Western visitors enjoy the Vietnamese Fish Sauce Festival

Many foreign visitors enjoy Vietnamese cuisine with fish sauce when participating in the Fish Sauce Festival on Nguyen Hue walking street.

The first Traditional Fish Sauce Festival took place for 5 days from October 23 to October 27 in the central area of Nguyen Hue walking street, attracting many curious foreign tourists to visit and experience.

Maria, a French tourist visiting Ho Chi Minh City for the first time, said she accidentally saw the festival while walking at the intersection of Nguyen Hue and Le Loi. At first, she mistook the fish sauce festival for an outdoor food court. After walking around inside, she realized it was a fish sauce-themed festival.

Maria and her boyfriend look for Vietnamese dishes at the festival on the evening of October 23. Photo: Bich Phuong

Maria said she was "no stranger" to fish sauce because she often visited Vietnamese restaurants in France and most of the dishes were seasoned with this spice. The female tourist also used fish sauce to cook Asian dishes.

"In France, I usually buy fish sauce at Asian supermarkets, sometimes Vietnamese supermarkets, for about 3-4 euros (82,000-109,000 VND) a bottle," Maria said, adding that she might choose to buy a few bottles of fish sauce at the festival.

Thomas, a French tourist, shared that he often visits Vietnam and has known about fish sauce since he was a child because there are many Vietnamese restaurants in France. Thomas and his friend also happened to pass by the walking street and stopped by the festival. They enjoyed banh xeo, banh can, dipped in sweet and sour fish sauce.

Thomas (in pink shirt) enjoys banh can with sweet and sour fish sauce at the festival on the evening of October 23. Photo: Bich Phuong

He said Vietnamese fish sauce is unique because it can create many different flavors when combined with other spices such as garlic, chili, sugar, and lemon.

"Fish sauce is also very easy to eat and has no strong smell, suitable for cooking Asian dishes," said Thomas.

Fish Sauce Festival has More than 150 booths display and promote products of traditional fish sauce manufacturing enterprises across the country. In addition, the event has food booths selling street food, regional dishes using fish sauce as the main spice and an area recreating the fish sauce production process. Cooking art performances to promote and honor fish sauce to people and tourists are also held throughout the 5 days.

Food stalls at the fish sauce festival on the evening of October 23. Photo: Bich Phuong

Vice Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee Nguyen Van Dung said that the fish sauce festival is not only a culinary cultural event, but also marks a milestone in the strong development of Vietnamese cuisine. The event contributes to enriching the activities held in Ho Chi Minh City, worthy of the title of the city of festivals.

"The city welcomes organizing events, especially those related to culinary culture, to promote Vietnamese products to tourists," Mr. Dung said at the opening ceremony on the evening of October 23.

According to Ms. Ho Kim Lien, President of the Vietnam Traditional Fish Sauce Association, the festival also contributes to honoring traditional fish sauce villages across the three regions. "Vietnamese people use traditional fish sauce to protect culture and craft villages," Ms. Lien said.

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