Gong Culture Ritual · Communal Jar Wine
Rượu Cần
🍶
Photo coming soon
Nobody pours a glass — everyone at the gathering drinks straight from the same large jar through long bamboo or reed straws, often passed around for hours during festivals.
Rice, corn, or cassava is fermented with a natural yeast inside a large earthenware jar, left to age for weeks or months, then drunk communally by inserting long bamboo straws directly into the jar and sipping in turns, often with water topped up as the level drops. Ê Đê, M'nông, and other Central Highlands communities bring it out for festivals, weddings, and gatherings tied to the region's gong-playing traditions.
Why it's made this way: Jar wine is deeply tied to the ethnic minority communities of Vietnam's Central Highlands, where it's traditionally drunk alongside the gong ensembles recognized by UNESCO as an intangible cultural heritage of the region, making the drink as much a ritual object as a beverage.
More from Vietnam
Part of World of Street Food — 3248 dishes from 118 countries.
Something wrong here? Tell us in the comments below.
Photo credits.