On the morning of October 12, the University of Sciences, Hue University wrapped up the 2025 Robocon HUSC Competition and launched STEAM A.I Center.

The longan wrapped in areca spatheis tied to generations of people in ancient Hue. Nowadays, this image gradually recedes into memory and is increasingly rare.

As the old saying goes, “vải Trạng cung Diên, nhãn lồng Phụng Tiên” (Trang Lychees from the Cung Dien area; spathe-wrapped longans from Phung Tien, a former royal garden district). Today, Hue’s longan season still preserves its original sweetness, enticing those passing the ancient citadel to pause and savor the taste.

Some gifts are not beautifully wrapped or adorned with fancy words, yet they carry a profound sense of affection for someone one never met. Donated hair, in this context, also symbolizes deep love and empathy.

Along with the non-vegetarian banh goi (wrapped cakes) once offered to the emperor, vegetarian banh goi has been closely tied to the childhood of many generations of people from Huong Can Village (Huong Toan Commune, Huong Tra Town).

Thua Thien Hue has the most dishes honored in Phase I of the project, including Hue beef noodle soup, tapioca dumpling stuffed with roasted pork sweet soup, mussel rice, tapioca dumplings, vegetarian fig salad, and vegetarian steamed rice wrapped in lotus leaf.

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.

A few days ago when I went to the market, I saw jellyfish on sale. The blue-footed jellyfish are wrapped in seawater by aunties at the market. The blue jellyfish and red chilli look so colorful.

Located 5 kilometers away from the center of Hue City to the North, Duc Buu village (Huong So Ward, Hue City) specializes in producing famous specialty dumplings of the ancient capital land, including: banh beo, banh loc goi (the Vietnamese clear shrimp and pork dumpling wrapped in banana leaf), banh nam, and banh ram it, etc.