Countryside cuisine lure for tourists

Viet Nam expects to attract visitors worldwide, partly because of its traditional and countryside dishes.
Manon Landreville, a French Canadian volunteer working for a project in mountainous northern province of Hoa Binh, attended the National Cooking Contest at the Ha Noi Water Park with Vietnamese friends. She said although she had lived in Viet Nam for many years, and enjoyed many Vietnamese dishes including nem (spring rolls), the contest surprised her with its rich variety of Vietnamese foods.
"What I really like about Vietnamese food is the rich variety of ingredients, some of which vary from region to region, while others are available throughout the year. I think the range of fruit and vegetables and good quality pork, chicken and fish provided by Vietnam’s climate is fantastic," said Manon.
Chef Nguyen Duc Tuan Anh regards a dish of Ech Nuong Ong Tre (Baked Frog in Bamboo Cylinder) as a great delicacy in his home city of Hue. He not only appreciates it for its taste as a countryside speciality, but also had the technical ability to transform it into a replica of the Hue citadel using taro and some vegetables.
Tuan Anh said he had known the dish since he was a little boy, when he spent time tending buffalo in a paddy field together with the other children from his village. At that time, frogs were easy to catch in the field and people used them to create different dishes.
"I remember my mother always used things available in the local area, including bamboo, lemon leaf, lemon grass and banana leaf to make this dish," said Tuan Anh.
"The frog was mixed with lemon grass and some other spices before it was put into a bamboo cylinder and then cooked wrapped in a banana leaf. I still remember that taste and the way of cooking."
Tuan Anh is one of nearly 150 cooking artists and chefs selected from hotels and restaurant from cities and provinces nationwide who took part in the national contest last week which showcased about 200 traditional dishes.
According to the Deputy Head of the Viet Nam Administration of Tourism’s Hotel Department, Le Mai Khanh, this was the fourth time the contest had been run. It attempted to exploit, preserve and disseminate traditional dishes and culinary skills.
Khanh said the participants displayed great skills, quality and presentation.
"Each dish had its own legend behind it or was linked with a local site," said Khanh.
Tuan Anh displayed his dish as a model of the Ngo Mon Gate at the Hue Citadel which was built in 1833 during the reign of Emperor Minh Mang.
Beside the main road to the gate were lotus ponds made of sea-weed and vegetables, while bamboo cylinders of frogs acted as cannons.
"It took me a lot of time to make and I hope my dish not only gave visitors a special flavour of the Hue countryside, but also a chance to learn something about the history of the site," says Tuan Anh.
Twenty-five year-old Nguyen Minh Huong, a company accountant in Ha Noi said eating is a daily art as people’s living standards increased.
"What’s for dinner today?" is always in her mind, said Huong.
Huong said as she is getting married by the end of this year, she wanted to pick up some cooking tips from the chefs.
"My future husband is very finicky.
"It is said that the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach, so I attended the show to learn how to prepare some dishes to keep him," said Huong.
Huong said she was impressed with Chao Tom Trung Cut (grilled shrimp-paste with fried birds egg) made by chef Nguyen Ngoc Thinh from Da Nang City that was based on the legend of Au Co and Lac Long Quan, Viet Nam’s mythical ancestors.
Thinh put fried eggs into a leaf-shaped tray with the message La Rung Ve Coi (Leaves Fall on Their Roots). Sesame seeds represented sand, a mound of rice and spiced vegetables the mountains and forest, while blue sea-weed was the sea.
He said he went to the contest to learn and share experiences with other chefs from around the country.
"In the past when the country faced hunger and poverty, people only thought of how to feed and clothe themselves properly. Today with improved living standards, they are increasingly interested in delicious food and fashionable clothes," said Thinh.
Vietnamese people always have a light meal in the morning, with various kinds of cakes, glutinous rice, pho (noodle soup) and rice vermicelli.
The main meals are lunch and dinner with rice, fish sauce mixed with certain spices and two or three basic dishes made of pork, beef, fish, shrimp or crab and vegetables.
Today with increased living standards, the structure of the main meals has significantly changed, with increasingly nutritious foods, including meat, becoming common in many families.
Besides rural areas which still believe it is necessary to have a variety of dishes on the table, many families in urban areas have focused on making one dish full of protein served with various vegetables. Most families focus on making special food at the weekend or on holidays.
Deputy Head of Hotel Department Mai Khanh said the most important thing for chefs was to continuously create new dishes, but still preserve traditional culture.
Khanh said many chefs had not only taken care of the quality and presentation of dishes but also showed how to improve people’s health.
"We had food for people on diets, for thin people who need bulking up, and sick ones too," says Khanh.
"Each chef had his own spices from his locality."
"Demand for eating quality food is increasing day by day, so we expected the contest would promote cooking in localities to help lure more visitors to the country," said Khanh.
A report from the Viet Nam Administration of Tourism showed that although the country had been affected by the global financial crisis, its tourism sector received about 3.8 million foreign tourists and saw 25 million domestic tourists in 2009, with a revenue of VND70 trillion (US$3.8 billion).
The sector is expected to receive about 4.5 million foreign tourists this year.
Khanh said that following the conclusion of the contest, the winning dishes would feature in tourist guidebooks.
"Vietnamese foods will increasingly titillate the eyes, nose and mouth," he said.