Chefs in Shanghai for Bocuse d'Or competition

Chef Nguyen Le Hoang Phat will represent Vietnam at the two-day international culinary competition that kicks off in Shanghai on June 26.

The international cooking contest is part of Bocuse d'Or, the most highly regarded culinary competition in the world.

"This is the second time Viet Nam has joined the Bocuse d'Or and being part of this world famous cooking competition is a great way to present Viet Nam's cuisine and culture”, said Philippe Bacac, managing director of Metro Cash & Carry Vietnam, the main sponsor of the competition.

"We understand the needs of professional chefs and are supporting the national team on their way to the upcoming cooking competition in the region," he said. "We believe our mission is to help young, innovative chefs in this country to successfully represent Vietnam's cuisine on an international stage."

The Bocuse d'Or team from Vietnam includes instructor Michael Bao Huynh; president of Bocuse d'Or Vietnam chef David Thai; chef Nguyen Le Hoang Phat; and his assistant Nguyen Huynh Thanh Long.

The contest in Shanghai will select the five most talented chefs who will then attend the final held in Lyon, France, next year.

Since 1987, the contest has been giving young chefs a unique opportunity to demonstrate their skills, offering them a tremendous springboard for their careers.

UNESCO launches contest on public transport

The UNESCO Centre for Culture and Education (UNESCO-CEP) has launched a photo contest to raise awareness among young people about the benefits of using public transport.

The competition Cau Chuyen San Ga (The Station Story) targets professional and amateur photographers aged between 18 and 35 years old living in Vietnam.

The station is seen as the departure point and destination of a journey, and the photos should concentrate on architecture, material infrastructure, quality and services and life inside the stations.

Each participant can submit a set of 6-10 photos in colour or black and white to cuocthi@unesco-cep.org.vn before July 15, 2014.

The winning entries will be honoured at a ceremony on August 2.

The contest is part of the UNESCO-CEP’s Green Journey which aims to build a green community with a green transport system.

Vietnam joins gastronomy, cultural festival in Berlin

Vietnam joined 35 countries in the 2014 Delicanto gastronomy and cultural festival in Diedersdorf, Brandenburg State, Germany from June 20-22.

Opening the event, Diedersdorf Mayor Carl Ahlgrimm said the event offered participants a chance to exchange information to boost their solidarity and deepen understanding on their respective culture, food and people.

During the festival, foreign friends were introduced to Vietnam’s traditional music and art as well as its dishes.

Delicanto is initiated by a German parliamentarian. This year’s event was held in the thousand-metre Castle Diedersdorf.

French, German embassies hold football friendlies in Hanoi

The embassies of France and Germany in Hanoi will jointly host a friendly football tournament in Hanoi to welcome the ongoing World Cup 2014 in Brazil.

The tournament will be participated by teams from France, Germany, the UK, the US and Italy, with French ambassador Jean-Noël Poirier captaining France.

Vietnamese teams come from the Ministry of Transport, Ministry of Education and Training, Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Planning and Investment, Ministry of Public Security, and the Vietnamese Alumni Association.

The Ministry of Transport team will be captained by Minister Dinh La Thang.

Matches will take place at Tay Ho District’s Sports Complex, starting on June 29.

Logo design contest marks Vietnam-Germany ties

The German Embassy in Hanoi on June 23 launched a logo design contest in celebration of the 40th anniversary of diplomatic ties between the two nations.

The logo should reflect the friendly relationships between Germany and Vietnam and include the key colours of the two countries’ flags.

The selected logo will be used for a myriad of events, marketing activities, websites, posters and other purposes throughout the upcoming year.

The contest is open to Vietnamese organisations, design companies, professional and amateur designers, excluding members and staff of the German Embassy in Hanoi and German General Consulate in Ho Chi Minh City.

Image format should be JPEG, GIF or EPS, SVG.

 All entries must be submitted to the following address: duc.viet.2015@hano.auswaertiges-amt.de

Vietnam Culture Day held in Czech Republic

Prague-based Sapa Trade Centre hosted Vietnam Culture Day on June 22 in an effort to promote Vietnamese culture to local people and international friends.

Organised by Info-Dráček, the event, part of the Asian Festival, brought together Vietnamese artists, children’s clubs and dragon and lion dance troupes living in the Republic of Czech.

Its performances attracted approximately 400 local people, who watched the programme from beginning to end.

Info-Dráček is a Czech organization that hosts activities to promote Vietnamese culture in the country, helping increase mutual understanding and making it easier for Vietnamese people to integrate well into local community.

It uses cultural, arts and culinary activities as a way to break down barriers between immigrant and local communities.  

Indian dancers present traditional wedding features

Indian artists will demonstrate a colourful and vivid traditional Indian wedding with a performance of The Great Indian Wedding on Thursday in Ha Noi.

The Great Indian Wedding is a musical enactment of the sacred ceremony of marriage featuring the larger than life celebrations that surround it in India.

The musical dance depicts the love story of the hero, who is from the high spirited state of Punjab, and his lady, who hails from the poised state of Tamil Nadu. The two move to the cultural capital of Maharashtra, Pune, for higher education, where they meet and fall in love with each other. After graduation, they plan to get married, but are worried they will not receive blessings from their families as arranged marriages remain dominant in their culture. However, time has progressed over generations and their parents are convinced.

The 45-minute act by the Bollywood Dance Era Group has dynamic audio-visuals playing in the backdrop and beautiful dance sequences depicting the story.

The performance starts at 8pm at Au Co Art Centre, 8 Huynh Thuc Khang Street.

The Great Indian Wedding will also be performed in Phu Tho and Yen Bai on Saturday and Sunday.

UK restaurant introduces VN cuisine at food fest

London-based restaurant The House of Ho, run by chef Bobby Chinn, introduced Vietnamese dishes at the Taste of London event held between last Wednesday and Sunday in Regent's Park, London.

For his debut appearance at the annual event, Chinn served up traditional Vietnamese dishes such as bun bo Nam Bo (southern beef noodle), banh my pate (bread stuffed with cooked minced pork liver) and nem cuon (spring rolls stuffed with vegetables, pork and shrimp).

The event attracted thousands of customers, who came to sample the food and beverages from 200 stalls representing various countries including the United Kingdom, France, Italy, and Spain. Japan, South Korea, China, and Thailand, as well as the United States, also featured their local cuisines at the event.

Janemane and Francois Mazoudier said they greatly enjoyed the Vietnamese food, especially the spring rolls.

They noted the difference between Chinese and Vietnamese food, where the former is quite heavy and has lots of starch, while the latter is lighter and contains more vegetables. As a result of their experience, they hoped to travel to Viet Nam soon to taste more of the local cuisine.

Chinn also demonstrated to the audience his version of a bowl of bun bo Nam Bo, made in only 30 minutes, and signed copies of his book Vietnamese Cuisine, which records his experience of living in Viet Nam and cooking Vietnamese food for 20 years.

Meanwhile, My Hanh introduced her signature line of sauces with special Vietnamese flavours at her booth "Thuy's Viet Kitchen".

This event marked the tenth anniversary of the Taste of London festival, which has become a much-anticipated occasion every summer in London, creating an opportunity for countries to popularise their culture and encourage tourism.

Bobby Chinn spends most of the year in Viet Nam and travels extensively throughout Asia.

At his restaurants in Viet Nam, Restaurant Bobby Chinn in Ha Noi (open since 2001) and Bobby Chinn Saigon (open since 2011), Bobby's style mixes French technique, Californian sensibility, a pinch of Middle Eastern spices and a touch of Southeast Asian flavours.

He opened The House of Ho restaurant in the heart of Soho, London, last autumn.

Workshop fosters UNESCO-recognised Giong festival’s values

A workshop gather in Hanoi on June 23 to discuss the preservation of cultural values of the Giong festival and promote the festival-based sustainable tourism development.

Participants stressed the need to raise public awareness of preserving and developing heritage values of the festival, which was recognised as part of the intangible cultural heritage of humanity.

Responsibilities of authorities at all levels in working together to build and upgrade infrastructure facilities to satisfy visitors to festivals was also referred to at the event.

Attendees also pointed to the necessity to link the festival and other tourism products in the region into a regional heritage tourism model to optimise their values.

The Giong festival of Phu Dong and Soc temples in Gia Lam and Soc Son districts is celebrated annually before the rice harvest to honour the mythical hero, god and saint, called “Thanh Giong”, who legend says turned from a child to a giant overnight to fight against foreign invaders in the past.

Legend has it that Giong was born very strangely. His mother saw a huge footstep in the field and tried her foot on. Coming back home, she got pregnant and gave birth to the little boy named Giong, who never talked or smiled.

When Giong was three years old, the country was in danger of invasion. The boy asked the king to forge an iron horse, an armour and a cane for him. Giong turned into a giant, riding the horse and fighting against the aggressors. Finally, after got rid of the enemy, he galloped to the Soc Mountain, taking off the armour and flying into the sky.

As the largest and unique cultural event of the Red River Delta region, in 2010 the Giong festival was included in the list of the intangible cultural heritage of humanity the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO).

Vietnam Family Day 2014 to mark national sovereignty

“The grand family of Vietnamese ethnic groups and national sovereignty” program which is part of activities marking Vietnam Family Day 2014 will be held in Hanoi on June 28.

The event will include exhibitions featuring paintings and photographs on national sovereignty over islands and sea, art performances and exchanges between ethnic groups.

A 300-year-old ceremony commemorating soldiers who sacrificed their lives for the country and symbolize Viet Nam’s sovereignty over the Hoang Sa (Paracel) archipelago will be held at the Culture-Tourism Village of Vietnamese Ethnic Groups in Dong Mo, 40km  west of Ha Noi, on June 29.

Traditional worship ceremonies such as the Po Riyak Sea God Worshipping Ceremony of Cham ethnic group in Ninh Thuan Province, the “Cau Ngu” (whale worship) festival of Da Nang City will be also organized at the village.

The Vietnam Family Day has been organized every year since 2001.

Seventh travel journalism competition announced

The Department of Culture, Sport and Tourism and Tourism Magazine in Ho Chi Minh City have announced the seventh travel journalism competition.

Entrants can send their entries on tourism in Vietnamese, English, French or Chinese which have been published on media from June 1, 2013 to October 2, 2014. Entries can be various genres including reports, investigations, researches, notes, interviews, photos.

There will be one A prize, three B prizes, six C prizes and 25 encouragements.  In addition, the organizers will present more prizes such as new destinations of the city’s tourism, green tourism for environment protection and excellent reports of tourism.

Each entrant can send maximum three entries to Tourism Magazine at 140 Nguyen Dinh Chieu Street , District 3 in HCMC or email: tapchidulichtphcmc@yahoo.com; giaithuongbaochidulich@gmail.com. Entries should be sent before October 2, 2014.

The awarding ceremony will be held in the end of 2014.

Websites posting music with “crude” lyrics fined

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism has officially decided to fine several websites for publishing songs with crude or sexual lyrics.

As a result, Chacha and NhacVui, both popular music sites, were fined VND8 million (USD374.61) each for publishing the songs “Phieu be ngoan”, or “Commendation Award” and "Tan Ka Ka"  for their lyrics.

Tran Van Minh, Deputy Head of the ministry’s Inspectorate said, “We are still awaiting the results of our investigation before coming to any final decision about punishments for sites, including Zing Zing Mp3 and Nhaccuatui.”

Many singers, including Yanbi, Bueno, Mr.A, TMT, and Mr. T are also under investigation for their songs, and may face fines.

Ngo Hoang Quan, Deputy Director of the ministry’s Performing Art Department, said that singers who composed, performed and popularised songs with "crude" lyrics would find it difficult to get work permits in the near future.

“It’s unacceptable to compose, perform or upload this type of music. This type of thing needs to be brought under control,” Quan commented.

New dancing contest for children

Vu Dieu Tuoi Xanh or Baby Ballroom, a dancing contest for children aged between six and 14, will be aired from 9 p.m. every Sunday on HTV7 starting from July 13.

The organizers, HCMC Television and Dong Tay Promotion, will select 18 pairs of contestants from 400 qualifying rounds nationwide. These little dancers have to compete in the genres of hip hop, ballet, contemporary dance and dance-sport among others.

The best eight couples will advance to the final round and fight it out for the championship cup of Vu Dieu Tuoi Xanh and prize worth VND50 million. The first runner-up couple will pocket a cash prize of VND40 million and the getters of six consolation prizes receive VND20 million each.

The judging panel consists of choreographer John Huy Tran, dancesport athlete Nha Khanh and MC/actor Tran Thanh. Comedian Xuan Bac will serve as host of the show.

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