Rice dishes from the length and breadth of Vietnam and food from around the world will feature at two big food and culture festivals coming to HCMC in December.

The culture-culinary Hat Lua Que Toi (My country’s rice grain) festival from December 10-12 at Binh Quoi 1 in Binh Thanh District will promote about 100 different dishes made from rice from every corner of Vietnam.

From December 27 to January 3, 2011 the HCMC Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism will hold the Tastes of the World 2010 festival at September 23 Park in District 1 with dishes from 20 countries.

Vendors at the Hat Lua Que Toi festival will peddle their goods and cry out their wares as they do on the streets of the three regions. The hardship of the farmers working on the rice fields will also be highlighted.

“We’ve made 10 survey trips to find dishes for the festival,” said Chiem Thanh Long, director of Binh Quoi Tourist Village.

Binh Quoi organized a similar event in 2008 that presented southern cuisine.

Long said the tourist village wants to attract more families to this year’s event. “Parents can bring their children to enjoy food and learn how farmers plant rice and the rice culture of Vietnam,” he said.

The village expects to sell around 7,500 tickets for three-day festival that runs from 5 p.m to 10 p.m. The ticket costs VND220,000 per adult, and VND150,000 for a child.

Source SGT