Success from connecting culinary culture with tourism and economic development.

The Southern Folk Cake Festival is a prominent event that attracts a large number of tourists to Can Tho, contributing to the city's tourism appeal. As of 2023, the festival has grown in scale, featuring 300 stalls offering hundreds of cake varieties. It holds cultural and economic meaning as it brings together numerous artisans specializing in traditional cakes from the Mekong Delta region and across the country each year. The festival plays a vital role in preserving and promoting various traditional cakes, spreading love for the craft, and ensuring its continuity among the younger generations. Through successive festivals, several endangered cake varieties, such as mangosteen cake, bau cake, turmeric cake of Go Cong, and banh hoi mat vong, have been discovered and preserved. Many skilled artisans have been recognized and honored during and after the festival, and they continue to develop their traditional craft further. Notably, artisans like Ms. Phan Kim Ngan (Can Tho City), Ms. Ha Thi Sau (Can Tho City), Ms. Huynh Ngoc Lan (Soc Trang), and Mr. Le Van Ky (Tiền Giang) have gained recognition for their exceptional contributions. Moreover, the festival serves as a platform for innovating and modernizing traditional cake recipes to suit contemporary tastes and lifestyles, thanks to the creative endeavors of these talented artisans.

Thanks to the festival's influence, traditional folk cakes and cuisine have gradually become an integral part of the elements that attract tourists to Can Tho, with these traditional culinary products being closely associated with the city's tourism offerings. For instance, Ms. Huynh Thi Bich Tuyen, the owner of Mekong Silt Ecolodge in Can Tho, shared her thoughts: "During the festival in 2022, we participated in promotional booths, and as a result, many visitors connected with Mekong Silt Ecolodge. This year at the festival, we introduced some unique cakes like banh bac dau ngu sac (5 colors sticky rice cake) and banh it tran mang cut (sticky rice dumplings)... Culinary culture, especially traditional folk cakes, is one of the key attractions for tourists. Therefore, Mekong Silt Ecolodge often offers experiences in making traditional cakes, which are particularly popular among international guests."

Thanks to the festival, the traditional craft of making folk cakes harmonizes with economic and tourism development, while traditional cakes themselves add distinctive highlights to Can Tho's tourism. A prominent example is the development of culinary brands like AZ Banh - showcasing the traditional cakes of Can Tho both in the past and present. Various community-based tourism products on Con Son Islet offer opportunities to learn and enjoy traditional folk cakes. Locations such as Canthofarm - a clean agriculture farm in Can Tho - also serve traditional cakes. Additionally, the My Khanh Tourism Village frequently organizes folk culinary events during national holidays and Tet (Lunar New Year).

Unmet needs of tourists and artisans.

When attending the Southern Folk Cake Festival in Can Tho in 2023, Ms. Dang Thi Huynh Thi, a tourist from Ho Chi Minh City, provided feedback: "I didn't get to see the artisans demonstrate how to make the cakes, and I didn't get to experience the authentic atmosphere of the folk cake festival. Instead, there were only booths lined up one after another, overflowing with cakes." In fact, in previous festivals before 2019, there used to be dedicated spaces and time slots in the day for artisans to perform and showcase the cake-making process to tourists. However, such activities were not present during the 2022 and 2023 cake festivals.

At this year's festival, amidst the crowd bustling back and forth, there was an elderly woman sitting beside a small stall, hastily grilling cakes to sell. If not for prior acquaintance, no one would have known that she was Ms. Ha Thi Sau, an artisan who has been closely associated with the festival for many years, and also a master of the rice paper-making craft in Thuan Hung village (Thot Not), recently recognized as a National Intangible Cultural Heritage. In previous festival editions, visitors would see Ms. Sau bringing her entire rice paper-making equipment to the event, attracting a large number of tourists to come and taste the cakes and experience making them with her. In the 2019 festival, tourists also witnessed Mr. Tran Thien Canh showcasing traditional cake-pressing tools, presenting the famous Phong Dien dish - banh hoi mat vong Ut Dzach.

Many people believe that organizing folk cake stalls according to standard sizes (3mx3mx2.5m) at this year's festival has limited the space for on-the-spot cake making. Ms. B.T, the owner of a cake stall in the traditional cake area, said: "The narrow stalls only allow customers to come and buy, there is no space for enjoying the cakes. The stalls are lined up one after another, resembling a fair, with only buyers and sellers in sight." Due to the limited space, the quality of cakes is also affected since they cannot be made on-site. Furthermore, the festival usually takes place during the Hung King Temple Festival, which falls on hot sunny days. Traditional folk cakes often use fresh ingredients and need to be consumed immediately or properly preserved.

Many tourists came to this year's cake festival with the expectation that the 10th anniversary of the Southern Folk Cake Festival would feature activities with a strong emphasis on spreading cultural values, honoring artisans, and vividly portraying the traditional culinary heritage. Both tourists and artisans hope that the festival will create a cultural essence and provide an experience in an open, spacious, and unrestrictive environment, rather than confining everything within small and narrow booths. Tourists also feel a sense of regret that despite frequent appearances of people wearing traditional Vietnamese ao dai or ao ba ba at the cake festival, there hasn't been any activity combining these traditional costumes with the rural cakes. For example, if a tourist wears an ao ba ba to the festival and checks in on social media, they could be rewarded with a portion of a traditional folk cake. This simple gesture helps build the festival's image while contributing to the dissemination of the beauty of traditional culture.

The true construction of a cultural festival.

"Culture brand" is a phrase often used when mentioning the Southern Folk Cake Festival after ten years of organizing. However, facing numerous challenges at present, this "culture brand" needs further refinement.

The photo depicts the cake demonstration space at the 2018 Southern Folk Cake Festival, with artisans showcasing gia com dep (flat rice flakes). Photo by KIEU MAI.

The Southern Folk Cake Festival is a modern cultural festival built upon the foundation of the traditional local cultural resource - the folk cuisine. Therefore, 10 years have not been enough time to ensure sustainability and consolidation. One significant challenge is that the festival is held annually during the Hung King Temple Festival, a period when many other localities in the Mekong Delta and the whole country also organize numerous events, including many featuring folk cakes. For example, this year in Ca Mau City, there is a Southern Folk Cake Day. Keeping the festival organized as before has led to disappointment among tourists, not to mention a potential decline in quality compared to previous editions.

Many believe that Can Tho City should establish the Southern Folk Cake Festival as a genuine cultural festival, utilizing it as a cultural resource for tourism rather than considering the festival itself as a tourism product. In this context, cultural conservation activities should be emphasized, and policies should be formulated to support artisans participating in the festival. Experienced artisans, dedicated to preserving the traditional knowledge and techniques of making Southern folk cakes, should be invited to the festival to perform and engage in cultural exchange. In the past, there were proposals to seek recognition for the "Cultural Heritage of Southern Folk Cakes" or the "Traditional Knowledge of Making Southern Folk Cakes" as a National Intangible Cultural Heritage, to elevate the festival's status and cultural value. However, these proposals have not been realized yet.

According to many cultural experts, folk cakes should remain the focal point of the festival, and the space for artisans to perform and demonstrate their cake-making knowledge should be expanded. The festival should also include exhibitions of cake-making tools and be organized thematically, showcasing different types of traditional cakes made from different ingredients like leaf-wrapped cakes, rice cakes, and sticky rice cakes. The festival should provide ample display space for artisans, especially those from traditional craft villages or heritage sites. For instance, if the festival dedicates space to showcase Can Tho's traditional folk cakes alongside famous craft villages such as Thuan Hung rice paper-making village (Thot Not), Vinh Thanh rice pancake village, and Ba Rich sweet cake village (O Mon), it would add uniqueness and distinction to the event.