Young people return to tradition to promote its identities, soul

Renewing simple things

Tran Trung Hieu whose nickname is Chef Hugo Hieu chooses to honor traditional cuisine through his videos about typical dishes of the capital city of Hanoi. Hieu often arranges traditional ceremonial trays featuring cultural identities in the old days.

Le Xuan Chien, a demobilized soldier, has built the “Bep que Choa” channel to promote local cuisine in his hometown. Bep Que Choa reminds childhood memories with images of a thatched-roofed house, a wood stove in an old kitchen in the countryside, simple dishes in daily meals, smiling grandma showing warmth and kindness.

Tran Thi Kim Ut who used to be a journalist left the city to come back home in a waterway region to build the Ut ve vuon (Ut returns to rural hometown) channel. The “Ut Ve Vuon” channel offers the unique life of the local population in the Mekong Delta while Trung Hieu’s page presents Hanoi cuisine.

The epic drama acting group has provided knowledge and methodical information about traditional performing arts to young people.

There are also many channels introducing diverse colors of daily life, traditional costumes, and specialties of people in different regions, such as Chao Yen, Thao Nguyen Farmer, Huan Dau Dau, Bep Suon Doi, Minh Doi, Hoa Nien, and more.

These young people who were mostly born in the 1990s (called the 9X generation) have returned to tradition and discovered the simplest and smallest things and themselves due to different reasons, including coming back home during the Covid-19 pandemic, feeling exhausted, getting away from the busy and stressful life.

They take advantage of social networks to spread local culture and have contributed to bringing the values and renewing the most simple and familiar things of their hometowns.

Aspiration to promote traditional values

Every young person decides to connect with tradition because of their passion.

Minh Doi is interested in sewing and embroidery, which are traditional crafts in his family. He started sewing his clothes when he was a high school student.

The interesting thing is that many food Vlogs have been created to introduce traditional cuisine in the old days and show a desire to return homeland for home-cooked meals with family.

However, video creators face many difficulties in producing quality and professional videos, such as shooting techniques, video editing skills, weather conditions, and negative comments, Dong Van Hung, the owner of the “Am Thuc Me Lam” (Mother's Recipe) channel said.

The biggest challenge is how to overcome oneself. Ut and Minh Doi put aside their Bachelor's degrees while Xuan Chien also gave up a job that took him three years of vocational training to pursue a new passion. In their difficulties, these young people demonstrate a spirit of self-study, self-improvement, and determination on the path they have chosen.

Traditional culture is the values that are built, cultivated, nurtured, transmitted, and spread over thousands of years. It is passed down through generations with movement, continuity, and creation.

Young people return to tradition to find their identity and soul, but the richness of expressions is the most important thing to attract people

The personal experiences of each content creator are what captivate the audience. They also spread a circle of inspiration to other young people and the community.

They have earned money in their homeland from specialties, traditional products, village life experience tours, rustic dishes, and promoting local agricultural products to help farmers.