Bustling March Fragrance

This year, the March 8th celebration of students at the University of Social Sciences and Humanities seemed to be more fun and unique thanks to the culinary competition for students called March Fragrance. 14 teams from 14 faculties and departments participated in the competition on March 6, 2009.

This year is the first time the Student Union has taken the initiative to organize a culinary competition to affirm and praise one of the indispensable qualities of girls in life, which is the resourcefulness in organizing delicious, nutritious, beautiful and meaningful meals for relatives and family. Although limited by the ceiling price of 100 thousand VND for each dish, what the students brought to the culinary competition was still very rich, lively and attractive.

[img class="caption" src="images/stories/2009/03/09/img_0077.jpg" border="0" alt="Each team has only 1 chef and 2 assistant chefs, but countless spectators" title="Each team has only 1 chef and 2 assistant chefs, but countless spectators" width="480" height="320" ]

[img class="caption" src="images/stories/2009/03/09/img_0031.jpg" border="0" alt="The Political Science BM Team and the dish "Lí ngư vọng nguyệt" title="The Political Science BM Team and the dish "Lí ngư vọng nguyệt" width="480" height="320" ]

Many teams chose to make quite elaborate dishes such as: phoenix sausage (Psychology), stuffed chicken (Information - Library), carp hotpot (Political Science), shrimp salad (Journalism), eel stewed with galangal and ginger (Tourism), coconut sausage (Philosophy)... Some teams chose dishes that were close to everyday life but were creative in the presentation such as Russian salad (International Studies), banana flower salad (History), mixed soup (Archives and Office Administration)... One thing worth applauding is that no matter what dish, the teams tried very hard to have a beautiful presentation and coordination between the main dish and other decorations to create an attractive "scene" in addition to the already very fragrant flavor. Along with that are quite beautiful self-given names that sometimes just hearing them but not seeing them with their own eyes, diners cannot guess. These are the names:Women and Springfor stuffed tomatoes (Literature),Motherly lovefor stuffed chicken (Library Information),Fisherman admiring the moonfor carp hotpot (Political Science),Vietnamese qualityfor shrimp salad (Faculty of Journalism), phoenix sausage (Psychology).

The Faculty of Tourism impressed with the chef in white shirt and white hat with professional style and the rich braised eel dish with the decoration of a small, pretty carrying pole holding the braised eel, looking very Vietnamese.

[img class="caption" src="images/stories/2009/03/09/img_0154.jpg" border="0" alt="Braised Eel Dish of the Faculty of Tourism" title="Braised Eel Dish of the Faculty of Tourism" width="480" height="320" ]

The skillful female chefs of the Faculty of Journalism with the refreshing and unique Shrimp Salad dish, skillfully invited diners to eat it with hot rice and fresh tea. The Faculty of Oriental Studies also presented an eel dish, but it stood out with the decoration of a large flower carved from white papaya, extremely sophisticated, making many students admire. The phoenix sausage dish of the Faculty of Psychology made viewers extremely excited because of the phoenix shape with the phoenix head carved from a beautiful pink carrot.

[img class="caption" src="images/stories/2009/03/09/img_0188.jpg" border="0" alt="Decorative flowers carved from carrots by the Faculty of Oriental Studies" title="Decorative flowers carved from carrots by the Faculty of Oriental Studies" width="480" height="320" ]

The Faculty of Library Information presented the dish next to a small flower vase meticulously “crafted” from a pumpkin. In addition, the stuffed chicken dish of this team was also considered one of the most magnificent dishes in terms of decoration. The image of a mother hen and her chicks is also a very clear message about maternal love and the warmth of family reunion. The five-color banh troi dish of the Faculty of Sociology created joy with the colors of pink, white, and blue, accompanied by a very good presentation about the meaning of life and love conveyed through those colors.

[img class="caption" src="images/stories/2009/03/09/img_0165.jpg" border="0" alt="Colorful Russian salad of the Faculty of International Studies" title="Colorful Russian salad of the Faculty of International Studies" width="480" height="366" ]

The mixed fried rice of the Linguistics department team has a funny human face shape. The stuffed tomato dish of the Literature department gives viewers a feeling of youthfulness, fullness and completeness. The dish of the fish watching the moon of the Political Science department awakens the senses of everyone at the competition because of its rich, fragrant flavor that overwhelms the other dishes. The mixed soup of the Archival Science and Office Administration department is considered very nutritious because of the combination of many types of vegetables and meat...

[img class="caption" src="images/stories/2009/03/09/img_0194.jpg" border="0" alt="In addition to scoring, the Jury also has specific suggestions so that next time the dish will be more delicious and more appealing" title="In addition to scoring, the Jury also has specific suggestions so that next time the dish will be more delicious and more appealing" width="480" height="320" ]

Finally, after carefully considering the elements of presentation, cooking technique and presentation style, the judges awarded first prize to the dishFisherman admiring the moon(Political Science); second prize forNghe An eel(Orientalism) andVietnamese quality(Press); third prize forBraised eel(Tourism),Coconut cake(Philosophy) andPhoenix meatloaf(Psychology). In particular, the first prize-winning dish this time was evaluated by the Jury as quite complete in both its attractive flavor and beautiful, harmonious presentation. This dish was also awarded by many students as the most attractive dish to diners, the easiest to eat and the most... delicious.