Phu Thuong Sticky Rice Village

Around three in the morning, Hanoi is still quiet. But in Phú Thượng, lights are already on in hundreds of kitchens. The smell of sticky rice rises in thick steam. The villagers steam the rice a second time until it is cooked just right, then divide it into portions, wrap it in leaves, and set it in baskets. Before the first light shows, the shoulder-pole loads of xôi leave the village and flow into the markets and lanes of Hanoi. Xôi is steamed sticky rice.

Phú Thượng lies along the Red River. The craft has its roots in the village of Kẻ Gạ, also called Phú Gia. It is one of the three villages that make up the ward today. According to the newspaper Nhân Dân, the riverside land, with its clean water and rich silt, nourished two fine kinds of sticky rice, nếp cái hoa vàng and nếp dâu keo. These two give Phú Thượng xôi its own soft, fragrant chew.

The craft has stayed with the villagers through many generations. The same newspaper records that long ago, at the first gray of morning, people hurried into Hanoi with their loads of xôi, and by eight o'clock it was all sold. This is not a market in the usual sense. It has no signs and no clear opening hours. That is the natural rhythm of the craft: cook through the night, sell in the early morning, and be done early.

Nhân Dân reports that in 2016, Hanoi recognized the making of xôi in Phú Thượng as a traditional craft village. In 2024, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism added the craft to its list of national intangible cultural heritage. The listing recognizes both the technique and the cultural meaning of the craft in the life of Hanoi people.

The village makes many kinds of xôi. Xôi gấc is bright red, colored with pressed gấc. Xôi đậu xanh is made with mung beans, peeled, steamed until cooked, and mashed smooth. Xôi lạc uses roasted peanuts, and xôi vừng dừa uses sesame and grated coconut. Xôi ngũ sắc is the five-color xôi, and xôi ngô is the corn xôi. There are also xôi vò and xôi xéo. Each kind has its own way of steaming and its own extras. Every household keeps its own secret, even when the ingredients are the same.

Xôi is also something that no holiday, wedding or death anniversary can do without. The Hànộimới newspaper notes that the wedding season is the village's main working season. A tray of red xôi gấc at a wedding means good luck. Xôi vò and xôi đậu at a death anniversary show care for the departed. And five-color xôi at Tết stands for the five blessings. Tết is the Lunar New Year festival in Vietnam.

Each year, on the 8th, 9th and 10th days of the first lunar month, Phú Gia holds a xôi festival tied to the village festival, as Nhân Dân tells it. These are the days the ancestral craft is honored in broad daylight.

About 500 to 600 households now work in the trade. Each day, the ward steams about 10 tons of sticky rice and delivers the xôi all over Hanoi. A craft that once only fed its own families is now part of the city's food identity.

The xôi craft in Phú Thượng is not put on for show. While Hanoi is still dark, loads of hot xôi flow quietly out of the village. They carry the smell of sticky rice and the warmth of hands across many generations.