• Society

Second Cham Cake Festival Introduces New Traditional Cakes

• By Meng Seavmey
• and Sem Brakdav
• December 11, 2023 7:55 PM

PHNOM PENH – The Cham Youth and Culture Association exhibited three more traditional cakes for the public during the 2nd Cham Cake Festival on Dec. 10 at the Bophana Audiovisual Resource Center. 

First held in 2021, the festival aims to promote Cham culture in Cambodia by presenting delicacies from the ethnic minority and playing traditional instruments as a means to preserve the culture among the Cham and Cambodian young people. 

Math Maisam, the vice president of the Cham Youth and Culture Association, said it was the festival’s second edition as it was canceled last year.

She said the team would like the fair to be organized every year to gather Cham youth and to exhibit Cham traditional dishes so that the public can taste and discover Cham culture.

The first exhibition in 2021 showed three types of cakes such as num Paak, Tor Pai Cheal, and Lu Troam. They are primarily found in Kampong Chhnang, Pursat, and Battambang provinces.

For this year's festival, three additional cakes were showcased, all from Tboung Khmum province but also highly appreciated among Cham youth in Kratie and Kampong Cham.

Such cakes include Tor Pai Kras, Haw Poum, and Haw Kram. 

The cakes are made for guests during their celebrations at their respective homes and ceremonies. It took the community members three to four days to make them for this special event, said Peat Phalla, the representative of Cham youth.

The community was delighted that many Cham and Cambodian young people joined the festival, which motivates the members of the association to keep organizing the festival in the years to come.

“We are happy to see the public growing more interested in this cultural event. That also motivates us to organize more events, not only the cake festival,” Phalla said.

Chea Sopheap, executive director of the Bophana Center, said the center has the intention to present the diversity of cultures in Cambodia to the public to understand that people preserving different cultures can live together within a society. 

“We always provide people a chance to present the ethnic groups’ diverse cultures,” he said. 

Sopheap added that it is important for the Cham community to present their culture and tradition to the other nationals because cultural presentation holds a global value, and Cambodians should learn about it. 

 

Isa Rohany contributed to the story.