Mr. Nguyen Van Hau, a lecturer at the Asia-Europe Vocational School and a head chef of the Nghia Thong Gia Restaurant chain in Da Nang, is a shining example for overcoming adversity to gain success in life.

Mr. Nguyen Van Hau (first right) is instructing students to cook food

Hau was a fatherless at birth. He lost two fingers in an accident at the age of 5. Therefore, Hau's studies and daily activities encountered many difficulties. When roaming the village streets in the late afternoons, he heard information about professional cookery courses in Ho Chi Minh City on radio station. Since then, he desired to travel to HCMC to take such a course. However, due to his family’ poverty, he only took a training course in Da Nang.

To gain more practical experience, Hau worked as a kitchen assistant at local restaurants, then gradually rose to the positions of main chopper, chef and later head chef. Initially, he worked for Vietnamese restaurants, he then worked for restaurants specialising in Mediterranean dishes.

After saving enough money, Hau decided to take part in a professional cookery course to become a professional chef in 2015.

In late 2015, Hau started working at the Hyatt Regency Da Nang resort. Although he worked in the lowest position in his profession, he had the good opportunity to learn professional cooking style, and dish decoration. More accurately, this was the place that helped him find "secrets" to be able to create culinary art.

He has gone to chef competitions at small to large scales to determine where his position is, and what he is not good at. And he also experienced many failures. Not discouraged, Mr. Hau continued to work and research video clips of food preparation from famous Vietnamese and world chefs.

Mr. Hau shared that the cookery profession at eateries and restaurants requires employees to not only be agile and proficient but also careful to avoid encountering unforeseen situations. Even chefs with decades of experience can still get cut or injured due to unexpected incidents. Times like that require quick thinking to both ensure your own safety and ensure timely food preparation to serve guests.

During the process of learning to cook, Hau realised many interesting things as well as difficulties in creating delicious dishes that suit the tastes of diners. He has constantly researched and created new dishes to invite friends to enjoy, and cooking becomes an indispensable part of his life.

To realise his dream of becoming a chef, Hau had done his utmost to overcome adversity. In spite of his imperfect hands, he still did not give up or surrender to fate. On the contrary, he is an inspirational person for those who are passionate for food with the message that if you try your best, you can do it.

“A chef who cooks with all his heart will explore and combine many types of ingredients and spices together to create delicious and nutritious dishes. In my opinion, today's modern cuisine style is very good, helping chefs express their creativity, creating many new and unique dishes for Vietnamese cuisine" Mr. Hau confided.

In particular, from the original ingredients and typical spices of the dish, the cook can create a new dish without losing the soul of the original dish. The focus should be on decoration and cooking methods to make traditional dishes classier, thereby promoting Vietnamese delicacies to the world, he noted.

Besides being the head chef of the Nghia Thong Gia restaurant chain, the man is also a lecturer at the Asia-Europe Vocational School. With his passion for cuisine, he has inspired many young people, and students, to study better and have more job opportunities in the future.

According to Hau, technology also helps students access cuisine because they can also easily learn about dishes and culinary culture through the internet, websites and social network sites like Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube.

His great efforts have been paid off when chef Nguyen Van Hau has won a number of prestigious awards at national and international-level cooking competitions. In particular, he won the 3^rd prize in the municipal-level skills competition in 2016. He was a runner-up at the Taste of Vietnam 2019 and the Young Chef Seafood Vietnam 2018 competitions. He was champion of Master of Pasta in Central Region in 2018, and took the 3^rd prize at the Master of Pasta Vietnam 2018.

Reporting by HUONG AN - Translating by M.DUNG