Yên Bái Province

Chicken marinated and grilled with mắc mật leaves - the aromatic citrusy-anise leaf is stuffed inside the cavity and used as a marinade wrapper, perfuming the meat from within as it chars over wood fire, a Tày and Thái specialty from Yên Bái's highland districts that produces a uniquely fragrant grilled chicken found nowhere in the lowlands

Buffalo meat dried and smoked above the hearth for weeks in Yên Bái's Black Thái and H'Mông homes - seasoned with mắc khén pepper, wild ginger, and chilli then hung over the cooking fire until intensely smoky and chewy, torn by hand and eaten with Tú Lệ sticky rice at highland homestays during the Mù Cang Chải harvest season

Crispy deep-fried stink bugs harvested from Yên Bái's highland fruit orchards - the bugs are collected at night when they gather on trees, frozen to remove their defensive odour then deep-fried until crunchy with salt and kaffir lime leaves, the flesh nutty and slightly pungent with a satisfying crunch, a seasonal highland delicacy eaten as a beer snack

Pan-roasted field crickets from Yên Bái's highland rice terraces - larger than regular crickets, harvested after the Mù Cang Chải rice harvest when they are fattest, dry-roasted in a wok with salt, garlic, and wild pepper until golden and intensely crunchy, a protein-rich highland snack eaten by Thái and H'Mông families throughout the harvest season

Sticky rice steamed with weaver ant eggs harvested from forest trees in Yên Bái's limestone highlands in spring - the eggs melt into the Tú Lệ sticky rice adding a creamy, faintly sour richness that elevates already exceptional rice into something extraordinary, a seasonal Tày delicacy available only for a few weeks when the ant colonies are fullest

Bee pupae stir-fried with taro stem from Yên Bái's highland forests - wild bee larvae harvested from forest hives in the mountains surrounding Mù Cang Chải, wok-tossed with sliced mùng taro stem, garlic, and chilli, the pupae creamy and rich against the crunchy vegetable, a highland delicacy eaten by Thái and Dao families as a special occasion dish