On the morning of September 30 in Hanoi , within the framework of the Hanoi Autumn Festival series of events, the Vietnam Fish Sauce Association and the Vietnam Culinary Culture Association held the Workshop Vietnamese Fish Sauce - Elevating Vietnamese Cuisine .

At the seminar, many scholars said that it is necessary to promote Vietnamese fish sauce abroad to become a national brand and national product.

Some newspapers reported that at the workshop, Associate Professor Dr. Tran Dang - Chairman of the Vietnam Fish Sauce Association said that he will coordinate with the Vietnam Culinary Culture Association to make a project to build and develop Vietnamese culinary culture into a national brand, contributing to bringing Vietnamese fish sauce to new heights.

At the same time, the two associations together researched and built a dossier to submit to the Government to recognize fish sauce as an intangible cultural heritage of Vietnam.

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People making fish sauce in Phu Quoc. Photo: Hoang Giam

Sharing with VietNamNet , Ms. Le Thi Thu Hien - Director of the Department of Cultural Heritage (Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism) said that there may be confusion in the name because fish sauce is an existing cuisine, it cannot be called an intangible cultural heritage. The proposal to make fish sauce an intangible cultural heritage of Vietnam also needs progress.

Ms. Hien added that in May 2021, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism awarded a certificate of National Intangible Cultural Heritage for the traditional craft and folk knowledge of Phu Quoc fish sauce making. In July 2020, the fish sauce making profession in Nam O, Da Nang was listed in the List of National Intangible Cultural Heritage.

Associate Professor, Dr. Bui Hoai Son - Standing Member of the National Assembly's Committee on Culture and Education said that building a culinary brand is very important for the socio-economic development of a locality in particular and the country in general. Therefore, if we can build any culinary brand, regardless of fish sauce, pho, spring rolls... it is very valuable to promote the image of not only that cuisine, but also the history, cultural traditions, country and people of Vietnam to the whole world, turning these values into a driving force for the socio-economic development of the country.

Mr. Son said that in the world, there have been a number of culinary arts recognized by UNESCO such as Belgian beer culture, Napoli pizza making art... That shows that Vietnam's initiative is no exception and is also one of UNESCO's priorities.

However, if fish sauce is selected as an intangible cultural heritage, it is not possible because UNESCO has clear criteria. In particular, intangible cultural heritage must be associated with a specific community, meeting the following criteria: Necessary factors to demonstrate the diversity of cultural heritage and human creativity; Heritage is intangible cultural heritage in need of urgent protection; Factors providing evidence of traditions and cultural practices of a community that need to be recorded and protected; Factors contributing to the sustainable economic, cultural and social development of the community.

“We also need to understand, UNESCO defines: Intangible cultural heritage refers to the practices, expressions, knowledge and skills that communities, groups and individuals recognize as part of their cultural heritage. Unlike tangible heritage, such as artifacts or architectural works, intangible cultural heritage is transmitted orally, through rituals, performances, social practices, traditional crafts and other forms of human creativity. It plays an important role in shaping cultural identity, promoting social cohesion and promoting cultural diversity. Examples of intangible cultural heritage include traditions, oral traditions, performing arts, traditional crafts, rituals, social practices, festive events and knowledge systems…

We have also listed Phu Quoc and Nam O fish sauce making as national intangible cultural heritage. This is a solid basis for continuing to prepare this dossier to request UNESCO to list it in the correct order,” Mr. Son affirmed.

Vietnamnet.vn