From family heritage to national resource

Knowledge of processing and enjoying La Vong fish cakes, cultural spaces such as Nguyen Van Huyen Museum, Pham Than Duat History Award… are stories of family and clan heritage.

Family heirloom, royal dish

In July 2025, the Doan family's ancestral altar, dedicated to the first artisan who created La Vong fish cake, was lit up again on the day of receiving the National Intangible Cultural Heritage certificate. The certificate listed "Knowledge of processing and enjoying La Vong fish cake in Hanoi ". This is a rare case: a dish created by a family becomes a national intangible cultural heritage. "There are not many such heritages because they usually belong to the community. La Vong fish cake is a dish created by a family and then became famous and popular", said Dr. Le Thi Minh Ly, Vice President of the Vietnam Heritage Association.

At Nguyen Van Huyen museum, there is the story of his free marriage with his wife.

In the Doan family's offering tray on the day of receiving the heritage title, there is La Vong fish cake with all the difficult requirements of this dish. While many restaurants make large pieces of fish cake for fear of breaking the fish, to avoid wasting it and having to bite it in two or three pieces when eating, La Vong fish cake must be bite-sized. The roasted peanuts eaten in the dish must still be whole after being roasted and having their skins removed... Also in that offering tray, there is a very special dish called "pan-fried fish cake" (also known as Vinh Thuy).

Heritage records show that the dish "pan-fried fish cakes" is elaborately prepared, only for regular customers who order in advance. The noodles are fried and stir-fried until firm, the fish pieces are placed evenly around with onions and dill, the egg is beaten until it is mixed so well that the egg white and yolk cannot be distinguished, poured over the noodles to coat both sides, then fried until golden. When eaten, the outside is crispy, the inside is soft, the colors are green, red, yellow, white, beautiful, the flavor is more intense when dipped in shrimp paste or water bug fish sauce.

This is the dish that Mrs. Doan Thi Thai, the third generation of the family, created to serve King Bao Dai when he came to eat at the Cha Ca Son Hai shop, No. 5 Hang Son Street. King Bao Dai praised it as delicious, so the next time she welcomed the king to the shop, Mrs. Thai continued to prepare pan-fried fish cakes. She named this dish "Vinh Thuy" (the real name of King Bao Dai) as an extremely precious memory for her family and clan. If the fish cake brands can make fish cakes according to their own guesses about the recipe, and also put the vinegar fish soup on the menu, but at Cha Ca La Vong, if customers do not order in advance, they will not be able to enjoy it.

Cultural space, UNESCO documentary heritage

Family and clan heritages such as the knowledge of processing and enjoying Hanoi La Vong fish cakes are part of the diversity of heritage. They are creating different cultural spaces as well as historical continuity.

The house that started the “family heritage legend” of La Vong fish cakes on the old Hang Son street

Photo: family provided

One of the family legacies is the funds for the development of historical culture. The family of the intellectual Pham Than Duat established a fund, which, in conjunction with the Vietnam Historical Science Association, awarded the Pham Than Duat historical prize to the best doctoral thesis in history of the year. The awarding of the prize began in 2000.

Meanwhile, the Nguyen Van Huyen Award shows the mark of this Minister of Education 's family. Associate Professor, Dr. Nguyen Van Huy, former Director of the Museum of Ethnology, said that the Nguyen Van Huyen Fund for anthropological research was not his father's idea. However, the family established this fund to encourage graduate students and researchers in anthropology. "Mr. Nguyen Van Huy's career is associated with anthropology. In the current context, anthropology is not yet developed, so we need scholarships to help students and researchers passionate about the field," Associate Professor, Dr. Nguyen Van Huy said.

Another form of family heritage is the cultural memorial space established by the family. This is the case of the Kim Lan cultural space in Thanh Chuong Viet Palace (painter Thanh Chuong is the son of writer Kim Lan), To Huu Museum, Nguyen Van Huyen Museum established by families. These are all spaces visited by many people, including many foreign visitors. In particular, To Huu and Nguyen Van Huyen Museums both tell impressive stories of the times. With Nguyen Van Huyen Museum, besides the story of an ethnologist and an educator, there is also the story of free marriage. With To Huu Museum, there is the story of the revolutionary ideals of young people, the story of Renovation.

Most recently, the music collections of musician Hoang Van were listed as UNESCO documentary heritage. To obtain this heritage, Ms. Le Y Linh (musician Hoang Van's daughter) conducted many in-depth interviews, sought out collectors to obtain music, manuscripts, books that had been kept for more than half a century, or audio files that were thought to never be found again. Her younger brother, conductor Le Phi Phi, was responsible for editing, comparing manuscripts, digitizing, and even restoring the works by recording through audio recordings.

Cultural "cells"

Dr. Le Thi Minh Ly assessed the case of intangible heritage such as knowledge and enjoyment of Hanoi La Vong fish cake as very valuable. This heritage originated from a family and gradually made history.

However, what Dr. Le Thi Minh Ly likes most about this family heritage is that from a family heritage, it has become a community heritage with many people practicing together. That is shown through the current fish cake chains. Among these, there are places like Thang Long fish cake that are even on the Michelin list of cuisine.

Associate Professor Dr. Nguyen Van Huy is very interested in the fact that families and clans create their own legacies. "Clans in Vietnam today are just like the old traditions. They are very interested in inheriting the traditions of their clans, especially the traditions of studiousness and mutual love that their ancestors left behind. These things are being promoted by the next generations. In particular, the learning promotion associations in the clans are also being promoted. This is not only the legacy of the clan, but from the clan leads to the nation and the country. It will open from the clan to the country," Associate Professor Dr. Huy said.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/tu-di-san-gia-dinh-den-tai-nguyen-quoc-gia-185250827184258118.htm