Currently, the Northern midland and mountainous region is home to over 30 ethnic minority groups with a total of about 7 million people, most of whom are Tay, H'Mong, Thai, Nung, Dao and Muong ethnic groups. However, the lives of people here still face many difficulties, the poverty rate is still the highest in the country.

To develop the economy of the Northern mountainous provinces, tourism industry plays the most important role, as it can take advantage of majestic natural landscape resources and cultural identity of ethnic minorities. In particular, the culinary culture of local people always has a special attraction for tourists.

On September 29, at the ceremony of giving certifications to 121 typical culinary dishes in phase I - 2022 and announced phase II - 2023 of the project "Building and developing Vietnamese cuisine culture into a national brand" of the Vietnam Culinary Culture Association, Mr. Nguyen Le Phuc, Deputy Director of the Vietnam National Tourism Administration (Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism) said that in the development trend of increasingly diverse needs for tourism, cuisine not only plays a role in serving the eating and drinking need of tourists but are also identified as one of the main purposes of travel.

According to the World Culinary Tourism Organization, international tourists spend about 25-35% of their travel budget on expenditures related to food and beverages during their tours.

“Vietnam's tourism development strategy until 2030” has identified culinary tourism as one of the important product lines contributing to enhancing competitive advantage and Vietnam's tourism brand.

To effectively exploit the potential and advantages of culinary tourism, the Vietnam National Tourism Administration aims to build attractive, quality culinary tourism products. It will focus on providing experiences and discoveries about the cultural identity and community activities of the destination associated with each dish and drink," said Mr. Nguyen Le Phuc.

Among the 121 typical culinary dishes of 60/63 provinces and cities across the country, there are many dishes that are specialties of ethnic minorities. In particular, up to 25 dishes and drinks from 10 Northern midland and mountainous provinces have been included in the certification list.

Among them, Dien Bien has 3 dishes (Mo chicken, buffalo skin salad, and grilled fish of the Thai ethnic group); Hoa Binh province has 3 dishes of the Muong ethnic group (snail fish with sour bamboo shoots, mon potatoe cooked with dried buffalo skin, can wine); Lai Chau province has a dish called Ninh Sop dried pork.

Lao Cai province is certified for 2 typical dishes (dried buffalo meat, Bac Ha corn wine); Bac Kan province has 2 dishes (Na Ri old town corn cake, Khau nhuc); Ha Giang province has 3 dishes (bong fish, au tau porridge, corn pho).

Lang Son province stands out with 3 dishes (roasted pig, roasted duck, Mau Son wine); Phu Tho province has 3 dishes (My Lung sticky rice, Dat To chung cake, cassava cake); Quang Ninh has 3 dishes (Ha Long squid cake, sour ngan fish, Dam Ha purple ba kich wine).

The two dishes of Minh Huong and Ham Yen duck and Chiem Hoa field fish sauce are certified as typical culinary dishes of Tuyen Quang province.

The above typical dishes were nominated by the Departments of Culture, Sports and Tourism, demonstrating efforts to further promote the culinary culture of the Northern midland and mountainous provinces to domestic and foreign tourists, from that contributes to the development of local tourism.