Just for fun: Food culture in Vietnam

Diksha wrote:

Hello everyone,

We all know Vietnamese food tastes great.

Well, some of it tastes pretty good; only on very rare occasions would I use the word 'great'.

1. Name 3 best well-known Vietnamese street foods according to you.

I don't normally eat in the street, but I have tried Bánh mì, Bánh xèo and Bánh tráng, which were all very OK. Also, we used to buy roasted peanuts, boiled quail eggs and grilled squid while hanging out on Bui Vien Street in Sai Gon back in the day before it got too busy and crowded.

2. Which are some unusual dishes that you have discovered?

While not a dish and actually very commonly found, due to its very weird color, I always Cholimex sauce to be highly unusual in appearance.

3. What makes up the typical breakfast in Vietnam?

Not sure, I normally don't venture out until afternoon. However, I read somewhere that Vietnamese often eat phở bò for breakfast.

4. Name 3 of your favourite festive dishes.

Not sure about "festive" dishes other than mooncakes, which i don't really care for as they're quite fattening. Three everyday things I like are Nem nướng, Mì Quảng and Bánh canh with shrimp, crab or fish. I also like to eat Bún bò Huế on a rainy day.  Various other types of Bún noodles (Bún riêu, bún cá ngừ, Bún thịt nướng/chả giò) are good too, as well as hủ tiếu hải sản (seafood noodle soup) and gỏi cuốn (fresh spring rolls).

5. According to you, which essential ingredient defines Vietnamese cuisine?

Fish sauce, nước mắm, is usually mentioned, but for me it's essential to add chili peppers of some sort (ớt), as otherwise the food is usually too bland.

johnross23 wrote:

5. According to you, which essential ingredient defines Vietnamese cuisine?

Fish sauce, nước mắm, is usually mentioned, but for me it's essential to add chili peppers of some sort (ớt), as otherwise the food is usually too bland.

Interestingly there were no chili peppers in Vietnamese cooking , (or for that matter Thai, Szechuan or Korean) until after the early 1500's when the first Spanish Galleons traveled from Peru to the Philippines.  Chilies are native to the Americas and were unknown in the so called Old World.

THIGV wrote:

[
Interestingly there were no chili peppers in Vietnamese cooking , (or for that matter Thai, Szechuan or Korean) until after the early 1500's when the first Spanish Galleons traveled from Peru to the Philippines.  Chilies are native to the Americas and were unknown in the so called Old World.

Half a millennium is enough time to establish a new condiment.

Half a decade is all it took for McDonalds, also native to the Americas, to take a foothold and mushroom to 17 locations. Vietnam keeps getting better. 

1. Popular dishes are  bun cha, beef pho noodles and bahn mi sandwiches.

2. Unusual dish -  Nem deef fried spring rolls

3. Must try is bahm mi sandwiches.

1. Name 3 best well-known Vietnamese street foods according to you.
- bánh tráng nướng , xôi bắp, bắp xào

2. Which are some unusual dishes that you have discovered ?
- developed quail eggs
- live insects as snack which they are selling in a weekend market
- turtle dish (fried turtle, hotpot turtle, turtle's blood mix with gin).

3. What makes up the typical breakfast in Vietnam?
- bánh cuốn, bánh mì, cháo lòng

4. Name 3 of your favourite festive dishes.
- haven't tried any especially the dishes during Tet holiday.

5. According to you, which essential ingredient defines Vietnamese cuisine?
- mint leaves, coriander, pineapple fruit in a broth of noodle soup.

1. Name 3 best well-known Vietnamese street foods according to you.
Phở, bánh mì, bún thịt nướng
2. Which are some unusual dishes that you have discovered ?
Dísh cooked with turtle and unriped banana
3. What makes up the typical breakfast in Vietnam? Coffee and bánh mì ; phở and cơm tấm
4. Name 3 of your favourite festive dishes.
Bánh chưng, thịt kho tau, fresh spring rolls
5. According to you, which essential ingredient defines Vietnamese cuisine?
Fish sauce, corriander, mint leaves, broth (chicken, pork, beef)

1. Name 3 best well-known Vietnamese street foods according to you.
sadly: Pho, bahn mi, caphe sua...
What i wish it was: Bun Bo hue, banh trang nuong , bo tai chanh

2. Which are some unusual dishes that you have discovered ?
Im working here as a chef and tv host... i could write a book on the things that have freaked me out...
Top would be the first time I ate the stinky tofu from hue... GOOD LORD WHY WOULD SOMEONE EAT THAT! Guess i too weak for that much flavor...

3. What makes up the typical breakfast in Vietnam?
an uncle in his boxer shorts, the smell of cigarettes, and whatever food they feel like cooking...

4. Name 3 of your favorite festive dishes.
Depends on where i am... but i will give you my top 3 experiences
#3 Banh Tet after drunkenly singing 4 hours of karaoke on the side of the road
#2 Hu tieu in SaDec for 7k/bowl... I cried because it was so good and they where REALLY worried about me
#1 Pho Ga in (the middle of nowhere of) Ha Giang province. I made a little chicken friend, and a revelation about Vietnamese cuisine that will probably going to keep me here the rest of my life.

5. According to you, which essential ingredient defines Vietnamese cuisine?
Rice. in all its forms, defines the culture of food and eating in so many ways. its hard to find any table without it... the mastery of noodles, rice paper, dumplings, pancakes... it all starts with understanding rice.
(if you said what flavor, nuac mam obvi)

Cheers
-Logan H.

1. Name 3 best well-known Vietnamese street foods according to you.

Bo bit tet, bahn cuon, i love com tam but its very hard to find up north in Hanoi where I spend more of my time now. In the north they do much better street bbq’s.


2. Which are some unusual dishes that you have discovered ?

BBQ banh mi with butter and honey (or sugar).
Girlfriend loves her BBQ chicken feet and whilst I used to laugh I find myself join her sitting on the roadside munching on them now.

Kem bo is something new and spread quickly. It’s avocado mashed and served with coconut ice cream then topped with fresh and preserved sweetend coconut. AMAZING!

3. What makes up the typical breakfast in Vietnam?
Bo bit tet, banh cuon, chao or banh mi op la

4. Name 3 of your favourite festive dishes.

Chung cake is both disgusting and delicious if fried.

5. According to you, which essential ingredient defines Vietnamese cuisine?

Doesn’t define it but I associate vietnam with an abundance of cheap and fresh seafood. Maybe because they are so good at farming it. I’d like to retire in vietnam and eat hot pot or BBQ seafood every night for dinner.

phikachu wrote:

Girlfriend loves her BBQ chicken feet and whilst I used to laugh I find myself join her sitting on the roadside munching on them now.

I wouldn't eat them, and then a Vietnamese friend said, "don't think of them as chicken feet. Think of them as collagen supplements..."

1.  Banh Mi Thit
2. Goi Cuon
3. Bo Kho. This is my favorite food.

I had a delicious breakfast of Bánh Cuốn, green tea and iced black coffee this morning: only ₫27,000 VNĐ tótal in Vũng Tàu



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