According to many cultural researchers, the best way to learn about a country, a people, a regional or national culture is through its cuisine. Noticeably, the World Tourism Organization estimates that tourists spend averagely a third of their budget on foods.
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Mr. Nguyen Quoc Ky, President of Vietnam’s Culinary Association presenting certificates to artisans and culinary experts participating in the “Vietnamese culinary space”
Cuisine has always been seen as an indispensable part of tourism. Culinary activities do not only cater for tourists’ physical needs, create employment and generate income for locals, contributing to developing the economy but also play a vital role in promoting the essence of Vietnamese culture to tourists.
According to Mr. Nguyen Van Phuc, Deputy Head of Thua Thien Hue Department of Tourism, along with eco-tourism, MICE tourism, spiritual tourism, medical tourism, etc., culinary tourism is becoming popular and playing a significant role in tourism development in many localities and countries. This is because experiencing, enjoying and studying foods have grown into one of the main purposes of the trips that both domestic and international tourists have made. More than any other cities, Hue is attempting and determined to do its best in this regard.
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Tourists visiting food stalls at the “Vietnamese culinary space”
For the past many years, in Hue, there have been many events and activities organized to promote its competitive advantage in cuisine, especially during Hue festivals and Hue traditional crafts festivals. Good news for Hue cuisine is that Vietnam’s Culinary Association has committed to offer long-term cooperation, and continue to organize folk and contemporary events like “Vietnamese culinary space” at the 2019 Hue Traditional Crafts Festival, with a view to promoting its cuisine to higher levels, making it a fascinating tourism product of Hue.
According to Mr. Le Tan, Vice President and General Secretary of Vietnam’s Culinary Association, Head of Organizing Committee of “Vietnamese culinary space”, after only 5 days since its opening, the event attracted over 50,000 arrivals from Vietnam and abroad. Never before has a similar program had the participation of more than 100 artisans, culinary experts and professional chefs who, through their diverse dishes, exhibited the customs and practices of such many different regions.
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The participation of many experts and professional chefs made the “Vietnamese culinary space” a success
According to Mr. Le Tan, Vietnamese folk and contemporary culinary culture departed on a very important journey in Hue this time and this journey will never end. The flow of Vietnamese cuisine will keep running and converging, giving it a stamp and taking it to a higher level, which helps it thrive in international arenas.
That is everybody’s wish. The up-coming “Four seasons culinary space” in Hue will be a continuity of this event.
Mr. Nguyen Quoc Ky, President of Vietnam’s Culinary Association, shared that organizing authentic Vietnamese culinary events celebrating Vietnamese cultural identity and values is considered a highlight of the association’s mission and duty in promoting Vietnamese culinary culture. Determination has been made to make Vietnamese cuisine the brand name of Vietnamese tourism, whereby, showing the potentials and advantages that Vietnam possesses to develop tourism.
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Public show of typical dishes
At the second conference on “Hue folk and royal cuisine” organized in 2018 in Hue, managers, researchers, culinary experts and businesses all agreed that in order for Vietnamese cuisine to develop sustainably, yielding long-term results, the three parties, including the government, businesses and researchers need to join hands together. These three parties will have to work out solutions to elevate and develop Vietnamese cuisine in general and Hue cuisine in particular.
In reality, Hue’s insufficient resources has been the reason why the activities have been held very modestly and infrequently, failing to uplift its cuisine’s status. Hue is also in lack of professionally and frequently organized culinary spaces to attract more tourists.
To achieve that, socializing the organization of these events is almost a must. Mr. Le Tan said that the Vietnam’s Culinary Association is very confident when implementing this with Hue given that Vietravel Group has made its commitment for future support and cooperation.
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Honoring Prof. Dr. Luu Duan, who has made significant contributions to promoting Vietnamese cuisine
Cuisine has long been proved to be an appealing tourism product that plays an important role in enchanting visitors. Hue is hoped to be the “capital of gastronomy”, a must-go destination for tourists to Vietnam to explore the best of the country’s cuisine. As Hue’s strategic partner, Vietravel Group will continue to accompany with Vietnam’s Culinary Association to organize impressive events in the future.
By Duc Quang