Book spotlights best Vietnamese specialities

Hearty: Pho (noodle soup) from Ha Noi, a traditional Vietnamese dish, will be listed in a directory featuring the most prominent Vietnamese specialities, to be published in November. — File Photo

HCM CITY — A directory of Vietnamese specialities will be published in November this year by the Viet Nam Book of Records (Vietbooks) and Vietnam News Agency Publishing House.

The book will contain names, origins, images and addresses of 50 fruits including peach from Lao Cai Province, litchi from Bac Giang Province and Doan Hung grapefruit from Phu Tho Province.

Fifty culinary delights including pho (noodle soup) from Ha Noi, com tam (cooked broken rice) from HCM City and pho kho (noodle with sauce) from Quang Ngai Province will also be listed.

Early this month, 10 of the 50 listed Vietnamese dishes were recognised as Asian specialities by the Asia Book of Records in recognition of their gastronomic importance to the international community.

Popular traditional specialities like cakes, fruit preserves, candies, sauces, spices, wines and sweet porridge are also included in the list.

The information in the directory is based on submissions by the culture departments of all 63 provinces and cities in the country, travel agents, restaurants, cultural experts and research centres.

The 500-page directory will be published in two languages – Vietnamese and English – with both hard and soft cover editions.

The publishers will also release a map – also in Vietnamese and English, showing visitors the way to find or purchase the specialities listed in the directory.

Twenty thousand copies of the directory and map will be printed in the first edition.

Le Tran Truong An, general director of Vietbooks, said the work aims to introduce and promote Vietnamese cuisine.

"We expect to publish updated versions of both publications every five years," he said. — VNS