The person who "passes on the fire" for Hue cuisine

Born into a family of teachers with a tradition of loving literature, Ms. Hoang Thi Nhu Huy herself is also a teacher and writer, absorbing many humanistic values from her family, so she skillfully incorporates them into everyday products to turn dishes into works of art.

However, it was not until the age of 44, due to family problems, that culinary artist Hoang Thi Nhu Huy changed her life direction, choosing to work as a chef to make a living. She said that in 1981, while teaching literature in Quang Nam, her mother-in-law in Hue had an accident. She asked for a transfer but was not accepted, so she had to quit her job to take care of her mother. In difficult times, she applied for jobs everywhere but was rejected.

At that time, she did many jobs from writing, cooking, raising animals, farming... During this period, she and her sister were sponsored by the Schzmith Foundation to open a class to teach home economics to many women in Hue. This job helped her both teach and learn the profession to accumulate more experience for herself every day.

In 1996, Saigon Morin Hotel announced a recruitment for staff, she applied for a kitchen staff position. After a two-hour interview, she was selected and sponsored to attend the first industrial kitchen class in Vietnam organized by Saigontourist in Ho Chi Minh City. After a year of persistent study, she graduated as valedictorian.

Every day, she still works hard by the fire with smoke, sweat and the bitterness of life. Her hands, which have long been used to holding pens, now have to hold kitchen chopsticks, knives, cutting boards, pots and pans... in the hustle and bustle of the food business, causing her to cry many times because of self-pity.

Heaven does not disappoint those who are lucky. One day, while she was busy preparing food for a wedding party at the hotel, she was suddenly asked by the director of the Saigon Morin Hotel in the kitchen if she knew French, and then asked to come to his room at 2:00 p.m. for an interview to go to France. At the appointed time, she went to the director's room. After the interview questions, at the end, the French representative turned to the hotel director and said: Madam Huy has a wonderful father. Teaching her children French, which after 26 years, even though she has not had the opportunity to use it, is still very good. At the end of that interview, she was chosen to go to France to improve her skills.

She packed her bags and headed to the Nord pas de Calais region in the North of France to "study with a master". Here, another good fortune came to her. After only a week of studying at the school, the principal invited her to his office and proposed to nominate her to participate in an international culinary competition organized by the French Culinary Academy. She was shy because she knew she was not strong enough and qualified enough, so she gave two reasons for refusing to participate. One was that the competition fee was very high and she did not have enough money to pay. Two was that the kitchen equipment was too modern and she did not know how to use it, so she would be confused when preparing the dishes. The principal smiled and said that the school would help with both of those things.

At that time, she was interviewed by a team of 20 culinary doctors from the French Culinary Academy about her knowledge of the kitchen and culinary culture. After that, she drew lots for the exam, went to the warehouse to choose the food according to the topic and wrote the recipe to submit to the judges. The exam was both closed and open. That is, the main ingredients and processing methods had to follow the topic. As for other knowledge, the candidates chose and created according to their abilities. And surprisingly, Ms. Hoang Thi Nhu Huy surpassed nearly 670 candidates from all over the world to win the prize at the 1998 International Chef Competition at Le Touqet Paris Palace, and was awarded a Medal and the title of Honorary Member of the Academy by the French Culinary Academy.

After finishing her course in France, she returned home and continued working in the hotel kitchen. Then another opportunity came to bring her back to the teaching profession when in 2000, she was chosen by the experts of the LUX Project to be the Head Teacher of the Culinary Department at Hue College of Tourism right at the kitchen of Saigon Morin Hotel.

“A good wine needs no bush”, the rumor about Ms. Nhu Huy spread overseas, some organizations and tourism schools overseas invited her to teach and exchange. From then on, Ms. Huy had more opportunities to travel everywhere to demonstrate Vietnamese cuisine.

Overseas, she designed many poetic menus, which impressed diners and made them feel more delicious. Once, she received a phone call from an overseas Vietnamese saying that when they read her article, they cried. Their nostalgia for their homeland was strongly revived through dishes that seemed very ordinary but were imbued with the soul of Hue. It was her love for food that created her own unique culinary style, both preserving tradition and constantly innovating to become richer and more attractive.

Also from 1996 to present, Ms. Nhu Huy has made many CDs about teaching expertise and cultural exchange for television stations such as: Culinary culture in Vu Lan festival, Culinary culture in Mid-Autumn festival, Hue people's eating style, Characteristics of Hue cuisine, Culinary culture on Tet holiday in Hue... She also cooperates with many international organizations, such as UNIDO, NAV, JICA... in programs to help poor women improve their food processing profession, such as: processing shrimp paste using clean technology; processing bread and cakes in individual household production; guiding nutritional diets for HIV patients...

For Mrs. Nhu Huy, glory seemed to be linked to the harshness of life when in 2002, her husband suffered a stroke. So at the same time, she had to take care of her husband, earn a living, and continue her passion for cooking.

As a recognition of her overcoming difficulties and creativity, Ms. Huy continued to receive many prestigious awards and certificates, such as: International Culinary Medal and honorary membership certificate of the French Culinary Academy, the title of Outstanding Vietnamese Teacher, the title of Talented Vietnamese Woman by the Vietnam Women's Museum, the title of Vietnamese Woman Overcoming Difficulties voted by the Vietnam General Confederation of Labor (2007), the title of "Living Humanistic Treasure" honored by the Vietnam Folk Arts Association, Meritorious Artisan, People's Artisan awarded by the President...

During the Hue Festival 2011, the Hue Salt Rice Party Recipe - a research project that she has cherished since 1999 with salt grains that she has preserved for over 10 years with a family secret, restored the value of ancient Hue culinary culture, surprising many tourists, and introducing to the world this unique and one-of-a-kind beauty in ancient Hue cuisine.

In Vietnamese culinary films, through her fluent and expressive performance and diction, artist Hoang Thi Nhu Huy has left an impression on many audiences across Vietnam and the world about the image of a Hue woman who devoted her life to and honored Vietnamese cuisine.

In early 2025, I had the opportunity to visit An Chi Vien garden (Thuy Bang, Thuan Hoa district), where she chose to live in retirement. She still preserves the artifacts of bowls, pots and pans through the years of an artist's life, enough to leave a museum of applied cuisine for future generations. In the garden with all kinds of green trees, spices..., when guests visit her house, she often introduces each ingredient to cook Hue dishes; the wonderful combination of ingredients and spices that the ancients left behind creates dishes that cannot be found anywhere else. She guides guests in preparing Hue dishes through the "hands-on" training method of an experienced teacher, making visitors interested and confident that they will be able to recreate Hue dishes when they return home.

At the age of over 70, Ms. Nhu Huy should have retired. However, every night she still diligently edits the 1,000-page book “Love of Cuisine” - a book like an “encyclopedia” about the unique cuisine of Hue, which is also the passion that she is constantly striving to pass on to the future generations.