Films of Vietnam's Tourism, Eating and Drinking on US Television
Vietnam National Administration of Tourism, in cooperation with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, mid February, 2005 helped PBS Television of the US make a series of films of tourism and eating and drinking in Vietnam. This is the series under the "Travel & Cooking" show of the outstanding Thai chef Tomy Tang.
Tomy in the past successfully made films of Thai tourism and eating and drinking and 104 television stations have broadcast his films across the US with 50 million families and 130 million audiences. These films in Vietnam are expected to have total length of 8 hours and broadcast in the US from November 2005 to April 2006 in the US and on the Internet. The films, costly at USUS$750,000, will be run by 145 television stations and expected to earn USUS$32 million for Vietnam.
The last destination of the film makers in Vietnam is Ho Chi Minh City, after leaving the provinces and cities of Hanoi, Quang Ninh, Hue, Quang Nam, and Danang, and they left Vietnam on March 11. On the evening of March 8 at Amara Saigon Hotel, Tomy Tang cooperated with the hotel's cook Michael Huynh Cong Long to process "Fish head curry" dish.
According to Vietnam National Administration of Tourism, this is a big, important event in promoting Vietnam's tourism in the US market as well as in the world.
Tomy is the oldest son of a family that has 12 children and is familiar with the cooking tradition. When he was 11, he had to leave school to shoulder difficulties in his family, and undertook many different jobs such as construction worker, mechanic and tennis teacher. In late 70s, with his cooking talent, Tomy made Thai dishes become a "fever" in the US. In 1982, he opened a restaurant in West Hollywood, the first very famous eating and shopping place in the area. Tomy had many meetings with outstanding movie actors and singers, including Tom Cruise, Cher, Earth Wind & Fire, and Queen, and has been regarded as "God Father" of Southeast Asian dishes.
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