Have you ever seen a young jackfruit and suddenly thought of a flying fish, looked at a chicken and imagined a bowl of ‘mi Quang’ (noodles with pork, shrimp, and fresh herbs), and likelise, seen a basket of gobies and expected for a dish of braised gobies with bold pepper flavor on a rainy day? Moreover, many people choose to travel to enjoy regional delicacies, and when they fall in love with any dishes, they must definitely make comeback as a way to comfort their nostalgia.

Da Nang cuisine – an attractive factor for tourists. (Photo taken at New Orient Hotel in April 2021)

Dishes reminiscent of home-cooked meals

With well-shot short clips of beautiful countryside and home-cooked food made by a mother, ‘Am thuc me lam”- a Youtube channel receiving lots of love from the audience, features 57-year-old Duong Thi Cuong, a slim and sincere mother from Thai Nguyen province.

In the channel, it can be seen that the mother does not cook delicious dishes for her 25-year- old son Dong Van Hung, who make well-shot Vlog for his mother, but cashes in on rustic Vietnamese dishes like chicken braised with lemongrass, braised snakehead fish with pepper, ‘ Duc’ cakes, mixed figs, boiled bamboo shoots, banana flower salad, or a plate of snails flavored with lemon leaves in a downgraded house nestled in Xuan Phuong Commune, Phu Binh District, Thai Nguyen Province.

‘Am thuc me lam’ has touched the deepest part of viewers’ hearts. It is the memory of the mom-cooked meals hinted at simplicity and love.

With the original purpose of capturing memorable moments of mother and son, however, thanks to the simple and sincere image of the mother along with the warm kitchen and the reminiscent dishes, the channel has conveyed emotions to thousands of Vietnamese by reminding memories of each stage in people's lives through cooking.

Le Ha Huyen, the founder of the YouTube channel “Helen's Recipes”, with more than 360,000 subscribers, has lived far from her hometown of Da Nang for 11 years. During her time living abroad, her nostalgia for the salty taste of fish sauce prompted her to make her first video on how to make the dipping sauce and received a host of positive feedbacks that motivated Huyen to explore and cook more new dishes.

Every week, she makes a culinary video, in both Vietnamese and English with a large number of viewers from the US, Viet Nam, Canada, Australia, Netherlands, Germany

She also released four cookbooks, namely Vietnamese Food with Helen's Recipes, Vietnamese Food with Helen, Simply Pho and Xi Xa Xi Xup, feature recipes, ingredients, step-by-step instructions with pictures and videos linking to related videos on her YouTube channel.  Moreover, Huyen was one of the top 4 Influence Asia Award in the culinary field in 2017.

Vietnamese dishes are less attractive without herbs such as scallions, basil, mint, perilla, dill because they do not only highlight the visual impression but also create unique features for each dish, contributing to depicting the diversity in regional cuisine.

“While a bowl of ‘Bun bo Da Nang’ (Da Nang vermicelli noodles served with beef)   always has thinly sliced onions, scallions, and cilantro, Saigon’s one is enjoyed with banana flowers, shredded morning glory, sprouts and basil. Just a little change in herbs will create the difference amongst version of ‘bun bo’ in Da Nang, Hue and Sai Gon”

Accompanying Huyen in her journey to bring Da Nang cuisine to the world is her younger sister Le Ha Uyen. The two women had lived and studied abroad for a long time before Uyen decided to return to Da Nang for the opening of Nen Restaurant in Khue My Ward, Ngu Hanh Son District. Nen Restaurant is a combination of traditional Vietnamese dishes with delicate decoration and rich flavors. This is also a place where two sisters can freely fulfill their passion with reminiscent of dishes on the journey of growing up.

Le Ha Huyen - Founder of Youtube channel “Helen's Recipes”.

Travel cuisine

In recent years, Da Nang has focused on developing culinary tourism to attract tourists due to being considered as a land of cultural interference of many different regions. Mr. Nguyen Xuan Binh, Deputy Director of the Da Nang Department of Tourism, said that the city’s tourism industry has always promoted the organisation of food festivals.

In addition to promoting specialities such as ‘bun cha ca’ (fish cake noodle soup), ‘bun mam thit heo’ (rice vermicelli noodles served with anchovy fish sauce and boiled pork), ‘ goi ca Nam O’ ( Nam O raw fish salad), more and more international chefs working in Da Nang has created an opportunity to form a diverse, colorful cuisine background in this city of tourism.

Moreover, boasting an abundance of fresh seafood offered at cheap prices, Da Nang can develop a chain of seafood cuisine right on the beach. Many restaurants and luxury resorts have standard processing techniques and good service style to serve visitors in the best way.

In fact, many visitors brought with them many Da Nang specialities such as dried seafood, Nam O seaweed, anchovy paste, raw fish salad when returning home. In 2011, the Da Nang Institute for Socio-Economic Development and Research conducted research into the use of culinary specialties for tourism development in Da Nang, pointing out a series of dishes that make up the locally-made delicacies.

The research team found that the quintessence of Da Nang cuisine is reflected in the ingredients, processing, presentation and enjoyment. Processed ingredients must be fresh, delicious, clean, healthy. Besides, users must know how to eat in the right way, at the right time to enjoy the great taste of delicacies.

It can be said that culinary culture always has a language of its own. If anyone has never eaten at Con market, it will be difficult to imagine why this place is always crowded. In the middle of a tiny aisle with dozens of stalls “squash like sardines”, locals as well as visitors who came later wait patiently for their turn to enjoy those hot and delicious dishes.

From another perspective, despite being able to cook hundreds of delicious and nutritious dishes, Le Ha Huyen always craves her parents' simple tray of rice with a plate of boiled vegetables and a bowl of pickles during cold winter in Germany

“For me, each dish is a story elaborated with the taste of love and affection. Even if that dish is not excellent, it will definitely be delicious if you enjoy between laughter, love and the cozy atmosphere of the family," said Huyen.

Reporting by TIEU YEN – Translating by T.VY