From December 19 to 21, 2025, Thong Nhat Park in Hanoi will transform into a “living culinary map,” where the public can taste, touch, listen, observe, and directly engage in the practice of the capital’s distinctive culinary heritage.
The Hanoi Food and Culture Festival 2025, themed “Hanoi – A Culinary Journey Connecting Creativity,” brings together iconic dishes and traditional delicacies of the former imperial capital. Beyond a purely gastronomic experience, the festival is designed as a multi-layered cultural–entertainment–experiential space, where artisans personally demonstrate preparation processes and share stories of professional knowledge, family memories, and regional identity. For the first time, culinary values traditionally confined to household kitchens, craft villages, and ritual spaces are brought “into the light,” becoming vivid, accessible public experiences for Hanoi residents and visitors.
The Hanoi Food and Culture Festival 2025 brings together 60 booths showcasing Hanoi’s iconic dishes and traditional delicacies, along with a wide range of engaging activities. photo: truong vi
Hanoi-flavored weekend of food and fun
The Hanoi Food and Culture Festival 2025 is not only a destination for enjoying fine cuisine, but also a journey into the depth of the capital’s culinary heritage, where the essence of the “36 Old Streets” converges and blends with the culture of Xu Doai in the expanded Hanoi of today.
Since 2014, Hanoi has conducted inventories of intangible cultural heritage, identifying hundreds of outstanding culinary heritages and gradually including them in preservation lists. To date, seven Hanoi culinary heritages have been inscribed on the National List of Intangible Cultural Heritage, becoming important resources for the development of the cultural industry. Familiar names such as Me Tri green rice flakes, Quang An lotus tea, Phu Thuong sticky rice, Thanh Tri steamed rice rolls, and the knowledge of preparing Bat Trang ceremonial feasts have not only been preserved but also widely disseminated in contemporary life, closely linked to tourism and the creative economy. Notably, a series of promotional activities for Hanoi pho heritage, from sketches and short videos to a pho map, will also be introduced, allowing the public to approach the heritage through multiple senses.
The Hanoi Food and Culture Festival is an annual event assigned by the Hanoi People’s Committee to the Department of Culture and Sports, organized in alignment with the capital’s cultural industry development strategy under Resolution No. 09-NQ/TU (issued on February 22, 2022) for the 2021-2025 period, with a vision toward 2045.
PHOTO: QUANG HA
What else makes the festival special?
Beyond being a cultural and entertainment highlight at year’s end, this year’s festival marks a significant milestone with the opening ceremony announcing the inscription of “Cha Ca La Vong Culinary Knowledge and Appreciation (Hanoi)” on the National List of Intangible Cultural Heritage. The public will have the opportunity to meet representatives of the Doan family, the custodians of this iconic dish across six generations, an enduring culinary symbol deeply embedded in Hanoi’s collective memory.
Alongside this are diverse experiential and interactive activities: heritage workshops such as wrapping banh chung, preparing Bat Trang ceremonial feasts, scenting West Lake lotus tea, making green rice flakes, cooking Phu Thuong sticky rice, cold snail noodles, and rice porridge; thematic seminars, student exchanges, photo exhibitions, mobile book displays, and folk–contemporary art performances.
With 60 culinary spaces featuring Hanoi specialties and regional delicacies, the festival becomes a richly distinctive weekend destination, where heritage is retold in the language of contemporary life, allowing cuisine to be not only tasted, but fully experienced as a holistic cultural journey.
West Lake lotus tea, Me Tri green rice flakes, Phu Thuong sticky rice, and more will all be featured at the Hanoi Food and Culture Festival 2025.
PHOTO: TRUONG VI
According to: https://thanhnien.vn/an-xem-trai-nghiem-di-san-am-thuc-giua-long-thu-do-185251216214802825.htm?gidzl=P-YjAuJ_9tLfzQieYkOYUcVrh2ASjIPuB_2f9SxZ9tf-ygmcakObUNxoho7DuYPyAVAgSpdL9BrgW_ycSG