In an effort to keep a dying art alive, volunteers from Melbourne's Vietnamese community gathered to bake ahead of the Lunar New Year.
They were making a traditional cake, the Banh Chung.
Phong Nguyen, National Vice President of the Vietnamese Community in Australia, told SBS he'd like to see future generations experience the beauty of the Vietnamese culture.
"Very few people do it now. Commercially, of course, but not traditionally, hand bake and so on. So similarly in Vietnam and elsewhere in our culture we are threatened with commercialism."
Banh Chung is commonly eaten during the Vietnamese Lunar New Year, or Tet.
"It's made out of sticky rice, and in the middle there's some meat, some pork meat, usually pork or if you're vegetarian then no meat, and you have mung beads" Mr Nguyen said.
Volunteers at the bake-off worked tirelessly through the day and night.
"The mung beans and the sticky rice must be uncooked, right and then wrapped in layer and layer of banana leaves, and then tied it up and cooked in a big pot for 12 hours," Mr Nguyen said.
Mr Nguyen arrived in Australia as a refugee almost 40 years ago.
He said this food that takes him back to his roots.
"It's time like this I remember my grandmother. She meticulously prepared every sweet for every New Year. Every Bunh Chung," he said.
"She spent hours and hours and months, you know, days and months preparing for the children with a lot of love put into it."
The Vietnamese community start their New Year preparations well in advance, with many of the traditions embraced by the young and the old.
Specialist grocers and bakeries, especially in areas like Richmond in Melbourne's south-east, which are popular with the Vietnamese community, do a roaring trade.
Shop owners ensure their shelves are well stocked.
"We get extra products in and some products from Vietnam. People really want for the New Year coconut, ginger and sweet for desert or something like that, or a whole packet of candy," said grocer Dle Tran.
There are five fruits of particular importance during Tet: Custard apple, coconut, paw paw, mango and figs are part of the offering placed on the ancestral altar.
"Whatever food you prepare, like fish or meat or rice, you do have an altar and that invites the spirit of ancestors to come home," said Mr Nguyen.
Gratitude and forgiveness play a central role in the celebrations.
"The main message of the Vietnamese Tet is to say thank you, to say thank you to anyone who has done good things for you throughout the year. Thankful to our ancestors, thankful to the nation that nourishes us. Thank you to Australia," said Mr Nguyen.
Watch: Lunar New Year explainer
