Minh Ngoc Ly - General Director of Minh
Long I Co., Ltd and Chief organizer of the contest shared his story at the
launch of the 2015 Golden Spoon Contest that took place on May 26th.
He said "I always wondered, if Vietnam has lots of world-famous delicacies
such as Pho, pancakes and more recently what is possibly the world's most
delicious bread, why is promoting these dishes to the world still full of
obstacles.
During a visit to Hanoi, I met Mr Bobby
Chinn, the world famous chef. One day he wanted to cook a Vietnamese dish and
he went to a market in London to buy ingredients. He discovered to his
consternation that Vietnamese spices simply aren’t available in these
countries.
How does one cook a Vietnamese dish if the
correct ingredients are not available? He said that this is a huge problem for
Vietnam cuisine and one of the reasons why it isn’t spreading around the world.
In Vietnam, sometimes one dish has many
different ways to cook depending on which region you are in. The availability
of spices means that the exporter also doesn’t know which to export and sell
abroad. In some instances they have to import from Thailand or China. Bobby
Chinn's story makes me think that if we don’t standardized spices, it will
continue to prove difficult to promote Vietnamese food around the world".
By focusing on spices with the theme of
"A Journey of Vietnamese Spices” at the 2015 Golden Spoon Contest,
contestants also were expected by the judge to use their ability at mastering
the use of spices, specific to different regions, in order to honor the
features of cuisine of each region.
Using the Golden Spoon Contest, organizers
were able to focus on analysing and drawing a map of Vietnamese spices from
around the country. In addition, they established "The Golden Spoon Chef
Club" in order to connect all the winning chefs from other seasons to make
a professional culinary team that can cook dishes selected directly from the
book "The Golden Spoon - Vietnamese Cuisine Essence", which continues
to promote Vietnamese cuisine
The Golden Spoon Contest this year
attracted 180 teams and featured 540 chefs from all provinces and cities
nationwide. This promoted good dishes, excellent restaurants and talented
chefs. There will be three rounds: Preliminary, semi-final and final taking
place at 6 locations.
This year, the competition will focus on
five criteria: researching; the conservation and promotion of rustic dishes;
the simple and typical cultures of individual regions and locales; Food must be
"delicious and fresh". This is the most important standard of a
culture covering time which is aimed to live a healthy and balanced life.
Internationalization of Vietnamese dishes
through food decoration and presentation in order to promote it as a luxury,
high class and perfect cuisine. It is designed to honor our talented chefs,
restaurants and hotels that have contributed in enriching culture-based
Vietnamese cuisine. To make Vietnamese cuisine be seen as a national cuisine
tourism brand, to improve the quality of health and promote economic
development. The Golden Spoon Contest is a competition of professional chefs
from throughout the country. With the aim of contributing to the research,
discovery, preservation, conservation and promotion of quintessentially
Vietnamese cuisine, with the message "Each dish promotes a regional
culture" and finally to make Vietnamese cuisine reaches out to the world.
It is more important to aim to improve
human health and promote the economy through the culinary industry whilst
promoting the brand of "Culinary Tourism" in Vietnam. The contest was
organized by Minh Long I Co. Ltd and the Center for Business Study and
Assistance (BSA) in collaboration with VCCI and the Vietnam General Department
of Tourism organization.
Followed Minh Pham
Lao dong Newspaper