With the mission of preserving, developing and embellishing unique cultural values, and with the strategy of bringing Vietnamese culinary culture to new heights, and turning heritage into assets, the Vietnam Culinary Culture Association (VCCA) has designed a plan on developing Vietnamese culinary culture into a national brand in 2022-2024.

According to VCCA’s chair Nguyen Quoc Ky, under the plan, surveys and data collection about Vietnamese cuisine have been implemented, from which 1,000 Vietnamese special dishes have been categorized and listed. With the information, Vietnam will build a database and digital map, digitizing Vietnamese outstanding dishes, setting up an online museum about Vietnamese culinary culture with an aim to turn it into a national brand.

In Phase 1, implemented in 2022, 421 dishes from 60 out of 63 cities/provinces were nominated. With the assistance of the scientists in culture, history and food technology,  the assessment of economists, artisans and food experts, VCCA selected the 121 most outstanding dishes of Vietnam, including 47 dishes popular in the north, 37 in the central region and 37 in the south.

Of hundreds of traditional dishes honored, Hanoi has four, including Hanoi Pho (noodles served with beef or chicken), bun oc (noodles and snails), com lang Vong (Vong green rice flakes) and bun thang (vermicelli and chicken soup).

The most outstanding dishes of HCMC selected were banh my Sai Gon (Saigon’s bread), lau mam (hot pot with fermented fish), com tam Sai Gon (Saigon steamed broken rice), mon cuon Saigon (spring rolls) and mi xao gion (crispy noodles with beef).

In southwestern provinces, goi cat rich Phu Quoc (Phu Quoc herring salad), canh nam tram Phu Quoc (Phu Quoc Tylopilus felleus broth), banh canh (bread soup) and banh trang phoi suong (dew-wetted rice paper) are on the list.

Duong Trung Quoc, a famous historian, noted that Vietnam has a rich heritage, aand a valuable asset in culinary culture. This is a strength and advantage of Vietnam amid increasingly deep integration into the world.

However, culinary culture is an art and a living heritage. Quoc recommended that state management agencies need to look at the potential in cuisine from both scientific and artistic perspectives. The state should only manage culinary culture to a certain extent, while it should entrust the community to those who carry out culinary culture, so that they can participate and implement it in practice. Only by diversifying the participant subjects will Vietnam be able to fully exploit the potential and the asset.

Diversity

Ky said that once the culinary culture can be exploited in a reasonable way, it will help attract more travelers to Vietnam and improve competitiveness of Vietnam as a destination.

The products to be implemented under the project will contribute to creating a stepping stone to bring Vietnamese brands to the world through culinary culture, promote national competition and serve as a premise for Vietnam's economic development.

However, for many years, the culinary art, especially dishes associated with tourism, has been developing in an unorganized way. Quoc said now is the right time to realize that development needs to be implemented methodically, in accordance with a specific roadmap and standards.

Together with the 121 selected special dishes, Michelin Guide’s official release of a list of 103 restaurants in Hanoi and HCM City, including four with stars last June, has identified “Vietnam - The World's Kitchen” or “Vietnam - The Planet's Culinary Paradise” official on the global culinary and tourism map.

However, Quoc thinks that Vietnam should not consider Michelin’s rankings as a pinnacle, but simply as international standards. This makes people feel confident when approaching the new culinary culture.

“Cuisine is not measured by speed, rotation, or just physical standards. Therefore, we must focus on the differences and diversity of food products to develop sustainably and promote its values,” Quoc said.

Tam An