Vietnamese food and cuisine

Vietnamese chicken soup – Pho ga

Vietnamese cuisine is one of the most popular cuisines of the world.

Vietnamese cuisine is largely represented by vegetables, fruits, herbs, rice, meat, and it is also very healthy. Traditional Vietnamese dishes are varied, distinct with comparatively low in fat and high in carbohydrates.

Catering in Vietnam is an important group event of the day for the Vietnamese. Contrary to our style of eating you have to get used to munching, burping, which are a sign of satisfaction with the food. Mess around the tables and on the floor in street cafeterias is rife. You have to put up with it.

Street food is standard – Hanoi is a paradise of the street food.

At almost every corner you will find a stall or a restaurant with soups, rice, a variety of meat or noodles. The street restaurants are often focused only for 1-3 meals, but the choice of restaurants is great. Especially in Hanoi – this is a paradise of the street food. In mountainous areas of northern Vietnam is eating a little limited, or closely specilized.

Pho Bo Vien – beef soup with the meat balls.

The basic ingredient of Vietnamese cuisine is rice and fish sauce.

Vietnam is the second-largest rice exporter in the world after Thailand. Rice is growing throughout the country, the fields in the lowlands, mountain terraces. Most bountifully so in the Mekong Delta down south. You  will see it when traveling in Vietnam. Rice appears at breakfast, lunch, dinner, and dessert. There’s rice-rice of course as well as rice noodles, rice paper wrappers, rice porridge, sticky rice with fruit, fried rice, puffed rice snacks, and rice wine.

Fresh vegetables, fruits, herbs and spices are commonplace.

In northern Vietnam, the cuisine varies a bit depending on where you are, whether in the mountains or in the city. In the city is vast availability of food, because here you can taste almost everything. While in the mountains is largely represented mainly rice, fresh vegetables, herbs and meat. Meat is expensive commodity for the people from ethic minorities.

Vegetables and fruits is the daily food ingredient in Vietnam

Excellent coffee, beer, hard liquor, juices, shakes you can purchase in Vietnam.

Drinks are largely represented in Vietnam, juices, tea (Tra Viet), mineral waters, but also beers (Hanoi beer, Dai Viet, Bia Hanoi). There is also a good choice of fruit shakes (Sinh to). A specialty is the excellent and popular strong Vietnamese coffee (Ca Phe Sua). Coffee is served with the sweet condensed milk and ice. Vietnam is the world’s largest producer of Robusta coffee.

Taste a wide selection of fresh exotic fruit drinks.

In mountainous areas it is also very popular rice wine (Ruop Nep cam) as the main beverage. In shopping centers in the larger cities is not a problem to buy strong alcohol. If you want more information about the beers sold in Vietnam, you can visit the website Beervn.

Typical coffee in Vietnam – Ca Phe Sua

The most famous dishes of Vietnamese cuisine:

• a variety of chicken and beef soup (Pho Bo, Pho Ga, Bun Bo Hue)
• rice (Com), noodles (Bun) – in several ways, all with rich Annex vegetables
• rolls, rolls (banh cuon, Goi cuon, Nem cuon, plagues DEU) vegetables or other attachment.
• meat Dishes – Bun Cha (grilled meat with noodles and vegetables), Bo kho (braised beef with vegetables and noodles)
• Banh Mi Vietnamese sandwiches, in mountainous areas, however, I have seen
• Banh Chung sticky rice cake and Banh Beo steamed rice cakes
• Goi Vietnamese salad (beef, chicken, vegetarian, shrimp…)
• Bahn Xeo pancakes
• seafood and incomprehensible to us – snakes, frogs, dog meat

Spring rolls in Vietnam

The most favorite Vietnamese food – PHO soup:

• soups, eaten for breakfast, but also for lunch and dinner
• favorite street food from Vietnamese cuisine
• special and specific taste and flavor
• ingredients and spices can differ from a place where you move (chilli sauce, onion, cilantro, herbs, lime, pepper …)
• Banh Mi Vietnamese sandwiches
• rice noodles is important ingredient made from Gao Te fragrant rice
• beef Pho Bo, chicken Pho Ga, stir-fried noodles Pho Xao
• recipe for Pho Bo

The most popular and best-known dish in Vietnam – Pho Bo.

Vietnamese food at festivities of ethnic population in the villages.

Vietnamese food and catering in villages or in the mountains is an important part of the ritual celebrations and festivities. Various ceremonies and rituals can be seen mainly in mountainous areas with ethnic populations. Wedding, funeral, Tet feast or the birth of a child is accompanied by a large consumption of food in the community. Intervention of Vietnamese government eliminate some spiritual celebrations of ethnic population in the mountains.

Food of ethnic residents in the mountains is different from urban areas.

The most popular food at these celebrations have become especially pork, chicken and vegetable dishes served with rice. As a complement to these foods is alcohol – rice wine. Meals are eaten especially with chopsticks. Festivities are socially important because they provide a context in which people maintain good social relations. The situation is similar in urban areas, meals, however, are richer and can be supplemented with traditional liquor and alcohol.

Vietnamese food among ethnic minorities in the north (tofu, vegetables, rice, pork, beef)

Food in the streets of Hanoi (Hanoi street food).

When moving in Hanoi you will see the constant presence of street vendors with food. Hanoi is popular place for street food and the locals are eating on the street everyday and all day event. Most of the population meets the streets with hundreds of small tables and chairs especially in the evening. Hundreds minirestaurants, stalls, small mobile shops on wheels, women with hanging baskets and fruit, varied, tasty and healthy meals, all you’ll see in Hanoi.

You can buy also and visit „Street food tour“ in Hanoi.

This way of eating is also for many people the only source of livelihood. Prices for purchased food on the street are very low, but at the historic sites may be a little bit higher. The best place to try local cuisine in Hanoi is Old Quarter.The most common dishes that you can try are Pho soup, rice in several ways (Com Tam, Xoi), Bahn Mi sandwiches, rice noodles (Bun), Rolls (Banh Cuon), salads (Goi) and other dishes. If you want learn more about vietnamese cuisine and try very unusual dishes try „Street food tour“.

Eating in the streets of Hanoi – Hanoi street food (photo: istolethetv)

Restaurants with European dishes can be found only in tourist places.

Restaurant with European cuisine is no exception. But, I can say that the quality of food does not reach a good quality, and meals are overpriced. These foods from Europe and America can not be classified to the Vietnamese cuisine.
In Vietnam you can find also dog meat, offal various cattle are no exception, larvae, snails. During my traveling i have seen these foods sporadically.

I recommend to eat in the street restaurants, it’s very cheap and often very tasty, but be careful about hygiene. Real Vietnamese cuisine is just in the street.

Exotic fruit in Vietnam is very widespread and very tasty.

The exotic fruit in Vietnam is very widespread and very tasty.

Vietnam lies in the tropics and therefore you can taste lots of interesting exotic fruit. The best conditions and places for fruit cultivation is in southern Vietnam. However, even in the north, of course, you can buy exotic fruits. In northern Vietnam, is also grown apples, strawberries, grapes, peaches, pears, plums as well (a bit different than we know). Juices, jams and other desserts are also produced from exotic fruit.

The fruit is also used as an ingredient in food and fruit desserts.

The most abundant fruit in Vietnam is bananas, tangerines, grapefruits, mangoes, limes, lemons, rambutan, pineapple, mangosteen, papaya, jackruit, pitahaya (dragon fruit), lychee, durian, star apple … Tropical Fruit provides a number ofvitamins (A + C) and it is rich in carbohydrates, minerals and fiber. The fruit is certainly healthy, in cities there may occur a little toxic. It is better to buy fruit out of town and not on the main busy street.

Banh Mi sandwiches in Vietnam

Other popular dishes of Vietnamese cuisine:

Bun Bo Hue

– well-known food mainly in Hue (central Vietnam)
– soup contains rice noodles (Bun) and beef (Bo)
– spicy, sour, salty, sweet taste, aroma of lemon grass

Banh Canh

– broth with strong noodles, can be made from tapioca flour or mixtures of rice

– various kinds – with crab, pork, shrimp, fish

Bun Bo Hue and Banh Canh

Banh Xeo

– crispy pancake made from rice flour with shrimp, pork, bean sprouts, herbs
– Ban xeo is dipped into special sauce
– in southern Vietnam with coconut milk

Banh cuon

– Banh cuon is made from a thin, wide sheet of steamed fermented rice

– filled with boiled pork, mushrooms, onion

– „cha lua“ pork sauce, cucumber, bean sprouts

Banh Xeo and Banh Cuon

Nem Ran

– crispy spring rolls filled with vegetables, meat
– herbs, vegetables, lime, dipped in spicy sauce

Bun Rieu

– soup with rice noodles and meat, there are several types of this dish

– served with tomato, crab broth, supplemented with shrimp paste

– supplemented by also tamarind paste, fried tofu, mint, bean sprouts

Nem Ran and Bun Rieu

A few recommendations in Vietnam:

> Wash purchased fruits, vegetables and herbs and buy only bottled water!

> When you have indigestion, try using probiotics!

> It is not recommended to drink tap water!

> Do not eat smelly food!

Share on Google Plus

About Unknown

This is a short description in the author block about the author. You edit it by entering text in the "Biographical Info" field in the user admin panel.