mong people often teach their descendants that men must know how to distill liquor from corn, and women, to cook men men well. Ha Giang Mong women have mastered the technique to cook the food. It is not hard to cook men men, but it requires deep-rooted experience.

Thrashed, corn seeds are ground and then steamed after some water is added.

Men men is often steamed two or three times before it is ready. (Photo: VNA)

Corn seeds are often ground manually with rock mortars, and the work is heavy and hard.

Men men must be steamed at least twice, and the length of each time carefully calculated to suite the age of the seeds as younger ones need less time to cook.

After the first steaming, the flour is taken out and well mixed, and the overcooked part removed before the second, only after which the dish is completed.

From the beginning to the last step, the whole process of cooking men men takes from two three hours, that is why locals must get up at 4 am or 5 am to have enough time for their morning market. Men men can be taken as both breakfast and lunch for farmers working on terraced fields.

Properly cooked, men men gives off a widespread good smell and offers a deep and sweet taste. The longer men men is chewed, the better the taste becomes.

Ha Giang men men is relatively dry and soft, that is why when served in main meals, it often goes together with soup, with seasonal vegetables added.

Men Men, a popular food of every Mong family, is prepared from corn flour. (Photo: VNA)

Authorities in Quan Ba district of Ha Giang province annually hold traditional festivals imbued with the cultures of the local ethnic groups there, an indispensable part of which is the demonstration of men men cooking by Mong women. This aims to create an emulation drive among the locals in their production activities, to further cement solidarity among the local residential communities, and to bring into play their traditional cultural identities.

The craft helps promote the trademark and accelerate the development of craft villages. It creates jobs and increases income for locals. The process also brings into play cultural values and further enriches the activities in the spiritual life of the people of various ethnic groups, thus leaving a fine impression on visitors, both domestic and international.

Currently, most of the Mong families still take men men every day, although to them poverty is long in the past, as the “soul” of the food has taken a deep root in their life.

Men men is served at every occasion: weddings, funerals, commemoration or during New Year celebrations. A popular image is that local people, a spoon in hand, sit together, a bowl of men men and another of soup, coupled with other traditional foods, all out in front of them, talking and eating together./.