Developing culinary tourism in the Mekong Delta.

In recent years, Vietnamese cuisine has been highly praised by many international experts and media outlets, with many dishes being listed among the world's best. The essence of Vietnamese cuisine lies not only in the delicious flavors of the dishes but also in the cultural stories and customs of the local people. In the Mekong Delta, this is a tourism resource that is receiving attention and being developed with appropriate and authentic strategies to create a culinary tourism brand.

Tourists prepare a feast during the memorial service on Son Island, Can Tho City. Photo: KIEU MAI

Diverse travel experiences linked to cuisine.

Visitors to Con Chim Island ( Tra Vinh ) are not only impressed by the scenery and the people, but also fondly remember the simple, fresh, and delicious cuisine. The dishes here are prepared using ingredients readily available in home gardens and fish ponds. Highlights include rustic meals featuring the distinctive products of Con Chim Island: steamed shrimp with coconut, mangrove fruit salad, and steamed snakehead fish with gourd… Behind each delicious dish on the table at Con Chim Island lies a story with a clear origin, detailing the ingredients, farming practices, and daily life of the people connected to this land.

The shrimp and coconuts come from Bé Thảo coconut garden, which features a unique "shrimp embracing rice" model. Ms. Trần Như Hạnh, owner of Bé Thảo garden, said: "I grow coconuts and rice, combined with shrimp farming. When guests come here, they can experience shrimp fishing in the rice paddies and enjoy coconuts. This rice field is also where I supply ingredients to members of the tourism cooperative on Chim Island." Ms. Nguyễn Bích Vân, head of the Chim Island Community Tourism Cooperative, said: "Each household offers activities for tourists to experience, including delicious dishes. My place offers refreshing ginseng tea with various local jams, while Ms. Ba Sữa's house offers traditional leaf-wrapped cakes." Ms. Trần Thị Kim Hằng, a tourist from Ho Chi Minh City, said: "What impressed me most about my experience on Chim Island was the warm welcome from the locals. Everywhere I went, there were delicious dishes to enjoy, and I especially felt the generous and hardworking nature of the people through their stories and food."

One of the most popular experiences in the Mekong Delta is following foresters to "harvest honey" in the U Minh Ha forest in Ca Mau. "Harvesting honey" is the local term for the journey of collecting honey in the forest, a practice associated with beekeeping. Going to collect forest honey is an exciting experience for many tourists as they navigate through forests and swamps to find beehives to harvest. Another unique aspect of the trip is the culinary experience using honey. Pham Duy Khanh, from the Muoi Ngọt community eco-tourism site (Ca Mau), which often takes tourists on beekeeping tours, said: "When harvesting honey in the forest, you can even get young bee colonies. This is a very fragrant, delicious, and nutritious ingredient that can be used to make many dishes known only to the locals." Young bee larvae are the newly formed cocoons of young bees, and are also the ingredient for many delicious dishes: bee salad, bee porridge, young bee paste, bee-filled pancakes, crispy fried young bees… This is a special feature that only tourists who experience the "eating bee" journey can enjoy. In addition, Ca Mau also offers many experiences related to the region's specialties, such as crabbing, catching mudskippers, hunting for three-spotted crabs… With each such journey, tourists can immerse themselves in the life of the local people with unexpected discoveries about culture, customs and traditions.

Similarly, Can Tho has recently seen many culinary tours attracting tourists, such as the "Memorial Service on the Island" tour (Son Island), baking workshops, and cooking at tourist spots in Phong Dien. For example, at Ngan Long Home & Camp on Son Island, tourists always have the opportunity to experience local cuisine, preparing ingredients, cooking, and enjoying the dishes themselves. During this process, tourists also discover the cultural aspects, customs, and traditions of the daily lives of people in Southern Vietnam. A typical example is the "Memorial Service on the Island" tour, where tourists prepare the feast and learn about the customs commonly associated with memorial services in the Mekong Delta from local people.

Brand positioning is necessary.

Localities in the Mekong Delta have proactively combined the exploitation of culinary values ​​into tourism activities. However, the cultural value of cuisine has not yet been effectively exploited. Surveys show that places with distinctive food and beverage services make a positive impression on tourists, building trust and satisfying their desire to explore culinary culture, extending their stay, increasing average spending, and generating revenue for the locality, thus promoting tourism development. It must be acknowledged that, compared to its potential, tourism products linked to cuisine in the Mekong Delta provinces and cities currently only meet a fraction of tourist demand, are fragmented, lack systematic planning, and are not highly professional. Furthermore, promotion remains very limited; there is no well-planned strategy or program to promote local cuisine and truly create a brand. Many provinces and cities, despite having attractive specialties, have not been able to reach a large number of tourists, especially international visitors.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Hong Doan, head chef at Mekong Silt Ecologe (Can Tho), shared: “Local cuisine is one of the aspects that attracts international tourists. In the Mekong Delta, the cooking methods are simple due to the very fresh ingredients, mostly prepared immediately after harvesting or catching. This is a strength, but it can also easily lead people to misunderstand that the culinary culture here lacks distinctive features or highlights. Therefore, we must know how to tell the story behind each dish and enhance its value. At Mekong Silt Ecologe, we have cooking workshops to reach international tourists and share with them about local culture, customs, and traditions.” In fact, these are activities that destinations with a large number of international tourists, such as Victoria Can Tho, Vam Xang Rustic, and Mekong Silt Ecologe, often focus on to allow international tourists to experience local cuisine. Almost all hotels and branded destinations in the Mekong Delta provinces and cities will proactively create engaging culinary experiences.

The Vietnam Tourism Development Strategy to 2030 identifies culinary tourism as an important product line, contributing to enhancing the competitiveness and brand of Vietnamese tourism. Each locality has strengths in exploiting the value of its distinctive cuisine, but this requires a clear strategy and development program, especially in promotion and networking. Through this, localities can proactively build culinary brands and gradually promote the value of culinary culture in tourism.

AI LAM

Source: https://baocantho.com.vn/phat-trien-du-lich-am-thuc-bscl-a187445.html