Cuisine promotes local culture and tourism

Culinary culture is not simply about food and drink, but also carries stories about the life and living habits of the community, an inseparable part of each locality and land. Coming to Quang Ninh, visitors are not only impressed by the spectacular scenery and sincere hospitality, but also by the unique and attractive features of local specialties such as: Ha Long squid rolls, Quang Yen sour sausage, Tien Yen nodding cake, Dong Trieu crab, Binh Lieu stir-fried pho, etc. Enjoying Quang Ninh cuisine, visitors not only feel the unique flavors but also experience the beauty of local culture, thereby loving and appreciating this land more.

From cultural stories...

With diverse natural conditions, Quang Ninh possesses rich and diverse cuisine from the forest and sea. Along with that, the open-minded lifestyle in harmony with nature of the people of Quang Ninh also creates a unique identity.

Captain Hannah Brewis (Washington DC Team) of the Clipper Race 2023 and 2024 season enjoyed the experience of making Ha Long squid rolls.

To mention the dish that has become the "ambassador" of culture and tourism of Ha Long in particular, Quang Ninh in general, perhaps "squid cake" is the most worthy dish . Ha Long squid cake, Quang Ninh is one of the 50 famous specialties of Vietnam recognized by the Vietnam Record Book Center. The cake is made from local raw materials such as squid in the sea of Ha Long or Van Don. After being caught, the squid will be processed by production facilities, cleaned and pounded by hand, shaped into cakes, fried and cooled, and immediately vacuum-packed to preserve its special fresh flavor.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Bich (70 years old), a trader who has been involved in seafood trading and supplying cuttlefish to squid sausage production facilities in Ha Long for more than 40 years, said: Squid sausage is a dish created by Ha Long people during their labor and production process. No one remembers when the Ha Long squid sausage profession began. It is only known that, since the early years of the 20th century, when life was still difficult, Ha Long people started making squid sausage. At that time, people bought squid, pounded it by hand and fried it. The process was completely manual.

Until now, squid cake is an indispensable dish in the banquet, and is also a fragrant specialty to entertain guests of Ha Long people in particular and Quang Ninh people in general. Squid cake is a popular dish on cruise ships serving tourists visiting Ha Long Bay or in the province's solemn reception parties.

Ms. Hoang Thi Cam invites visitors to enjoy the fragrant sticky rice with ginger leaves, warm like the rustic sincerity of Binh Lieu people.

Going up to the mountainous districts (Binh Lieu, Ba Che, Dam Ha, Tien Yen), the dishes are mostly made from products of the mountains and forests. In the border land of Binh Lieu, the culinary culture of the Tay, Dao, and San Chi people here has long become a beauty, creating attraction for tourists from all over. These are cakes such as: wormwood cake, tai long ep cake, day cake, humpbacked chung cake, cooc mo cake or dishes such as Dong Van stir-fried pho, five-color sticky rice, ginger-leaf sticky rice, stream fish, dong vermicelli, black duck...

Ms. Hoang Thi Cam, owner of Hai Oanh homestay (Luc Hon commune, Binh Lieu), shared: For many years, our family has provided food services to tourists, prioritizing the selection and introduction of traditional dishes, made from local ingredients and agricultural products. Typically, every Golden Harvest Festival, tourists are eager to enjoy sticky rice with ginger leaves of the Tay people in Binh Lieu. Sticky rice is cooked from the best glutinous rice that has just been harvested, steamed, then brushed with ginger leaves to create a beautiful green color. The green color of sticky rice symbolizes the lush mountains and fields, expressing the people's wishes for a bountiful harvest and a prosperous, fulfilling life.

Competition of trays of food with typical dishes of Tien Yen at the San Diu Ethnic Culture and Sports Festival of Tien Yen district in 2023.

With delicious meat, thick and crispy skin, beautiful golden color, Tien Yen chicken has long been the most famous agricultural specialty of Tien Yen district. To promote this specialty, since 2018, Tien Yen district has organized the Tien Yen Chicken Culinary Festival. Visitors attending the festival can enjoy dishes such as: boiled chicken, salted steamed chicken, grilled chicken, chicken cooked with ginger wine soup, chicken cooked with Chinese medicine soup, chicken salad, roasted chicken, fried chicken, chicken pho, chicken vermicelli... Thereby, promoting and introducing the Tien Yen chicken brand in particular and the unique features in the culinary culture of Tien Yen land to a large number of people and tourists.

Or when mentioning the Van Don fish sauce brand, tourists are not only attracted by the rich, sweet flavor but also by the unique stories associated with fishing villages and ancient trading ports with many legends. It can be seen that from developing fish sauce brands to sea worm sauce to become OCOP products is a long journey with much love and dedication of generations of local craftsmen and craftsmen.

People shop at the Quang Ninh OCOP Fair - Spring 2024.

Over the past years, Quang Ninh has been the leading locality nationwide in building and implementing the OCOP program - One Commune, One Product. Up to now, the whole province has 417 OCOP products with 3-5 stars. Among them, many products of Quang Ninh are loved by tourists to buy, such as: Dong Trieu yellow sticky rice wine, Mong Cai pork products, Tien Yen chicken, Van Don sea worms, Co To squid, Ha Long squid rolls, Ba Che yellow flower tea...

Along with implementing events and programs to promote the exploitation of the culinary value of OCOP products such as Quang Ninh OCOP Fair, Culinary Culture Week, Quang Ninh Culinary Festival, etc., the province is focusing on directing sectors and localities to further promote the cultural values of each locality through the OCOP model; identifying OCOP products as cultural products and paying attention to investing in further enhancing the professionalism of each product, imbued with indigenous cultural values.

...to experience “food tour”

“Food tour” or culinary tourism is an activity to experience and enjoy many dishes in the same region that has become popular with tourists in general, especially young people today. Besides enjoying and feeling the new and unique flavors of the dishes, through food tours, tourists can also explore the indigenous cultures of the people in each land, enriching the travel experience.

Quang Ninh Cuisine Festival 2023 attracted a large number of people and tourists from home and abroad to attend and enjoy the cuisine of Quang Ninh and regions across the country.

Through social networking sites such as Facebook, Zalo, and TikTok, learning about food tours at tourist destinations has become popular. Ms. Pham Thi Lan (a tourist from Hanoi) shared: Before coming to Ha Long, I also searched for information on social networks, watched videos and clips of famous people and food bloggers about attractive places to eat and play in Ha Long. Truly, experiencing a food tour in Ha Long is what I like most about this trip. From breakfast dishes such as vermicelli, shrimp pho, mantis shrimp, and sea cucumbers that are very delicious to lunch and dinner dishes filled with fresh seafood with new and unique ways of preparation. Street food at Ha Long I market and Bai Chay tourist area is also extremely rich and diverse. Ha Long squid rolls and dried squid are also dishes that are definitely in my gift bag to bring back to my relatives.

In early July, VuiFest Ha Long commercial street (Bai Chay ward) came into operation, gathering nearly 100 tents and 40 business booths following the entertainment night market model. Coming to VuiFest Ha Long, visitors will have a unique culinary experience from Ha Long specialties such as steamed rice rolls with squid, fresh seafood, pearl yogurt, soft drinks to rich street snacks from 3 regions.

At the end of June, the Department of Tourism and the Ha Long City Business Association jointly organized the launching ceremony of the website amazinghalong.vn and the tiktok channel Food Tour Quang Ninh. This is the first website in Quang Ninh to integrate modern digital technologies, such as: Digital maps, virtual reality images (VR); augmented reality (AR) ... to promote tourism, helping visitors find information and images of restaurants, hotels, entertainment venues, menus, explore surrounding locations, optimize travel schedules, book services ... In addition, the website amazinghalong.vn is linked to the tiktok channel Food Tour Quang Ninh. This is a tiktok channel that helps promote, introduce, and provide detailed information about restaurants, eateries, and attractive destinations, which has currently attracted over 46,800 followers.

Along with that, service and tourism businesses have also quickly grasped the "foodtour" trend to meet the needs of tourists. Accordingly, the Free Walking Tour Ha Long program of Vietravel Quang Ninh travel agency or City tour of Sen A Dong Tourism Corporation or Saigon Tourist are all activities that take tourists to see the beautiful landscapes, destinations, and views of the coastal city on the shore of Ha Long Bay heritage associated with exploring local cuisine and dishes typical of Ha Long.

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