Tourists experience cooking traditional Hue dishes

Interesting experience

One morning in Thuy Bieu (Thuy Xuan ward), in an old house, with a cup of hot tea and a plate of fruit picked from Mr. Ho Xuan Dai's garden, the owner of Xuan Dai garden gently started the conversation with a warm voice: "We want visitors to enjoy Hue dishes the way the locals do. In each cooking step, they will feel the sophistication of Hue people."

“In each step…” as Mr. Dai said, visitors will follow the host to the early morning market, choose each bunch of vegetables, figs, fresh fish and then return to the small kitchen filled with the smell of wood. A simple Hue meal with braised fish, braised meat, boiled vegetables, mixed figs suddenly becomes a memorable experience, because the cook not only learns the dishes but also hears the story of the land and people here.

“Going to the market like a local is a great experience,” said French tourist Pierre Laurent. “I love the freshness of everything and I’m excited to know I’ll be cooking it myself.”

According to tour guide Tran Huu Phuoc, what attracts tourists is not only the fruit trees or the ancient houses, but also the sincerity of the local people. He said that tourists like the rustic, natural atmosphere. When they come here, they are welcomed like family members.

Not only Thuy Bieu, the journey to Ngu My Thanh (Dan Dien commune) opens up another world for tourists, which is the vast space of Tam Giang lagoon. Here, people live entirely on fishing. Now they bring their traditional experiences into tourism: rowing boats, casting nets, rowing SUP, exploring the lagoon's ecology... so that tourists can experience the true essence of "living on the spot, understanding on the spot".

Mr. Ngo Chien, one of the first people to do tourism in Ngu My Thanh shared: In the past, we lived by fishing; now, with the development of tourism, people not only have better income but also have the opportunity to promote their homeland. Thanks to that, people are more concerned about preserving the environment. They understand that tourism can only develop if the environment is preserved.

Developing green tourism

The trend of green tourism is growing. Accordingly, “A day of Net Zero tourism in Hue” - a tour implemented by iVietnam Travel is a pioneer. Joining this tour, tourists must travel by bicycle, electric car; use glass bottles instead of plastic; bring cloth bags instead of nylon. They paddle SUP to collect garbage on the Perfume River, eat a healthy diet, and plant mangrove trees in the lagoon. iVietnam Travel CEO, Ms. Ngo Hoang Nguyen Anh, explained: “The Net Zero tour aims to minimize carbon emissions. We hope that tourists live slowly and are more aware of the environment. This is how tourism contributes to combating climate change.”

However, community tourism in the countryside is also facing many limitations: People lack vocational skills, facilities are simple, products are not yet in chains, and there is a lack of unified processes. To overcome these difficulties, the city has included in the 2025 - 2030 plan to improve the quality of services and tourism with the goal: 100% of facility owners are professionally trained, 80% of workers are trained in skills, training is organized on communication, water safety, product development... to change from spontaneous tourism to professional.

According to the Director of the Department of Tourism, Ms. Tran Thi Hoai Tram, to have sustainable community tourism, it is necessary to improve service quality, standardize products, have a mechanism to support businesses in green transformation and invest in infrastructure to monitor the tourism environment. The coordination between management agencies - businesses - community is the decisive factor for green tourism to develop in the right direction, becoming a long-term internal strength of Hue.

Article and photos: THU THUY

Source: https://huengaynay.vn/du-lich/nong-dan-va-du-lich-xanh-160487.html