Befitting a residence city of kings and artists, the cooking art of Hue is famous for its refinement and artistic quality.
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Hue is a small city but it is blessed with a rich nature consisting of mountain, river and sea. It is also the meeting point of Viet and Champa culture. Since the 17th century, Hue was chosen by the Nguyen lords to be their headquarters and later their descendants, the kings of the Nguyen Dynasty, chose it to be their capital city after winning in the struggle for the throne. Hue is famous for its poetic natural beauty, rich cultural and historical heritages and last but not least, its unique cuisine.
Hue's culinary style is formed by the traditional cooking of the Viet people, the Champa influences and the fact that it was the city of lords and kings for three hundred years. According to the ethnologists, the first Viet people coming to Hue may have learnt from the Champa the use of the local ingredients especially the way of making shrimp and fish preserves, the delicacies of Hue. The demand for fine eating from generations of kings and nobles living in the city has encouraged the improvement of the cooking quality and the love for propriety and sophistication in gastronomic matters.
Hue cuisine is distinguished by the refinement and intricacy unique to the land. Kings, courtiers and men of letters ate not only to satisfy their physical needs but also to prove their status, elegance and intellect. Their philosophy, the way they enjoyed food and their recipes influenced other inhabitants. Thus, Hue people of all classes love and practice fine eating. A Hue dish normally requires a dozen different ingredients and meticulous attention has to be paid to every detail. In a Hue family meal, each dish has its own complementary sauce while people in other parts of the country normally make just of sauce for all types of food.
Royal gastronomy is an important part of Hue cuisine. Contrary to common belief, it uses not only exotic ingredients like bird's nest or abalone but also very normal foods. However, royal cuisine is ever intricate. According to the historical records of the court, a grand banquet typically consists of around 161 dishes, a small one has about 50 dishes and a vegetarian one 20 dishes. Hue royal cuisine was nearly lost in the turbulences of the 20th century but people of the tourism industry have been working to revive it with the help of the historians and the descendants of the royal family.
Some of the Hue common dishes like bun bo (Hue's beef noodle soup), com hen (rice with mussels), tom chua (shrimp preserve) or che Hue (“sweet dishesof Hue”) are well-known all over Vietnam. They are cheap and often sold by street vendors but that does not make them less refined and sophisticated than their royal counterparts.
