Once established, the national trademark “the World’s Kitchen” will draw
people from all the five continents to explore Vietnam ’s culture
through local cuisine.
Vietnamese food, with a
wide range of delicious dishes bearing the hallmarks of each region, is
close to all Vietnamese people and even satisfies those from other
countries. Popular dishes appear on the menus of high-end hotels inside
and outside the country.
It’s very important to
include cuisine in tourism development plans, especially for Hanoi which
boasts plentiful and delicious dishes such as Pho (rice noodles served
with beef or chicken), nem (spring rolls), bun thang (rice noodles with
chicken, fried egg, lean meat pie , La Vong grilled fish pies, Thanh
Tri steamed rice rolls, Ngu Xa rolled rice pancakes and Ho Tay shrimp
cakes.
Stressing the quintessence and unique cuisine
of Hanoi , Pham Anh Tuyet, the owner of a restaurant on Ma May
Street, said delicious food is the key to drawing tourists back to the
country.
She said that her restaurant is not only a
place to introduce the gastronomy of Hanoi to tourists but also
provides an opportunity for them to make Vietnamese dishes.
“Tourists have an interesting experience here as they make food by
themselves and enjoy it,” she said, adding many return to thank her
after they have brought Vietnamese recipes to their countries.
However, such a tourism model like Tuyet’s restaurant is not popular,
although industry insiders recognise its advantages and attractiveness.
How to develop the cuisine culture into a special
tourism product and a national trademark is a hard question for tourism
managers.
To realise the idea, the Vietnam National
Administration of Tourism (VNAT) recently assigned Vietravel Tourism
Company to build a project to develop the Vietnamese gastronomy.
The project is being built with concrete strategies, solutions and
programmes to popularise Vietnamese food culture to the world, which
will attract tourists and develop overseas Vietnamese communities’
business activities, said Vietravel CEO Nguyen Quoc Ky.
According to Ky, a chain of restaurants will be built to introduce
local dishes to tourists in Vietnam . Meanwhile, in the international
arena, relevant agencies will work with associations of Vietnamese
chefs to popularise the Vietnamese gastronomy and develop its image.
In addition, Vietnamese food will be introduced at fairs and cultural events, he added.
Once approved by the VNAT, “the World’s Kitchen” national trademark
will be completed by 2020, and bring Vietnam to the world.-VNA