During Tet holiday,a number of villages in northern and central Vietnam hold rice cookingcontests that may sound simple, but follow strict and complex rules.Contestants cook in the open air while in a bamboo boat floating on thevillage pond. Charcoal, the usual fuel, is prohibited. Instead, eachcompetitor receives some dried sugar cane, which burns only withdifficulty. The challenge increases if it is windy and raining. Eachcontestant must set her rice pot in exactly the right place to takeadvantage of the wind and avoid extinguishing the fire.

Thecompetition begins precisely at dawn. Hundreds of boats are tied upalong the pond bank since as many as 200 young women may participate.After a salvo of

Asecond salvo of drumbeats sounds, punctuated by three final beats, thecompetition starts. The cooking may be done in one pot after another orby using all pots al the same time. The tiny, light boat sways with thecompetitor's every movement, keeping the craft stable while cooking islike performing a circus act. The competitor who finishes first wins,but quality also counts. People from many villages watch from the pondbank, mothers who have trained their girls for months impatiently waitfor the results of their efforts. Other women take advantage of theoccasion to look for prospective daughters-in-law who are both goodcooks and can also face difficulties with calmness.

Thecontest for boys is no less rigorous. Each boy must stand ready withall the necessary items (rice, water, matches and firewood) on a lightboat moored the pond bank. At a given signal he paddles with his handsto the opposite bank, where a row of pots is placed on tripods. He muststay in his unmoored boat while cooking the rice on the bank. The leastloss of balance tosses him over into the water.

The finished rice must meet particular criteria of taste and consistency.