EGY101: Exploring Gastronomy - Blog Post on Vietnamese Cuisine

This assignment comprises two blog posts that delve into the intricacies of gastronomy. The first blog examines Vietnamese cuisine, highlighting its cultural uniqueness, historical influences, and the use of various ingredients like rice, vegetables, and herbs. It discusses how Vietnamese cuisine incorporates elements from other countries, such as France and China, and emphasizes its reputation as a healthy cuisine. The second blog explores gastrodiplomacy, defining it as culinary diplomacy and its role in promoting a country's culture and identity. It uses the example of Thailand's 'Global Thai' program to illustrate how governments use food to boost national branding and promote their cuisine internationally, including strategies like training chefs and providing support for restaurants abroad.

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Blogs

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Blog 1
Vietnamese cuisine is very unique for its culture as well as historical influence. Vietnamese
cuisine is famous for combining the various vegetables, herbs, and meats for making different
meals. The cuisine of Vietnamese includes the usage of ingredients like coconut and its milk. An
authentic Vietnamese meal includes a culinary contribution from other countries also like France
and China. Vietnamese cuisine is considered as the healthiest cuisine in the world. In the
Vietnamese diet, rice is an essential item and they include rice in every meal (Moscoso Henao,
2015).
Without side vegetables and small bowls filled with salty sauce, people cannot eat at their meal.
Vegetables are often used as salads and paired with beef or shrimp to complement the strong
flavor of the meat in the main course. In the traditional family, the classic dip is used in meals
which are of salty fish name called nuoc mam.
Vietnamese cuisine is very diverse due to its geographical location and climate. There are no
accurate average temperatures across the country. Vietnamese national culture originates from a
specific living environment: a tropical country, many rivers, and rich culture (Avieli, 2011).
From daily meals to New Year's celebrations, there are a variety of foods on various occasions in
Vietnam. Vietnamese cuisine has a variety of flavors, including sweet, sour, salty and spicy.
However, rice is the mainstay of the Vietnamese diet and is grown throughout the country,
especially in the Red River Delta in the north and the Mekong Delta in the south. The most
renowned dishes of Vietnamese cuisine are Pho, Banh mi, and spring rolls.
Source: (Avieli, 2011)

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Vietnamese are proud of rice noodle dishes. When they travel to other countries, they carry it
with them. The Pho restaurant is now a common thing globally but still attracts many foodies.
Overall, Vietnamese cuisine is mainly influenced by Cantonese cuisine but with a slightly French
flavor. Vietnamese cuisine is a form of Vietnamese cooking that includes fish sauce, soy sauce,
rice, fresh herbs, fruits, and vegetables, which are all commonly used. Vietnamese recipes use a
variety of herbs including lemongrass, mint, Vietnamese mint, cilantro, and Thai basil leaves.
Traditional Vietnamese cooking is highly regarded for its freshness and healthy eating style
(Tran, 2019).
Vietnamese culture and cuisine are influenced by a mixture of Chinese and French flavors, with
some spices from China and classic cooking from France. Northern Vietnam was more affected
by the Chinese because they were closer to Vietnam during the first millennium and dominated
northern Vietnam. Southern Vietnam is more affected by the French.
Source: (Tran, 2019)
Blog 2

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Gastrodiplomacy is another name of culinary diplomacy which is a type of cultural diplomacy.
Gastronomy is an integral part of a country's culture and identity because it captures the essence
of its history, traditions, and values. In an era of sports, globalization, and growing technology,
food can be easily shared with others around the world, resulting in "cuisine diplomacy", an
increasingly popular cultural diplomatic tool used by countries to promote State building and
national branding. In Thailand, the campaign was the Kitchen to the world and the food basket of
Asia (Rockower, 2012).
In Thailand, the Gastrodiplomatic campaign is launched by the government with the name of the
Global Thai program which was launched in 2002. It is an initiative by the government for
culinary diplomacy. This strategy is adopted for boosting the Thai restaurants which were grown
from 5,500 to 8000 in a year.
It was implemented in various ways in which the theme was constant and the Thai government
played a role in conceptualizing and enforcing the campaign abroad. The method which is
adopted in Thailand for promoting its food abroad is by training to work abroad. The support
was by giving special visa arrangements and providing work visas to chefs.
The Thai chef's work visa is in stark contrast to the visa process in other countries such as the
United States. In the United States, chefs do not have specific visas (not to mention Thailand)
and can vary depending on the nature of the job. The Thai government's efforts to promote
training and sending chefs abroad not only enable Thai citizens to experience another culture but
also provide opportunities for those who may have received cooking training from the
government program to travel abroad and spread Thai cuisine (Zhang, 2015).
The Thai government's efforts to train and send chefs abroad not only allow Thai citizens to
experience another culture, but also provide opportunities for those who may have received
government-planned cooking training to travel abroad and spread Thai cuisine. The Thai
government has more control over the image and qualities which restaurants abroad are
projecting and ensuring to provide the funds to restaurants with the hopes of projects (Nirwandy
and Awang, 2014).

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Reference
Avieli, N., 2011. Making sense of Vietnamese cuisine. Education About Asia, 16(3).
Moscoso Henao, D.S., 2015. Vietnam: country of multiple traditions and regional cuisines.
Nirwandy, N. and Awang, A.A., 2014. Conceptualizing public diplomacy social convention
culinary: Engaging gastro diplomacy warfare for economic branding. Procedia-Social and
Behavioral Sciences, 130, pp.325-332.
Rockower, P.S., 2012. Recipes for gastrodiplomacy. Place Branding and Public
Diplomacy, 8(3), pp.235-246.
Tran, T.T., 2019. Pho as the embodiment of Vietnamese national identity in the linguistic
landscape of a western Canadian city. International Journal of Multilingualism, pp.1-17.
Zhang, J., 2015. The food of the worlds: Mapping and comparing contemporary gastrodiplomacy
campaigns. International Journal of Communication, 9, p.24.