A group of young students from the Diplomatic Academy of Vietnam have launched a project called Mot Food o Hue (One Food in Hue) to advertise Hue cuisine.

Launched in October, the project aims to promote the exquisiteness of Hue cuisine to both domestic and foreign visitors to the Imperial City of Hue.  

Foreign tourists prefer the Mot Food o Hue app. Photo courtesy of the project

Through savoring Hue cuisine, visitors will discover the natural beauty, cultural identity and people of this region, contributing to the sustainable development of tourism in the province.

With this in mind, these students have carried out several activities over the past two months to raise awareness of Hue cuisine and promote the culinary culture of the ancient capital through innovative approaches.

They have launched an AI chatbot named O Thuc (Miss Thuc), which is designed to guide visitors through their journey in Hue.

The chatbot is able to answer questions about Hue's cuisine, culture, and tourism, and users can personalize its operation with their references.

Since its launch in October, the app has been praised by both domestic and foreign visitors for helping them find dining options in Hue City.

Alongside the app, the students also launched a contest encouraging participants to create short videos about Hue cuisine on TikTok and promote the AI chatbot on the influential social media platform.

After two weeks, the contest received many unique video submissions with fresh perspectives and creative introductions to Hue cuisine from young participants.

The contest's two hashtags, #Motfoodohue and #Annocungothuc, reached three million views on TikTok during this time.

The students also conducted five media tours to promote Hue cuisine in major cities, including Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, bringing the Hue culinary experience across the country with the power of AI.

The project was introduced to the contestants of Miss Grand International 2023 in early October when beauty queens and their entourages from various countries came to Vietnam for the pageant.

The beauty queens were very enthusiastic about learning about the project as it helped them understand Hue cuisine and culture when they visited the Imperial City.

Miss Grand Indonesia Ritassya Wellgreat, Miss Grand Canada Yuliya Scherban, and Miss Grand Germany Marie Kilomzo, among many other beauty queens, shared about Hue and the project with their international friends on their personal pages.

The project's success was evident in the number of tourist groups from South Korea, the UK, Italy, Canada, and Spain who were excited to use the O Thuc chatbot to help them plan their dining experience while in Hue.

"Hue is rightly called "the nation's kitchen," said Nguyen Duc Thang, co-founder of the project, adding, "I believe that by using innovative and unparalleled promotional methods, Hue cuisine will be better promoted," he said.

"I am happy to see that more and more young people and international guests are showing interest and love for Hue cuisine," he said. "This is the greatest motivation for our team to continue to carry out impactful activities now and further develop the project in the future."