The Northern midland and mountainous region is home to about 7 million people from over 30 ethnic minority groups, mainly the Tay, Mong, Thai, Nung, Muong and Dao ethnic groups. However, local people still face many difficulties, and the poverty rate in this region is the highest in the country.

Tourism is considered the most important industry to promote socio-economic development of the Northern mountainous provinces through taking advantage of majestic natural landscape resources and the uniqueness and diversity of cultural identity of ethnic minorities. In particular, the culinary culture of local people always has a special attraction for tourists.

On September 29, at the ceremony to grant certification to 121 typical culinary dishes of Vietnam in phase I - 2022 and announced phase II - 2023 of the project "Building and developing Vietnamese cuisine culture into a national brand" of the Vietnam Culinary Culture Association, Mr. Nguyen Le Phuc, Deputy Director of the Vietnam National Tourism Administration (Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism) said that today, culinary is not simple to serve the needs of tourists but it also identified as one of the main purposes of travel.

According to the World Culinary Tourism Organization, international tourists spend about 25-35% of their travel budget on expenditures related to food and beverages during their journey.

“Vietnam's tourism development strategy until 2030 has identified culinary tourism as one of the important product lines contributing to enhancing competitive advantage and Vietnam's tourism brand,” Phuc said.

According to this official, to effectively exploit the potential and advantages of culinary tourism, the Vietnam National Tourism Administration aims to build attractive, quality culinary tourism products. It will focus on providing experiences and discoveries about the cultural identity and community activities of the destination associated with local cuisines.

Among the 121 typical culinary dishes of 60/63 provinces and cities across the country, there are many dishes that are specialties of ethnic minorities. In particular, up to 25 dishes and drinks from 10 Northern midland and mountainous provinces have been included in the list.

Particularly, Dien Bien province has 3 dishes (Mo chicken, buffalo skin salad, Thai ethnic grilled fish); Hoa Binh has 3 dishes of the Muong ethnic group (snail fish with sour bamboo shoots, fish cooked with dried buffalo skin, can wine); Lai Chau has a dish called Ninh Sop dried pork.

Lao Cai province is certified for 2 typical dishes (dried buffalo meat, Bac Ha corn wine); Bac Kan has 2 dishes (Na Ri old town corn cake, Khau nhuc); Ha Giang has 3 dishes (bong fish, au tau porridge, corn noodles).

Lang Son stands out with 3 dishes (roasted pig, roasted duck, Mau Son wine); Phu Tho has 3 dishes (My Lung chicken sticky rice, Dat To chung cake, cassava cake); Quang Ninh has 3 dishes (Ha Long squid patties, sour ngan fish, Dam Ha purple ba kich wine).

The two dishes of Minh Huong duck and Chiem Hoa field fish sauce are certified as typical culinary dishes of Tuyen Quang province.

The above typical dishes were nominated by the Departments of Culture, Sports and Tourism of provinces and cities, demonstrating their efforts to further promote the culinary culture of the Northern midland and mountainous provinces to domestic and foreign tourists, thereby contributing to the development of local tourism.