Brand positioning "Culinary Capital"

As a land of thousands of years of quintessence and a rich and diverse culinary treasure, Hanoi has turned cuisine into a field of cultural industry. The city has implemented many solutions to promote the brand and raise the status of Hanoi cuisine. Many dishes have become the "business card" of the capital's culture.

Any visitor who comes to Hanoi and wants to plan a food tour will face difficulties. But this is a pleasant difficulty.

Many choices

Choosing a culinary tour of Hanoi is always difficult because the city has so many options. For example, with pho - one of the characteristics of Hanoi cuisine, there are two main types: beef pho and chicken pho.

In Hoan Kiem district alone, there are a series of famous brands such as: Pho Ly Quoc Su, Pho Thin, Pho Suong, Pho Au Trieu, Pho Nguyet... If we expand to vermicelli, there is also a long list of vermicelli restaurants with grilled pork, vermicelli with crab, vermicelli with snails, vermicelli with thang... and almost every restaurant is delicious and has its own characteristics.

While other localities only have a few food streets, Hanoi has many. Of these, there are three professionally organized food streets, including: Tong Duy Tan Food Street (Hoan Kiem District), Ngoc Dao-Ngu Xa Food Street (Ba Dinh District) and Nguyen Van Tuyet Food Street (Dong Da District).

Besides, there are also a series of culinary streets and alleys that were naturally formed due to the needs of life, for example, the culinary streets and alleys of Phat Loc, Dong Xuan, Trang Tien, Trung Yen (Hoan Kiem district); Hoe Nhai (Ba Dinh district) or Ao Sen - a culinary paradise in Ha Dong district...

This rich culinary treasure comes from a thousand-year-old culture, from its position as a center of cultural exchange of the region, the country and the world. Culinary artist Pham Anh Tuyet also admitted that she could not list all the dishes of Hanoi because it is so rich.

Hanoi specialties such as pho, bun, nem, com... are just popular dishes that many people know. What is more worth mentioning is that the appeal of Hanoi cuisine lies not only in the food, but also in the culinary culture, from the way of preparation to the way of enjoying it. There are dishes made from rustic ingredients, but when coming to Hanoi, through the skillful and delicate hands of Hanoians, they become "delicious pieces that are long remembered".

Not only the cuisine of the inner city, the cuisine of the suburbs of Hanoi is also very rich. Many villages have famous dishes. In 2024, the travel website Tripadvisor announced the top 15 cities with the most attractive cuisine in the world, Hanoi is on par with cities such as: Naples (Italy), Athens (Greece), Barcelona (Spain), Paris (France), Bangkok (Thailand), Kyoto (Japan) ...

Also in 2024, Hanoi was honored by the World Culinary Award in two categories: World's Leading Culinary City and Asia's Leading Culinary City. Culinary dishes such as Pho, fried spring rolls, and lotus tea have long been considered Hanoi's "cultural business cards".

According to the Strategy for the Development of Vietnam's Cultural Industries to 2020, with a Vision to 2030 approved by the Prime Minister in 2016, the cultural industry includes 12 different fields. However, in the Resolution on the Development of Cultural Industries to 2025, with a Vision to 2030, with a Vision to 1945, in addition to the 12 fields mentioned above, the Hanoi Party Committee added cuisine as the 13th field in the city's cultural industries. This is a breakthrough in thinking in exploiting the value of culinary resources.

Former Director of Hanoi Department of Culture and Sports Do Dinh Hong said: "Hanoi cuisine has always been rich, diverse and sophisticated with specialties such as: Bun oc Ho Tay, Hang Khoai; Thanh Tri rice rolls, La Vong fish cakes... The list of specialties in Hanoi is extremely diverse. There are specialties originating from this very land of the capital, there are specialties originating from other localities, but when brought to Hanoi, combined with Trang An culture, these specialties have their own flavor, conveying Hanoi's own cultural features. That is the basis for Hanoi to promote culinary values ​​in developing the cultural industry".

Affirm position, enhance brand

The People's Committee of Hoan Kiem District has just completed the project to renovate the Tong Duy Tan - Hang Bong food street. Right at the intersection of the street, the section adjacent to Tran Phu Street, there is an interesting highlight: the statue of "Pho seller" by artist Tran Quoc Thinh.

The bronze statue realistically depicts the image of a man selling pho in the early 20th century, with a pair of shoulder poles selling pho, one side of the pole is a stove, the other side is pho cooking utensils. The space of the street is more spacious, clean, and imbued with traditional culture when decorated with lanterns, the entrance gate is also inspired by the ancient gate.

These are the "plus points" for Tong Duy Tan food street after becoming famous as the oldest food street in Hanoi, with many famous restaurants.

Artist Nguyen The Son, art curator of the Project, said: "Talking about the old town means talking about long-standing cultural values. Therefore, when implementing the project, we tried to increase the "content" of art for the street. For example, the bronze statue "The man selling pho" is the first work of art in Hanoi located in the middle of a street. Through that, tourists coming here will have more feelings about Hanoi culture, not just coming to enjoy the food".

In addition to improving infrastructure, Hoan Kiem District has also implemented a series of solutions to affirm its position and enhance the value of Hoan Kiem cuisine. As part of the digitalization roadmap, from August 2024, the People's Committee of Hoan Kiem District has brought the Hoan Kiem Cuisine App to iOS and Android operating systems. The Hoan Kiem Cuisine App arranges restaurants and dishes in a reasonable way.

Customers can search by food category; restaurant category; category according to the guests' preferences... Once they find their favorite food, restaurant, or eatery, just "touch and touch", customers can order food, book a table directly on the application. At the same time, Hoan Kiem also implements measures to improve commercial civilization, ensure food safety and hygiene...

This is just one of many activities to exploit and promote the value of culinary resources that Hanoi has implemented in recent times. After initial "probing" steps, currently, the city's three specialized culinary streets have formed a clear style. Tong Duy Tan - Hang Bong Alley culinary street bears the cultural imprint of the old quarter.

Ngoc-Ngu Xa Island Food Street is designed and decorated to remind of the subsidy period lifestyle. The highlight of this street is the train cars of Metro Line 6 - where there are model train cars designed as exhibition spaces, introducing culture, life and serving subsidy-era dishes. Although it has only been in operation since the beginning of this year, Nguyen Van Tuyet Food Street also has the highlight of "integration-era cuisine", with the convergence of dishes from many regions and international dishes.

Suburban cuisine is also strongly "joining the game". Many hometown gifts have now become highly commoditized products. Notable ones are Phu Nhi rice cakes, Thach Xa lam tea...

In particular, at two famous tourist destinations, Duong Lam ancient village and Bat Trang pottery village, enjoying local specialties has become an indispensable part for domestic and foreign tourists. For Bat Trang pottery village, the dishes of bamboo shoot and squid soup and stir-fried squid with kohlrabi have been widely known. On

Based on the traditional dishes of Duong Lam ancient village, Duong Lam Ancient Village Management Board cooperated with local restaurants to launch the "lotus feast" product group, with dozens of dishes and drinks with Duong Lam flavor, targeting high-end customers.

Hanoi City has also organized a series of annual events to promote cuisine in recent years, typically: West Lake Lotus Festival, Hanoi Culinary Culture Festival, Hanoi Tourism Gift Festival... Those events not only introduce the beauty of Hanoi cuisine but also introduce an elegant and sophisticated Hanoi in preparing and enjoying various types of cuisine.

However, compared to the exploitation of cuisine in tourism, the exploitation of culinary resources to develop the cultural industry has many new points. For example, cuisine contributes to the cultural industry in many fields: Tourism, fashion, performing arts, etc.

A concrete manifestation of this activity is that many restaurants combine cuisine with art programs. Therefore, a new approach is needed. In addition to promotion and introduction, many experts believe that in order to promote culinary values, it is necessary to view cuisine through the aspects of heritage and culture to create depth for the product.

Dr. Dang Phuong Anh (Faculty of Tourism, Hanoi University of Social Sciences and Humanities) said that when introducing and promoting Hanoi cuisine, when linking cuisine with tourism development, it is necessary to pay attention to the cultural space and the interaction between the diners and the subjects of the dishes.

Associate Professor, Dr. Nguyen Thi Anh Quyen, Hanoi University of Culture, proposed that Hanoi should develop a strategy to promote culinary culture in association with developing cultural industry in a more specific way for localities to use as a basis for implementation. The city also needs to develop culinary tours with focus and key points; organize more international exchange and cooperation events on culinary culture. Many experts also suggested that Hanoi should consider exporting culinary specialties on a larger scale, to affirm its position and enhance the brand of the capital.

Source: https://nhandan.vn/dinh-vi-thuong-hieu-thu-do-am-thuc-post865296.html