Vietnamese gastronome Ho Thi Hoang Anh and US journalist Kim Fay have come together to write a book on Vietnamese cuisine, especially from the former imperial city of Hue.

Fay, managing director of To Asia With Love, a literary guide book series for Things Asian Press, first travelled to Southeast Asia in 1991 and spent four years living in Viet Nam. She met Anh in 2006 and interviewed her many times about Hue food.

"Kim Fay invited me to co-operate with her for the book, which is a study of Vietnamese cuisine, when I was in the US earlier this year," Anh said.

Anh, owner of the well-known Phu Xuan restaurant in HCM City which does Hue food, has contributed greatly to showcasing Vietnamese culinary art around the world.

She introduced Hue's delicious dishes to Germans during the Viet Nam Culture Week organised by the Germany-Asia Culture Exchange Centre at Munich University in 2002.

In the following year France's Centre for Culture Research and Development invited her to Nantes to organise a New Year party with Hue royal dishes.

In 2004 she organised a diplomatic buffet featuring typical Vietnamese dishes in Sweden during Viet Nam Day in Stockholm.

Last year she served as representative for Vietnamese cuisine at the World Master Chef Seminar held in Woosong University's Culinary Art Academy in Daejeon, South Korea.

Anh said through trips abroad she found that people in many countries liked the flavour of Vietnamese food.

She said preparations for the book were underway and she hoped Fay would start writing it later this year.

"We exchange ideas by email and telephone and through my son who is now studying in the US," she said.

Anh's grandfather was the leader of a group of chefs who prepared food for King Khai Dinh and King Bao Dai of the Nguyen Dynasty, Viet Nam's last royalty, and for the banquets they threw.

Besides running the Phu Xuan restaurant, Anh also teaches at HCM City's College of Tourism. — VNS