The humble rice grain holds a pivotal place in the culinary traditions of Asian communities, particularly in Vietnamese cuisine, where its versatility is showcased in an array of diverse and essential rice dishes.
Rice grains have a long-standing significance in Vietnamese culture
Rice grain, often called the pearl of heaven, holds an indispensable place in Vietnamese family meals, symbolizing the essence of the wet rice civilization. The sight of white rice grains has ingrained itself in the human subconscious through countless family meals. A simple yet delicious meal evokes feelings of “coming home” or “returning to Mom”, resonating with the comforting nostalgia of these simple and heartwarming moments.
Revisiting the ancient legend of the Hung Kings, the captivating narrative of Banh Chung and Banh Giay unveils itself. These humble yet symbolic sticky rice cakes, crafted from basic glutinous rice, played a pivotal role in propelling the destitute prince to the throne. Likewise, in the enchanting fairy tale of Thach Sanh, the richness of Vietnam was extolled as he graciously treated foreign envoys to a simple yet hearty bowl of rice.
These timeless tales not only celebrate the significance of rice in historical narratives but also underscore its enduring role in shaping the cultural and culinary identity of Vietnam.
Famous types of rice grain used at Gia Restaurant
At Gia, we always appreciate and wish to recreate rice dishes that are harmonious in both taste and emotion. Interspersed with traditional values are completely new taste experiences that we strive to discover ourselves every day, through exploring rich local ingredients and bringing them into our menu.
ST25 Rice grain
Grown in Soc Trang and grown by people here on saline soil or rotated with rice shrimp fields, ST25 is a rice variety that converges the “quintessence” of other aromatic rice varieties. It is not only a high-quality rice variety with high yield, but also a rice variety with extremely high tolerance to saline soils
ST25 rice has a characteristic aroma of pandan leaves mixed with the aroma of young rice which is easy to smell even when the rice is still raw. This is the special feature of this rice. Moreover, rice cooked from ST25 rice is dry, and soft with an aroma and a sweet flavor, even when cooled, it does not dry out.
Seng Cu rice grain
Seng Cu rice is white, thin and long, reasonably aromatic and the chalky kernel percentage of under 10%. To get good Seng Cu rice grains, people have to grow them on high mountains, so the yield of rice is not high. Therefore, the output of Seng Cu rice is not much and is always in a state of scarcity when supplying to the market. Although the rice yield is not high, the quality of rice here is excellent, it is difficult to compare with any other region.
The natural conditions of these areas include an altitude of 500 – 1,400 meters, low temperature at 20 – 25oC on average, high variation of temperature between day and night, sunny during the day, and misty during the night. Nowadays, rice has become a specialty of Lào Cai province specifically and all the Northwest region in general.
Vietnamese family transition from traditional to modern has been influenced by many factors, both objective and subjective. But because the wet rice civilization has been attached throughout history, rice is still the main food and cannot be absent in Vietnamese meals. Despite being busy with many daily messes but in the mind of Vietnamese people, there is always a certain respect for family meals.
With Gia, from day one, the journey to find local ingredients has been a great inspiration for us to create food. We always treasure each ingredient and believe that each of them has a core value, a voice of its own.
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