Bring Vietnam cuisine to become unique tourism products

(Source: Internet)

With richness, diversity, harmony and sophistication, Vietnamese cuisine is considered a cultural heritage, also a valuable resource of tourism in Vietnam. In 2015, our country cuisine is voted CNN's television audience is one of the 10 best culinary backgrounds in the world. Twelve dishes of Vietnam have been confirmed by the Asian Recognized Asian Food Value Criteria. In the beginning of 2018, CNN named 15 dishes impossible not try when coming to Vietnam ... This shows that Vietnamese cuisine not only attract domestic guests but also attract foreign tourists. Pictures of the leaders of some world powers come and enjoy Vietnamese food such as US President Bin Clinton, eating Pho, US President B. Obama eating Bun Cha ... confirmed and contribute to the brand name Vietnam's cuisine is more prominent in the world. Assoc. Prof. Dr.Nguyen Xuan Dung, Vice President of Vietnam Association for Ethnology and Anthropology, affirmed that Vietnam's culinary identity is associated with regions, ethnicities and religions of natural conditions, history and cultural exchanges. Such identity reflects boldly in culinary specialties meaning in food, drinks, ways and stories related to food. This is a solid basis for the development of food tourism in Vietnam.

For visitors, dining is not just about meeting the nutritional needs but also the opportunity to explore the culture, customs and habits of indigenous people. The World Tourism Organization's second global report on food tourism (2017) found that 87% of organizations surveyed identified food tourism as a strategic factor for destination; 82% of organizations think that food tourism is an important motive for tourism development as a catalyst for the local economy.

However, according to experts, Vietnamese cuisine is still only accessible as a factor contributing to the success of the trip, not considered as a type of tourism, has not been built into tourist products to attract visitors. Cuisine Artist Anh Tuyet Shares: International friends highly appreciate Vietnamese cuisine, do not use as much grease as Chinese dishes, not as spicy as Korean food, full of nutrients with many spices, fresh vegetables. In fact, Vietnamese cuisine has not become a product because we lack promotion strategy.

Recently, at the Scientific Conference "Conservation and Development of Traditional Vietnamese Cuisine" within the framework of Vietnam International Tourism Market - VITM Hanoi 2018, many experts have made a donation to bring food tourism to become a tourist attraction. Assoc.Prof.Dr.Vuong Xuan Tinh proposed: It is necessary to supplement the content of tourism development into Vietnam Tourism Development Strategy to 2020, vision to 2030 and later. In addition, it is necessary to raise awareness on food tourism, focusing on research, training and communication. There should be more basic research on the value of Vietnamese cuisine; To build a gastronomy tourism program at a number of universities, colleges and institutes and related research centers; publishing a guidebook on culinary tourism; Organizing radio and television channels on Vietnamese food and tourism ... To exploit and develop culinary tourism, not only to narrow the issue of food, drinks, restaurants and fairs but also to save both food sources, processing processes, historical aspects, rituals, food related behaviors. Assoc.Prof. Dr.Dang Van Bai, Vice Chairman of the Vietnam Cultural Heritage Association, said that in order to protect and promote the cultural value of food associated with sustainable tourism, the culture of ethnic minorities, documenting and listing the national intangible cultural heritage, introducing cultural institutions in service of tourism, building a number of cultural centers gastronomy tourism ...

Signal fun is the end of 2017, Vietnam Chefs Association was officially established, gathering many talented chefs nationwide. This is directly under the Vietnam Tourism Association. This promises a close handshake between tourism and cuisine to attract more visitors to Vietnam. Mr.Nguyen Thuong Quan, President of Vietnamese Chefs Association, said that in order to bring traditional cuisine to become a unique tourism product, the association is working with Vietnam Tourism Association to implement the project of traditional food preservation zone and honored Vietnamese chefs. This will be the venue for culinary events, traditional cooking contests, culinary honors and culinary tourism destinations. More than 50,000 professional chefs, most of whom are working in restaurants, hotels, restaurants serving tourists, are valuable assets for the development of culinary tourism in the country.