With the theme 'Enjoy Phở, Discover Vietnam,’ the 'Vietnam Phở Festival 2024' will take place in Seoul, South Korea from October 5 to 6, looking to promote Vietnam’s culinary culture through tasty phở to more international friends.

The festival is co-organized by Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper and Saigontourist Group, under the direction of the Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the administration of Ho Chi Minh City, according to information released at a press conference at the Majestic Hotel in downtown Ho Chi Minh City on Monday.

The hybrid press briefing gathered both local and international guests, the Vietnamese Embassy in South Korea, and the Seoul-based Khoe 2 Restaurant.

The two-day ‘Vietnam Phở Festival’ will be held at Yeouido Park in Seoul, where 40 of the 70 stalls will offer phở and other delicious dishes of Vietnam.

Festival-goers can explore more information about phở and take part in culinary exchanges between Vietnam and South Korea.

The festival will also incorporate business-to-business matching activities to help Vietnamese companies specializing in the food and foodstuff industry to seek cooperation with South Korean partners.

Addressing the press conference, Dao Quyen Truong, deputy head of the Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Department of Cultural Diplomacy and UNESCO, member of the Secretariat under the Vietnam National Commission for UNESCO, said that the Vietnamese government has been promoting culinary diplomacy, or gastrodiplomacy, as part of its cultural diplomacy effort.

Tuoi Tre and Saigontourist have made significant efforts over the past years to promote the country’s culinary culture to international friends as well as to help tighten economic ties between Vietnamese businesses and international partners, Truong said.

He elaborated that the Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism, Hanoi, and Nam Dinh Province in northern Vietnam have embarked on a journey to put Vietnamese phở on a list of the world's intangible cultural heritage values.

Nguyen Dinh Dung, counselor at the Vietnamese Embassy in South Korea, hailed the upcoming 'Vietnam Phở Festival 2024' as a meaningful and important event which will promote Vietnamese culture in South Korea.

Dung said that approximately 300,000 Vietnamese people are living in South Korea, adding that plenty of South Koreans know about Vietnam and have a positive attitude toward the Southeast Asian country.

Nguyen Tien Dat, sales and marketing director at Saigontourist Group, general director of Saigon Exhibition and Convention Joint Venture Company, deputy head of the organizing board of the 'Vietnam Phở Festival 2024,' revealed that the group and its five member companies, including four premium hotels -- Majestic Saigon, Grand Saigon, Caravelle Saigon, and Saigon - Morin -- will join the festival where 20 of their chefs will offer 20 types of phở, in addition to a number of Vietnamese delicacies, to serve international food enthusiasts.

Pham Huy Binh, chairman of the board of members at Saigontourist Group, remarked that the group’s South Korean partners, such as travel corporations and airlines, had expressed their interest in and spoke highly of the upcoming festival, considering the culinary event as one of the ways to enhance cultural and tourism exchanges between the two countries.

Day of Phở (December 12) was initiated by Tuoi Tre in 2017 and has been held annually since then.

The event went international for the first time in 2023 when Tuoi Tre hosted it in Japan under the name of 'Vietnam Phở Festival.'

Last year, the 'Vietnam Phở Festival' in Japan attracted more than 85,000 visitor arrivals, as well as major news agencies, hot Japanese YouTubers and TikTokers, according to Editor-in-Chief of Tuoi Tre Le The Chu.

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