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| Provincial leaders visiting Hue culinary booths |
Distinctiveness
In recent years, Hue’s tourism, particularly its cuisine, has consistently gained recognition on prestigious international forums, rankings, and awards by reputable organizations and media outlets. At the end of 2023, Hue was ranked among the “Best Food Cities in the World 2023.” Shortly after, two iconic dishes, com hen (mussel rice) and me xung (sesame candies), were awarded Asian records for 2023 - 2024.
It seems that when talking about Hue, one cannot overlook the uniqueness of its culinary. With two main culinary streams - royal cuisine and folk cuisine - Hue’s food has left a lasting impression on countless visitors. Additionally, vegetarian cuisine is another hallmark of this land, which bears prominent influences of Buddhist culture - Hue’s outstanding culinary strengths that helps solidify its reputation as a culinary capital.
Recently, as part of its plan to develop the dossier for “Hue - Creative City” to be nominated for UNESCO’s Creative Cities Network, Hue selected the field of gastronomy as the focus of its proposal. Hue has decided to choose gastronomy as its focus for joining UNESCO’s Creative Cities Network as this is one of the key components of Hue’s culture. This choice not only meets societal needs but also creates opportunities to build an economic growth model closely tied to the development of cultural and human resources while preserving the ecological environment.
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| Introducing Hue vegetarian cuisine |
Every dish from Hue carries a unique essence that is distinctly Hue. According to many culinary experts, diners worldwide are already familiar with the term “Hue cuisine.” This term reflects not only the methods of food preparation, principles of cooking, and presentation but also the serving style, dining etiquette, and general eating habits of the people of Hue. Hue residents are not only hospitable but also exceptionally refined in their approach to food. This is evident in their careful selection of ingredients, meticulous seasoning, elaborate preparation, and artistic presentation, turning each dish into a work of art. The diversity of ingredients -ranging from simple, rustic produce to luxurious delicacies - and the skillful hands of culinary artisans, chefs, and cooks, whether from humble origins or the aristocratic and royal circles, have elevated Hue cuisine culture to an extraordinary level.
In 2023, Thua Thien Hue was considered the region with the most dishes honored in the “Journey to Discover Vietnam’s Iconic Culinary Values.” The recognized dishes included bun bo Hue (Hue beef noodle soup), che bot loc boc heo quay (sticky rice dumplings with roasted pork filling in sweet soup), com hen (mussel rice), banh loc (tapioca dumplings), va tron hoa mau chay (vegetarian fig salad), and com hap la sen chay (vegetarian lotus leaf steamed rice).
A convergence of excellent
Achieving the status of a centrally governed municipality opens up new opportunities for Hue. In terms of tourism development, Hue’s position must evolve to match its stature as a major cultural and culinary hub, not only in Vietnam but also in Southeast Asia; and culinary tourism is one of the key strengths of the nation’s sixth centrally governed municipality.
On the basis of preserving and promoting the value of the ancient capital's heritage and Hue's cultural identity, over the years, Hue has made efforts to preserve and promote traditional values, strive to connect and promote creativity so that cuisine can both develop and contribute to creating livelihoods, solving jobs and income for people and creating unique local cultural and tourism products. This is in line with the requirements that UNESCO sets for candidates to join the UNESCO Creative Cities Network.
Mr. Le Tan, Vice President of the Vietnam Culinary Culture Association, said that with diverse culinary resources, it is necessary to link them with tourism development so that visitors to Hue can enjoy their trip in the culinary city of convergence of quintessence. To do that, there must be policies and investments to develop culinary tourism, creating a mechanism to promote the role of participating culinary artisans. In addition, it is possible to research and develop food tour programs for visitors to experience the diversity of Hue cuisine.
Hue is affirming its Festival brand and orienting the 4-festival seasons. Cuisine is the main attraction for tourists. On that basis, it is possible to build 4-season culinary programs, converging the cuisine of 3 regions, unique cuisine of the world in Hue. According to Ms. Cao Thi Ngoc Lan, Permanent Vice President of Vietnam Tourism Association, Hue really needs to research, survey, calculate and choose to renew and supplement some specific tourism products such as researching on building; and organizeHue culinary festivals that carry the unique and characteristic features of Hue that people often call Hue's nuances, Hue features...
Having heard provincial leaders talk about tourism development strategies many times, we can see that Hue's tourism development path has special features compared to other localities. Permanent Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee Nguyen Thanh Binh affirmed that Hue does not choose to develop tourism massively but must develop it on the foundation of preserving the soul of Hue culture. Potential types of Hue tourism will be given attention and investment for development, including culinary tourism.
In the near future, “Ancient Capital - New Experience” will attract visitors to come to the youngest centrally-governed municipality in the country at this time. There are many special and interesting things there, including the convergence of unique culinary quintessence.