Cu Da Cellophane Noodle Village of Cu Khe Commune, Thanh Oai District, Hanoi City is one of the most ancient and famous craft Village in North Vietnam. Temporarily separating from noisy and busy Hanoi, We together come to a village in the countryside having a tradition of making cellophane noodles for a long time – Cu Da Cellophane noodle Village, the village from the center of Hanoi 20km to the west. Located next to the Nhue River, the village stretches with the shape of fishbone with the lanes narrow and paved red brick. Every lane gate is on the bank of the river having brick terrace lasting to water’s edge. The convenient lanes help the trade of the village become easily.
Coming Cu Da, we will be certainly impressed by ancient beauty of traditional craft villages having been preserved and developed. For a long time, the village has been famous for the craft of making cellophane noodles. Cu Da cellophane noodles are made with clever hands of skilled craftsmen and very meticulous stages. After spending preparing stages, Canna edulis Ker starch is made into cakes as thin as paper sheets, is steamed and dried in the sunshine. The cakes having the length of about 2.5 meters and the width of about 1.2 meters are spread on the wattles. The wattles are put everywhere – the yards in front of the houses, wide lawns, even village roads.
After the cakes are dry enough under the sunshine, they are brought back home and are cut into very small cake threads. The product of cellophane noodles is yellow, fragrant, tough especially very clear when cooked. The threads of Cellophane noodles are dried in the sunshine again before sold. Looking at the yellow and smooth cellophane noodles dried everywhere in the village, we seemingly go into a silk-producing village.
Cu De has had the tradition of cellophane noodles making for many years with many fluctuations, but the secrets have still been handed down from generation to generation until now. The product of cellophane noodles is distributed everywhere and the consumers are more and more. They have become familiar with Vietnamese people and have been extremely loved by international friends.
The ancient structure, simple life and the craftsmen full of skill in producing cellophane noodles which are all we can talk about this craft village – Cu Da Cellophane Noodle Village.
