Culinary culture of Lang Son: Impressions and emotions

- In recent years, Lang Son has become a green, safe, friendly and hospitable destination. One of the reasons tourists choose Lang Son is because of its unique, rich and affordable cuisine .

Tourists visit and take pictures of coong phu and bong dam processing on Le Loi Street, Vinh Trai Ward, Lang Son City - Photo: LA MAI

With the desire to build a civilized and modern destination, cuisine is an indispensable part in enhancing the brand value of Lang Son. Many dishes here make a strong impression on international tourists with unique flavors such as roast pork, roasted duck with honey, wormwood cake, black sticky rice cake, meat paste, sour pho, rice rolls... In particular, tourists coming to Lang Son when enjoying the dishes are also impressed by the unique spices such as honey leaves, bamboo shoots, wild lemons... Thanks to that, the number of visitors here has increased significantly and steadily.

For a locality with a rich and unique culinary culture like Lang Son, taking advantage of this to develop tourism is also "killing two birds with one stone" because it also promotes the traditional cultural values of the province. The fact that Lang Son has many dishes in the top 100 specialties of Vietnam and is highly appreciated by international friends for its sophistication and flavor also shows that Lang Son cuisine has the "strength" and "value" to reach out to the world. Mr. Luu Ba Mac, Deputy Director of the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Lang Son province shared: "Lang Son has implemented many measures to stimulate tourism from promoting cuisine such as: organizing culinary competitions; promoting, advertising, introducing to tourists delicious dishes, unique features of Lang Son cuisine. In addition, Lang Son also invites artisans to display and exhibit the province's culinary products at major events and fairs inside and outside the province."

It can be said that Lang Son has recognized its culinary strengths, and has a methodical, systematic, and long-term vision for "food tours".

Cuisine plays an important role in enhancing the image of a locality. Looking internationally, many destinations are considered street food paradises with unique dishes that cannot be found anywhere else, and I also see that in Lang Son. For Lang Son, tourism has become a major source of income and the locality pays great attention to developing a culinary culture, spreading the "culture of food" to tourists. Mr. Le Dinh Chien, Vice President of the Vietnam Association of Vocational Training and Employment of Chefs, once shared after the survey, "Lang Son has its own strengths to develop food tour products. The difference of Lang Son cuisine is an advantage to attract tourists to stay overnight." On the provincial government's side, they also focus on propaganda, training, and raising people's awareness of promoting the value of traditional specialty products. Thanks to this, chefs always adhere to the method of making dishes as well as proactively introduce tourists to the history of the dish. The locality also has a very good brand development strategy based on the legends of that dish, bringing the "story" element into the cuisine, organizing culinary festivals as well as organizing tours to the production and processing points of the dish. Thereby, tourists feel comfortable even though they spend a lot of money on food.

From the perspective of a tourist to Lang Son, I am really impressed with the famous local specialties, with historical stories attached to the dishes. Lang Son has followed the development principles of famous tourist destinations, which is to attract tourists to spend about 1/3 of their budget on food during the trip. For foreign tourists, they are very careful in finding information about the dishes before the trip, so the province focuses on building a culinary brand with consistency and breadth in creating and providing information about dishes anytime, anywhere, both direct introduction and online information.

Promoting the development of Lang Son culinary culture and brand

Let’s look back at the event that greatly elevated the reputation of a Vietnamese dish, Hanoi’s Bun Cha. Just a visit by US President Barack Obama to a Bun Cha restaurant was enough to elevate the reputation of a dish, especially attracting many international tourists “to Hanoi just to eat the Bun Cha that Mr. Obama once ate”. After many years since that event, Bun Cha has become more famous in the world, as a must-try dish when coming to Hanoi.

With a unique and rich culinary culture, Lang Son has focused on organizing attractive events to create momentum for cuisine, creating momentum to develop tourism in parallel with spreading the unique cultural identity of the locality. It is possible to mention large programs that are systematically organized such as: Lang Peach Blossom Festival organized annually by Lang Son Provincial People's Committee has become a typical cultural and tourism activity of the province; Lang Culinary Culture Festival was upgraded from the "Flavors and Colors of Lang Cuisine" contest organized by Lang Son City People's Committee, gathering many specialties of Lang Son province as well as OCOP products of neighboring localities; The Vietnam - China International Trade and Tourism Fair, directed by the Ministry of Industry and Trade and the People's Committee of Lang Son province and held annually between Lang Son (Vietnam) and Pingxiang (China), is an effective bridge for domestic and foreign enterprises to strengthen cooperation, promote and introduce tourism products of Lang Son province to domestic and foreign tourists... Another effective program that can be mentioned is that Lang Son has pioneered in organizing the promotion and dissemination of the beauty of its landscape and culture through organizing Lang Son tourism training sessions on digital platforms, inviting many KOLs (influencers) and tiktokers to promote tourism. Thereby, the image of Lang Son is better known through social media channels in the current digital age.

From the perspective of a tourist, I see that Lang Son is on the path of building its local culinary culture as a paradise of “national cuisine”, characterized by its unique identity. The combination of enjoying food with experiencing traditional culture at festivals to create the culinary value of Lang Son destination, elevating dishes such as roast pork, roast duck, and braised pork into regional specialties by strongly introducing the history, creativity and explaining the legends of the people about the dishes, combined with promoting the ingredients of the dishes that are both unique and clean. Another impressive point of Lang Son is the combination of cuisine in famous festivals such as Ky Lua Firecracker Festival, Bung Kham Long Thong Festival, Na Nhem Festival, etc., creating attraction for international tourists.

There is still a lot of room to develop Lang Son's "culinary tourism". That is, planning, organizing, and arranging culinary streets, effectively combining them with walking streets; Building and developing infrastructure to serve street food and high-class cuisine; managing vendors and cooks well and having certificates certifying their skills, creating peace of mind for customers... Obviously, Lang Son still has many bases to develop and gain great economic benefits with its own traditions and special identities. It is possible to mention the construction of restaurants and eateries rich in ethnic identity, combining sales with introducing the history and traditions of dishes to tourists in a dedicated manner, thereby contributing to promoting Lang Son and retaining tourists. It is also necessary to develop an application to introduce Lang Son cuisine online and on the phone to provide information to tourists and interested people, because today tourists always learn about the dishes in advance. If this information is done well, visitors will certainly have a good impression of Lang Son cuisine. It is necessary to increase the standardization of the service style of restaurants in Lang Son because when introducing dishes, it is also necessary to combine it with telling stories about the history of ethnic cuisine. That is also a way to elevate Lang Son cuisine. In addition, it is necessary to increase the organization of specialized culinary tours. In which, visitors can experience the process of making dishes in the context of the daily life of ethnic minorities in the highlands. Thereby, Lang Son culinary culture will leave its mark through tourism, contributing to enhancing the cultural and tourism brand of the province.

At the same time, it is also necessary to invest heavily to promote Lang Son's dishes internationally through actively participating in festivals, product exhibitions, etc. held around the world. Thus, it is also necessary to have a plan and roadmap to develop the reputation and brand of the dishes. This requires the cooperation of tourism associations, restaurants, and hotels. It is necessary to introduce, promote and elevate culinary artists, chefs, and outstanding restaurants that make delicious and attractive dishes online, and build a team to spread the image of Lang Son cuisine on social networks. It is necessary to strongly propagate so that people doing street food business promote food hygiene and safety; strictly manage and increase the supply of clean food to wholesale markets as well as restaurants; strengthen training on behavioral culture for sellers and waiters to create a beautiful image of Lang Son cuisine.

Lang Son does not rest on its laurels and this land still has a lot of potential to become a famous destination in the region and the world.

Source: https://baolangson.vn/van-hoa-am-thuc-cua-lang-son-an-tuong-va-cam-xuc-5041100.html