Kitchen of the world

Mr. Nguyen Quoc Ky, Chairman of the Vietnam Culinary Culture Association (VCCA), shared about the journey of making Vietnamese cuisine a national brand and then reaching out to the world.

Reporter: Vietnam's success in welcoming 12.5 million international visitors in 2023 is largely due to its cuisine. In your opinion, what is the most important thing for cuisine to find a solid foothold on Vietnam's tourism map?

We do not hide our ambition to not only elevate Vietnamese cuisine as a national pride but also turn it into a unique cultural representative of Vietnam on the world culinary map.

- Mr. Nguyen Quoc Ky: At the end of 2023, through the votes of prestigious culinary organizations and information sites, Hanoi was honored to win the award "Best emerging culinary city destination in Asia in 2023". Taste Atlas also announced that Vietnam ranked 22/100 of the world's best cuisines in 2023. Hue City was ranked 28/100 of the world's best food cities... Welcoming 12.5 million international visitors in 2023 proves that cuisine has contributed significantly.

To have a connection between cuisine and tourism, we need to objectively recognize that Vietnam has only just begun to exploit this potential. With more than 3,000 rich dishes from North to South, seafood and mountain cuisine, the culinary culture map has been formed and hidden in the folk. The Government has issued a policy on the orientation of culinary and tourism development. Now is the time to have a drastic, methodical and scientific participation to create a common foundation and orientation for the entire political system and specialized social organizations. It is necessary to develop a unique culinary experience tourism model, closely combining with local tourist destinations and culture.

Artist - culinary expert Le Khanh

We believe that this connection will not only be limited to introducing dishes but also create unique, authentic and historical experiences. It is necessary to focus on the cultural foundation of cuisine so that when tourists come to Vietnam, they will not only feel the taste of the dishes but also immerse themselves in the historical story and nutritional value. This creates a trend of Vietnamese culinary tourism with the slogan "eat, talk, take away".

Vietnamese cuisine is very rich and diverse, a place where many culinary cultures converge. However, many experts believe that the position of Vietnamese cuisine is not commensurate with its strength. What do you think about this?

- I think that with its unique location next to the forest and the sea, stretching from North to South, Vietnam is considered by the world as a gateway from East to West. I also agree that thanks to its diverse and rich advantages, Vietnamese cuisine has clearly reflected the deep cultural exchange with the world, through tourism. Typically, hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese restaurants are present all over the world and vice versa, in Vietnam, most provinces and cities have restaurants serving traditional dishes of many countries.

But it is true that the awareness of the position of Vietnamese cuisine in the international arena is not commensurate with its strength, although Vietnam possesses a workforce of professional chefs and culinary experts with high skills and the ability to transform traditional dishes into contemporary dishes, attracting millions of diners worldwide every year.

There are many reasons why Vietnamese cuisine has not developed as expected. In my opinion, the important factor is the lack of promotion and marketing, including the lack of investment in research, development and promotion of regional cuisine in international media for a long time, causing many people in the world to not know about Vietnamese cuisine.

To overcome this, we need to focus on building a comprehensive marketing strategy, combining the honoring of cultural identity and culinary traditions, helping Vietnamese cuisine to reach further on the world culinary map. We can bravely accept being considered "inferior" in order to reposition the position of our country's cuisine, determine where it is and where it will go. Only when we achieve this can we restore balance and create the premise for the penetration, recognition and acceptance of Vietnamese cuisine in the international arena.

When funding is limited like now, what do you think is the most effective way to promote?

- In the current international context, Vietnam has clearly affirmed its position. I think it is necessary to seriously identify each item in planning and building a culinary promotion plan, consider core competencies and rely on the strength of the community to implement each stage, effectively spreading information.

Although customers experience traditional Vietnamese spring rolls

The most effective method is to combine real-life experiences and digital technology, including leveraging social networks and digital platforms to widely spread Vietnamese cuisine. For example, VCCA, with limited financial resources, has relied on the potential and strengths of the collective to successfully implement the Project Journey to find the cultural values ​​of Vietnamese cuisine phase 1, as a premise for the next phases. The projects include building a virtual museum, a digital map of Vietnamese cuisine, integrating artificial intelligence technology to provide an easy-to-use platform, helping people access a total food warehouse easily. This new technology will help users explore cuisine through images, vivid instructional videos, language support and statistics to discover new dishes, contributing to the development of the local economy. This is a big step forward in promoting and enhancing the position of Vietnamese cuisine.

This project is certainly not limited to Vietnam?

- Yes. Through this project, we are committed to building an image of a diverse, rich and quality culinary culture, creating an attractive, unique and distinctive highlight to attract domestic diners and international tourists to experience, contributing to the development of the country's tourism economy.

I believe that the journey of "turning Vietnamese cuisine into a national brand" is something that cannot be described in words. It is a command, a big challenge! However, we are confident that we will successfully carry out this plan as expected.

I believe that in the near future, Vietnamese cuisine will not only become a national brand but also a global brand.

Source: https://nld.com.vn/bep-an-cua-the-gioi-196240205232105249.htm