As the sun set and cooled down the scorching weather in Ho Chi Minh City, more and more people flocked to Le Van Tam Park on Saturday to enjoy the festive vibes of the Taste of Australia 2024.

Although the event officially kicked off at 6:00 pm the same day, it had seen people visiting dozens of booths featuring food, drinks, and games since they opened in the morning. 

This year marks the first time Taste of Australia has opened to the public in Ho Chi Minh City, giving locals and visitors alike the opportunity to experience some of Australia’s finest food, beverage, and cultural offerings.

In previous years, the event was held at restaurants to promote Australian produce, but according to Australian Deputy Consul General Ciaran Chestnutt, the objective behind Taste of Australia is really about promoting Australian produce and beverages to the Vietnamese public.

In his remarks at the opening ceremony, vice-chairman of the municipal People's Committee Nguyen Van Dung emphasized the meaning of this year’s event as it was organized after Vietnam and Australia lifted their relations to a comprehensive strategic partnership in March.

“For years, Taste of Australia has served as a link connecting the people of the two countries through cultural and business exchanges, and as a demonstration of the close relationship between Vietnam and Australia,” Dung said. 

“The dishes that we had today -- which were made of ingredients coming from the two lands thousands of kilometers apart and from the culinary philosophies of both Eastern and Western cultures -- or the performances by Vietnamese students from Australian international schools in the city brought interesting experiences of the interaction between our two cultures.”

The vice-chairman also revealed that Ho Chi MinH City would organize a series of trade, investment, tourism, and cultural exchange events in Australia next week. 

One of the highlights of the two-day Taste of Australia was Tommy Pham's cooking demonstration of Australian steak and mashed potato on Saturday.

Pham rose to fame from the MasterChef Australia competition in which he won the hearts of the jury with his Vietnamese cooking. 

“I think high-quality Australian ingredients are perfect for Vietnamese food, and help elevate the Vietnamese food to another level,” the Vietnamese-Australian chef who is Taste of Australia 2024's ambassador said on stage. 

“It's interesting to see Vietnamese dishes cooked with Australian ingredients today, for example today we had phở gà (chicken pho) cooked with Australian chicken.”

Besides his performance on the steak, Pham also offered a zero-waste cooking demonstration in which he showed spectators how to use the best of leftover herbs and potato skin from mashed potato.

Demonstrating a firm commitment to sustainability, the organizers of Taste of Australia 2024 ensured that the venue was equipped with trash sorting and water refill stations.

“We didn't want to do an event where we finished up and the park was full of rubbish,” Deputy Consul General Chestnutt said.

Taste of Australia 2024 wraps up at 8:00 pm on Sunday.

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