Spreading Hue royal cuisine, promoting Vietnamese language in Brunei

In order to promote activities to promote Vietnam and encourage teaching and learning Vietnamese, the Vietnamese Embassy in Brunei organized the program "Discovering Vietnam: Hue Royal Culinary Arts" on the morning of August 5, 2023 at the Embassy headquarters.

Lan toả nghệ thuật ẩm thực cung đình Huế, quảng bá tiếng Việt tại Brunei

Ambassador Tran Anh Vu (left) presents a painting promoting Son Doong Cave to Ms. Liyana Putri Abd Ghani, Deputy Director of the Language Center, UBD School. (Source: Embassy)

The program was attended by more than 50 delegates, including lecturers and students of Universiti Brunei Darussalam (UBD), representatives of the Vietnamese community, especially more than 20 students of UBD studying Vietnamese.

Speaking at the event, Vietnamese Ambassador to Brunei Tran Anh Vu emphasized thateducation and training is a potential area of cooperation between the two countries based on the good bilateral relationship and the tradition of studiousness of the Vietnamese and Bruneian people. The Ambassador highly appreciated the results achieved in educational cooperation and people-to-people exchange between Vietnam and Brunei in recent times, with the highlight being the introduction of Vietnamese language into teaching at UBD School with an increasing number of students enrolling.

In the coming time, the Vietnamese Embassy in Brunei will continue to play the role of a bridge, supporting cooperation activities between UBD School, FPT University and other training and research institutions in Vietnam, with the hope that there will be more and more Vietnamese students studying in Brunei and Brunei students studying in Vietnam.

On behalf of UBD, Ms. Liyana Putri Abd Ghani, Deputy Director of the Language Center, expressed her impression of learning and exploring the long-standing culture with strong national identity of Vietnam. Ms. Liyana said that UBD pays great attention to developing the Vietnamese language subject, affirming that learning Vietnamese not only helps students gain more knowledge about culture and have more job opportunities, but also contributes to people-to-people exchanges between the two countries. Ms. Liyana thanked and appreciated the program "Discovering Vietnam: Hue Royal Culinary Arts" for providing useful information and greatly supporting the learning of Vietnamese of UBD students.

Chef Tran Duc Long instructs students of UBD University in preparing Vietnamese cuisine. (Source: Embassy)

Within the framework of the Program, the Embassy introduced to the delegates the art of Hue royal cuisine, with the highlight being the dish Nem Cong Cha Phuong, directly prepared and introduced by chef Tran Duc Long, national artisan, member of the Royal Chefs Association of Vietnam.

Lecturers and students of UBD had the opportunity to experience the preparation and decoration of dishes and highly appreciated the presentation art as well as the unique flavors of Hue royal dishes. At the same time, delegates were also introduced to the unique cultural values of Vietnam through cultural items such as Ngo Mon model, five-panel dress and carp lanterns.

Sharing their thoughts at the event, many UBD students said they were very interested in learning Vietnamese and learning about Vietnamese culture, and hoped to have the opportunity to visit Vietnam in the near future. According to Dr. Tran Trong Nghia, lecturer at Ho Chi Minh City National University, lecturer of Vietnamese at UBD and member of the Community Liaison Committee in Brunei, Vietnamese is the only foreign language in Southeast Asia taught at UBD and has been taught for 3 semesters so far; the number of students studying is increasing, from 12 students in the first semester to 90 students in the 2023 course.

Delegates attending the Program. (Source: Embassy)

Dr. Tran Trong Nghia said that the program "Discovering Vietnam: Hue Royal Cuisine" is very interesting and practical because it creates connections, motivation to study and experience Vietnamese culture for Bruneian students. Dr. Nghia shared that cuisine is Vietnam's strength, Hue cuisine is even more special because it converges cultural quintessence and easily impresses international friends; he hopes that the Embassy will continue to pay attention to promoting cooperation with UBD, research and promote the establishment of Vietnamese cultural corners at universities in Brunei and encourage Bruneian students to come to Vietnam to study and experience.

UBD was established in 1985 and is the leading prestigious educational institution in Brunei. It is ranked 75th in the Quacquarelli Symonds Asian University Rankings and 22nd among new universities established in the last 50 years.

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