Ms. Ton Nu Thi Ha  - a culinary artisan,tie lệ kèo introducing nem cong cha phuong dish to diners at a recent food festival

The Typical culinary set of the Central region is part of the project “The journey to find Vietnamese culinary cultural values” phase I in 2022, in order to search and honor the culinary culture of the regions across Vietnam. This project aims to improve people’s knowledge about the special cuisines of the regions; creating a driving force to promote the culinary economy in the direction of improving product quality.

Accordingly, more than 100 typical dishes nominated by 19 central regions are included in the list of culinary sets. Cuisine of the Central region includes the natural rusticity of the North Central cuisine; the rich sea flavor in the cuisine of the Central coastal provinces; or the blending of cultures of ethnic groups in the Central Highlands; especially, the culinary culture of Hue ancient capital area with its own unique features due to the influence of royal culture and the style of Hue people, such as: nem cong - cha phuong, bun bo Hue, banh beo, banh nam, banh loc... and typical vegetarian dishes only available in Hue.

According to the Vietnam Culinary Culture Association, the dishes included in the culinary set ensure 4 criteria: history and origin of the cuisine suggested by scientists, artisans; or, the regions where the cuisine originated; the value chain of culinary dishes associated with criteria at each stage: from farming, harvesting, preliminary processing, processing, preservating, cooking, dining and serving, as well as the industrialization ability and the spread of the dish.

This is an opportunity to honor the typical culinary dishes of the Central region, contributing to completing the “Essence of Vietnamese cuisine” map, creating an impressive image with pure Vietnamese characteristics; serving as a basis for promoting Vietnamese culinary culture to the world.

By Duc Quang