HCM CITY (VNS)— The 3rd Southern Region Cuisine Festival 2013 will be held at the Dam Sen Park in HCM City next week.

The festival introduces dishes as well as other cultural facets particular to Viet Nam's southern region to international as well as domestic visitors.

The annual event is jointly held by the HCM City Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism; the representative office of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism in HCM City; the city Tourism Association and the Phu Tho Travel Services Company.

Organisers said the festival would gather 60 enterprises from provinces and cities including Binh Thuan, Ninh Thuan, Ben Tre, Can Tho, Dong Thap, Long An, Tien Giang, Tra Vinh and HCM City. They will display their wares at at more than 100 booths.

Food pavilions will be decorated in distinctive styles to give visitors a glimpse into the cultural and culinary characteristics of different regions including the central coast, the highlands, the southern region in general and HCM City in particular. A competition among well-known chefs from different regions will focus on "Southern Delicious Food" and "Fruit-vegetable Sculpture".

Numerous cultural activities including folk games and art performances will also be part of the festival.

The festival Lang Banh Phuong Nam (Southern Traditional Cake Village) will display more than 50 varieties of traditional cakes from the region, dating back thousands of years.

Visitors will be able to enjoy specialties like the Can Tho's banh tet la cam (a violet cylindrical glutinous rice cake), Ben Tre's banh dua (coconut cake), Sa Giang's banh phong tom (shrimp crackers), banh it la gai (triangular dumpling wrapped in ramie leaf), and banh chuoi nep nuong (grilled glutinous rice cake stuffed with banana).

The festival will take place on May 16-19. Visitors to the festival can enter Dam Sen Park for free after buying an event coupon worth VND180,000. — VNS