Hue is best known for elegant royal cuisine. But there is far more tothe former imperial city's food culture than what was served to theNguyen dynasty in the 1800s.

Food plays a key role in Hue life.The first skill that a girl learns from her mother is cooking, whichallows recipes to be preserved for generations.

One distinctivequality of Hue food is the harmonisation of yin and yang in each dish.For example, molluscs are always cooked with chilli, pepper, lemongrassand grapefruit leaves, "hot" spices that balance the "cool" features ofthe water-based creatures.

Various snack-like items, such as banhbeo, banh nam, banh loc, banh canh and che, are a major part of thecuisine. Visitors can find these items at Hue restaurants in Hanoi andHo Chi Minh City. Bun bo Hue, a local breakfast dish, is also populararound the country.

Recently, Vietnam's record booklisted several Hue dishes on its list of the country's best foods: bunbo (beef noodles), com hen (rice with mussels), banh beo (rice cake withgrilled shrimp), banh bot loc (dumplings with shrimp), banh khoai(fried rice crepes), ruoc (shrimp paste), me xung (sesame candy), chehat sen (sweet lotus seed pudding), tom chua (pickled shrimp), and thanhtra (a grapefruit variety that was served to the king).

However,Hue residents pay little attention to the recognition, objecting thatthe value of Hue cuisine is greater than what the book listed. Che hatsen, for instance, is not considered the most outstanding among thevarious kinds of che that Hue people cook. Many blame the failure topromote authentic food to the list makers.

Introducing thecuisine to tourists is also a problem. The city does not have manysit-down restaurants selling quality Hue food. Some dishes are bestprepared by vendors, but foreigners do not always trust them when itcomes to hygiene.-VNA