Hue - the capital of cuisine

Hue was the center of Dang Trong region for several centuries under the Nguyen lords, and by the 19th century, it was a prosperous and urban capital, with nearly a century and a half as the capital of Vietnam, where a dynasty with many mandarins and scholars gathered. There, in addition to the royal palace, there were also nobles, upper class, and intellectuals who gathered here. That required Hue people to not only be good at preparing extremely sophisticated dishes that were only used in the royal palace.

Mr. Phan Thanh Hai - Director of the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Thua Thien Hue shared that the cuisine of each region has its own characteristics, creating its own identity for diners to recognize. Hue, also known as the Land of Poetry because this city always has a poetic beauty. This place also has an extremely rich and sophisticated culinary culture. Hue's delicious dishes combine Champa cuisine with Vietnamese delicacies, national delicacies mixed with royal dishes.

Hue cuisine is very rich, can be simple, with the flavor of rice fields, lagoons, mountains and rivers, but also no less luxurious, sophisticated with the way the dishes are presented imbued with royal characteristics. It is in the diversity of raw materials, from rustic to delicacies and the most special point is the hands, passion and talent of generations, from common people to upper class nobles, the royal court has raised Hue culinary culture to a high level.

Hue royal cuisine is the royal dishes prepared to offer to the king in the past. All of these dishes are considered delicacies and are made very elaborately, meticulously, and are both beautiful, delicious, and nutritious. Therefore, Hue royal cuisine not only has the hands of chefs but also the participation of the Imperial Hospital to ensure the most perfect combination of ingredients. In addition to the rustic, familiar dishes, the royal dishes here help diners relive historical moments in the ancient space.

Hue delicacies are not only eaten with the mouth, but first of all, you have to enjoy looking at them with your eyes, smelling the aroma, feeling the craving, listening to the sounds that attract and intrigue you, that is, eating with your five senses. For example, dragon-shaped fig salad, peacock spring rolls - phoenix rolls... are all carved by the cook into works of art. The harmony of colors, flavors, the harmony of yin - yang, hot - cold, the harmony in the layout of bowls, chopsticks, plates... harmony like nature, nature, is Hue culinary culture.

In recent times, Thua Thien Hue province has promoted the brand "Hue - Culinary Capital" with many activities promoting tourism and unique culinary culture, attracting the attention and experience of many domestic and international tourists. For example, "Hue Traditional Cuisine Week 2024" has just taken place with the theme "Hue Cuisine with Four Directions" in Thuong Bac Park area. Here, food lovers can experience "Hue Traditional Cuisine Space" with folk and royal cuisine; Discover the quintessence of dishes from three regions.

Within the framework of the program "Green Heritage Culture and Tourism Week, a place to meet people and nature", in November 2013, in Hanoi, the People's Committee of Thua Thien Hue province and the Department of Industry and Trade of Thua Thien Hue organized the Ceremony to announce and award certificates of Thua Thien Hue specialties achieving Asian records and Vietnamese records for 11 Hue specialties: Hue beef noodle soup, lotus seed sweet soup, sour shrimp, dried shrimp, sesame candy, tre, thanh tra, banh khoai, banh loc with shrimp filling, banh beo and hen rice.

In December 2023, the world-famous culinary website Taste Atlas announced the list of "The World's Best Food Cities 2023" to honor the local cuisine of the destinations. Hue City was honored to be ranked 28th among the cities with the best food in the world. The most famous dishes mentioned first include: beef noodle soup, tapioca dumplings, mussel rice, grilled spring rolls, sweet soup, banh nam, banh phu the, tom chua...

Towards a Creative City in the Culinary Field

Hue's culinary resources are affirmed to be one of the most competitive advantages in tourism of the ancient capital. With that advantage, Thua Thien Hue is building the brand "Hue - Culinary Capital" for itself to become a capital, a culinary capital, enhancing the image of Hue cuisine in the region and the world. Hue has registered intellectual property for a number of Hue specialties. The province also strives to preserve and promote traditional values, promote creativity for culinary development, contribute to creating livelihoods, solving jobs, income for people, creating unique cultural and tourism products, attracting visitors.

Bun bo Hue is a famous dish among domestic and foreign tourists with its unique and attractive flavor. (Photo: khamphahue)

On July 25, 2024, Mr. Vo Le Nhat - Chairman of Hue City People's Committee said that Hue City has just planned to build a dossier "Hue - Creative City" to nominate to join the UNESCO Creative Cities Network. This locality chose the culinary field to build the dossier. "UNESCO Creative Cities Network" was established in 2004, with 7 fields: design, cuisine, literature, media arts, music, cinema, crafts and folk arts. To date, more than 350 cities from more than 100 countries around the world have participated. Vietnam has 3 cities recognized as "UNESCO Creative Cities", including: Hanoi in the field of design, Hoi An (Quang Nam province) in the field of crafts and folk arts, Da Lat (Lam Dong province) in the field of music.

Hue City is a locality that experts assess as having the potential and strength to participate in the “UNESCO Creative Cities Network” in the culinary field. And this locality also decided to choose cuisine to build a profile to submit to UNESCO.

According to the plan of Hue City People's Committee, specific contents will be implemented to build the dossier, such as: establishing a Working Group to build a dossier to participate in the "UNESCO Creative Cities Network" in the field of culinary creativity of Hue City. Along with that, there will be seminars, thematic workshops, international seminars and completing the dossier. Of which, there will be 2 seminars and 1 thematic workshop, scheduled to be held in August and September 2024; and organizing an International Workshop with the theme "Hue - Towards a Creative City in the field of cuisine" at the end of 2024.

Hue City will also focus on promoting communication activities during the process of building the dossier with activities such as: organizing a logo design contest or inviting a design unit to design the identity of "Hue - UNESCO Creative City"; setting up a website to post content related to the construction of the dossier "Hue - UNESCO Creative City in the field of cuisine"; organizing communication on mass media...

Mr. Vo Le Nhat, Chairman of Hue City People's Committee, said that it is expected that in June 2025, Hue City will submit a nomination application to join the UNESCO Creative Cities Network. After submitting the application, Hue City will also carry out activities to publish publications, books, and documentary films introducing Hue City's potential in the culinary field. Organize culinary spaces, performance activities, and prepare traditional and royal dishes to contribute to promoting Hue's potential in the field of culinary culture...