Promoting the capital's culture through cuisine

(Fatherland) - At the "2024 Food Culture Festival", Hanoi's culture will continue to spread, circulate and promote to the people and tourists.

On the evening of November 29th, the Hanoi Culinary Culture Festival 2024 and the ceremony announcing the decision to register "Hanoi Pho" as a national intangible cultural heritage officially opened at Thong Nhat Park, Tran Nhan Tong Street, Hai Ba Trung District, Hanoi.

Attending the opening ceremony of the Hanoi Food Festival 2024 with the theme "Hanoi Connecting Five Continents" on behalf of the central government was Deputy Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Ta Quang Dong.

Representing Hanoi City were Central Committee member, Deputy Secretary of the City Party Committee, and Chairman of the Hanoi People's Committee Tran Sy Thanh; Standing Deputy Secretary of the City Party Committee Nguyen Van Phong; and Vice Chairman of the Hanoi People's Committee Vu Thu Ha.

Deputy Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Ta Quang Dong presented the Decision to recognize "Hanoi Pho" as a National Intangible Cultural Heritage to the leaders of the Hanoi Department of Culture and Sports and the community involved in Hanoi Pho.

Promoting the image of the people, potential, and strengths of the capital's culture.

The Hanoi Culinary Culture Festival, themed "Hanoi Connecting Five Continents," aims to honor, preserve, and promote the traditional cultural and culinary values ​​of Hanoi, building and effectively exploiting the cultural and culinary brand through the development of a refined, distinctive, and high-quality culinary culture. The festival also introduces and promotes Hanoi as a unique tourist, cultural, and culinary destination; and provides an opportunity for Hanoi and embassies of various countries, localities, organizations, and individuals to meet, interact, and showcase their products.

In her opening remarks at the festival, Ms. Vu Thu Ha, Vice Chairman of the Hanoi People's Committee, stated: Hanoi is proud to be a locality with a large number of heritage sites nationwide, rich in both breadth and depth, with the integration of Thang Long culture with the cultural regions of Xu Doai, Xu Dong, Kinh Bac, and Son Nam Thuong.

Through the city's typical festivals and cultural events, the distinctive cultural identity of Thang Long - Hanoi has maximized its potential, strengths, and traditional cultural values, connecting, expanding, and strengthening cooperation with organizations and cities domestically and internationally, building unique cultural events and products, and creating a brand for the capital and Vietnam on the international stage.

Delegates perform the button-pressing ceremony to open the Hanoi Food Culture Festival 2024

Leaders of Hanoi People's Committee pressed the button to open the Hanoi Pho Digital booth

Cultural events and festivals also provide opportunities for Hanoi, other provinces and cities, and foreign embassies to showcase and promote the image of their people, potential, strengths, and cooperative relationships between localities and countries, thereby boosting trade, tourism, and the cultural industry.

This contributes to socio-economic development, while simultaneously absorbing the best and most cultural aspects of countries around the world, enriching and deepening the traditional values ​​of the region, and showcasing the image of other countries through cuisine and cultural activities.

"Along with the traditional craft of making sticky rice flakes in Me Tri, the craft of making sticky rice in Phu Thuong, and the craft of infusing lotus tea in Quang An, in 2024, 'Hanoi Pho' was honored to be inscribed on the National List of Intangible Cultural Heritage by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism. This event is of great significance, a source of pride and honor for the community involved and those who love the cuisine. The inscription also provides an important legal basis to contribute to the implementation of measures to protect and promote the value of the intangible cultural heritage 'Hanoi Pho'," Ms. Vu Thu Ha emphasized.

"The 4th Hanoi Food and Culture Festival in 2024 features the participation of 16 embassies from countries including Algeria, Argentina, Azerbaijan, Brazil, India, Iran, Japan, Mongolia, Laos, the Russian Federation, Sri Lanka, Turkey, South Korea, France, Italy, and Venezuela. The festival also includes participation from 8 neighboring provinces: Ha Giang, Son La, Lang Son, Hung Yen, Bac Ninh, Khanh Hoa, Thanh Hoa, and Quang Binh, with over 80 booths."

Through the festival, organizations, individuals, and artisans have the opportunity to meet, interact, promote their products, and experience the unique culinary and cultural characteristics of various countries, regions, provinces, and cities.

Locals and tourists alike can immerse themselves in various folk games and enjoy traditional and modern cultural and artistic performances by Vietnamese and international artists. Visitors can also interact with and share knowledge and secrets from renowned artisans and chefs who have "breathed life" into ingredients and food to create unique culinary works of art, rich in national identity.

Delegates visiting the Festival

Impressed with Pho number

Notably, the 2024 Hanoi Culinary Culture Festival will feature the "Digital Pho Hanoi" program – a unique creation combining traditional cuisine and technology. The digital pho experience space, along with intelligent robots, offers an advanced and modern pho preparation method, applying precise and consistent technology to create an experience that is both modern and close to tradition. Through this, traditional pho is not only preserved but also developed and spread strongly in the digital age, becoming a creative product of Hanoi in the cultural industry.

This is a unique innovation combining traditional cuisine and technology in preserving and developing the essence of pho. Locals and tourists will be able to enjoy traditional pho prepared and served by intelligent robots, while also visiting and learning about the technological applications and digital transformation in pho preparation.

Experience Pho So at the Festival

Remarkably, the chef is an intelligent robot capable of handling every step in preparing a bowl of pho, such as blanching noodles, blanching meat, adding vegetables, and pouring in the broth.

To enjoy the numbered pho, diners will use their smartphones to scan a QR code at the entrance cashier counter to place their order, make payment, and receive a table number.

Based on the automated order, the processing robot will immediately execute the order following the sequential steps, just like professional chefs at regular pho restaurants.

These intelligent robots will replace humans in some stages of the process, creating a pho culinary experience that can reach more people and regions. The average time for a robot to complete a bowl of pho is about 3 minutes for all steps.

In addition, the robot also needs human assistance in some stages, such as dividing the noodles, meat, and vegetables into small bowls and placing them in precise positions. The robot will then select each ingredient to complete the bowl of pho. After preparation, the pho is given to the serving robot to move to the table according to the order. Each time, the robot will serve one table.

Accompanied by her family to experience the Pho So booth, Ms. Tran Hoai Anh from Bach Mai, Hanoi, said that pho is a familiar dish to Hanoians in particular and Vietnamese people in general. But this is the first time she and her family have experienced pho, especially Pho So, at the Hanoi Food Festival. Her children were very excited about the robot serving pho. "This novelty in promoting Hanoi's culinary culture is truly impressive, spreading awareness about pho in particular and the capital's culinary culture in general to many people," Ms. Tran Hoai Anh shared.

At the festival, visitors can also experience the typical culinary culture of traditional craft villages and performances by artisans recreating the atmosphere of traditional craft villages associated with typical culinary heritage of Hanoi such as: West Lake shrimp cakes, Phu Do vermicelli, Uoc Le pork sausage, Lang Vong sticky rice flakes, Me Tri sticky rice flakes, sticky rice, Phu Thuong sweet soup, Tranh Khuc banh chung (rice cake), Phung nem (fermented pork roll), Quan Ganh banh day (rice cake), Phu Nhi banh te (rice cake), Quang Phu Cau porridge, Ha Mo porridge, Lang So vermicelli…

Besides the main activities, the festival also includes activities to introduce, promote, hold seminars, showcase traditional cuisine and heritage. Accordingly, there are many spaces for visitors to experience, such as: a photo exhibition area showcasing artworks promoting typical domestic and international culture, tourism, and cuisine.

Implementing the process of making ham and sausage of Uoc Le Village

In addition, there is a mobile book exhibition area showcasing books promoting culture, art, tourism, typical domestic and international cuisine, or friendly cooperation between countries; activities in Hanoi… folk games, traditional and modern art performances; art performances; seminars on improving the quality of human resources, developing culinary culture…

Hanoi Food Culture Festival 2024 will take place over 3 days, from November 29 to December 1.

Source: https://toquoc.vn/quang-ba-van-hoa-thu-do-qua-am-thuc-20241130100835488.htm