Ninety percent of royal dishes stemming from Hue City – Vietnam's former capital – and available now in the market are inauthentic because they are not prepared in a proper way, experts said this week at a seminar.

Hue City has long been known as the only place in Vietnam that has royal dishes, Dr. Nguyen Nha, former director of the Vietnam Culinary Research Institute, said Wednesday at the seminar on Hue’s cuisine.

The event emphasized the importance of the city’s culture, cuisine, history, and the role of royal dishes, which have been regarded as one of the special cultural characteristics that differentiate Hue from other places in Vietnam.

Hue served as the imperial capital of the country in the past and is now the provincial capital of Thua Thien-Hue Province, situated in the central region.

According to Dr. Phan Thanh Hai, head of the Hue Relic Conservation Center, 90 percent of Hue’s royal dishes on sale in the food market are “false” since many restaurants have used wrong ingredients to cook them, thus offering an inauthentic taste.

Than Trong Ninh, a teacher, pointed out at the event that even Vietnamese in foreign countries have cooked “bun bo Hue” (spicy beef noodles prepared in the Hue style) using dry instead of fresh noodles – an improper way of making the well-known dish.

A bowl of “bun bo Hue” in California

Many restaurants place the sign “Mon Hue” (Hue’s Dishes) to attract customers, especially foreigners, even though their food is not originally from Vietnam's imperial capital, according to seminar attendees.

Besides royal dishes, Hue’s traditional food has also been improperly cooked, they said.

Vietnam currently has around 2,700 dishes, 1,700 of which belong to Hue City, accounting for 62.9 percent, according to papers presented at the seminar.

“Bun bo Hue” sold by a peddler in the old times

Thua Thien-Hue authorities are preparing a dossier on local dishes to submit to UNESCO in a bid to seek for the UN body’s recognition of them as a cuisine heritage.

The seminar also put forward several solutions to protect and maintain the authenticity of Hue’s dishes, build a brand for its cuisine, and make it become the special characteristic of Vietnam in general and Hue City in particular.

Hue is well-known for its spicy, delicious and eye-catching dishes such as “bun bo Hue,” “banh beo” (Vietnamese savory steamed rice cake), and “cha cua” (crab egg and meat cake).

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