These are 6 of 121 Vietnamese culinary dishes that have just been honored by the Vietnam Cuisine Culture Association (VCCA) as typical national dishes in phase I of a project titled "Building and Developing Vietnamese Culinary Culture into a National Brand Name”. All of these 6 dishes, including: Hue beef noodle soup, glutinous rice dumplings stuffed with roasted pork in sweet soup, mussel rice, banh loc (glutinous rice dumplings), vegetarian fig salad, and lotus-leaf-wrapped steamed rice; all are close to the gardens and paddy fields of the land.

Visitors to Hue in the summer season are greeted with the sight of fragrant lotus blossoms adorning Tinh Tam Lake, their white petals fluttering like delicate butterflies in the breeze. The gentle and refreshing fragrance of lotus permeates the surroundings, and a passing encounter with this scene instantly uplifts one's spirits.

In a late summer afternoon, I climbed up the slope in the western hilly area of Hue to visit an artist.

On the evening of June 23, the Hue Lotus Festival 2023, themed "Lotus Beautifies Hue," was officially opened at Tinh Tam Lake in Hue City. The event is directed by the Provincial People's Committee and organized by the Department of Tourism in collaboration with LAATA Vietnam Limited Liability Company, with the participation of Hue Vietnam Organic Company Limited, Vietjet Aviation Joint Stock Company, and several other businesses from both within and outside the province.

The expansion of lotus area also means that the area of polluted water surface is gradually narrowed. The lotus does not only grow at heritage sites but also exists in landscape lakes of temples, pagodas, shrines, showing off its fragrance in the remote countryside...

After two previous festivals in 2018 (themed "The Legend of a Flower") and 2022 (themed "Lotus - Essence of Heaven and Earth"), the Hue Lotus Festival 2023 with the theme "Lotus Beautifies Hue" will be held at Tinh Tam Lake for three days, from June 23rd to June 25th.