One notable fact that makes you and many other tourists want to visit Vietnam is the fact that its people have strived to retain their culture regardless of the prevailing western culture that’s spreading vast and wide across the world. Its amazing how this South East Asian country and its people manages to compose itself unlike its adjacent neighbors like Singapore, Indonesia and Thailand. It also goes without saying that the waving of visa restrictions to Vietnam visitors has made it even easier for anyone to access the country, hence the large influx of tourist experienced.
You are welcome to Vietnam, a land of simplicity and full of life. It’s all evident even from their variety of delicious dishes that exist in the simplest form yet so healthy and tasty. By fact, these delicacies and foods from Vietnam are well known around the globe. Take for instance the following five samples that would cherries your moments while there:
1.) Pho: talking of the national dish in Vietnam, you ought to mention pho. Verbally it is pronounced as ‘fuh’ and is the most favorite delicacy amongst most Vietnamese, a fact that makes you want to have a taste of it when served with rice noodles, fresh herbs or even meat – whichever way you like it! ‘Pho Bo’ is a yet another version of this dish – when served with slices of beef, or Pho Ga when served with chicken in place of beef. You can tell it all in every visit you make at feed-points and restaurants here. Surprisingly, this dish is tastiest when eaten from local feed-points for example when taken by the roadside stalls when seating on plastic tools among the locals to try Vietnamese dishes!
2.) Banh Mi: Vietnamese cookery features lots of French food flavors and additives and you will mostly see it in form of baguettes, crepes and also in their vegetables with asparagus a good example here. Banh Mi, which is a kind of bread, that was favorite during the French reign. You will be served with raw vegetables, sausages, shrimps and pig’s liver paste along with other herbs and chili sauce between a baguette.
3.) Cha Ca: Hanonians will always remind you of this popular dish among them, more so when you come across a street named after it. It won’t pass even a busy day without you seeing thousands of Hanonians eating from a bowl of fried fish chunks spiced up with ginger, garlic, turmeric along other herbs and dill when hot. It’s totally up to you to choose where to eat from – either at the Cha Ca La Vong Street, or at the Duong Than Street at the Hoan Kiem district. Whichever place you choose, you do not want to miss it!
4.) Banh: Banh means cake, and in Vietnam you will find a lot of dishes that begin with the prefix Banh. For instance, Bahn Cuon refers to a sheet made from rice flour and stuffed with minced pork and the wood ear mushroom. There’s also Bahn Xeo or a crepe stuffed with ingredients like shrimp, pork, bean sprouts, etc. Banh Khot is another variant common in Central Vietnam. The outer crust is made using coconut milk, while the stuffing is made with shrimp, mung beans, etc.
5.) Banh: this literally means cake. Banh is such a popular name and dish here that you will find many dishes names beginning with it as a prefix. Take a good example with the Bahn Cuon which is typically a sheet made from rice flour then stuffed with minced pork and added the wood ear mushroom. Let’s not forget the Bahn Xeo or a crepe spiced with lots of ingredients like shrimp, pork and bean sprouts. Banh Khot is yet another food variety that prevails in central Vietnam. Its outer crust is constituted of coconut milk and other additional stuffing made from shrimp, mung beans and other additives. Bahn Chung: is such a finger-liking-dish that you wouldn’t want to miss for your lunch. Well, you have Bahn Chung or rice cake made from rice, pork and green beans paste then wrapped in bamboo leaves, not to mention its essence when it comes to giving offerings to ancestors, where it won’t miss to feature.
If you were kin enough you ‘d notice one undisputed fact – that the Vietnamese cookery never misses fresh vegetables and herbs in plenty, which makes the food produce such an enticing aroma with all health benefits that come along when routinely feeding on it. Truly you do not want to miss even a bite of the Vietnamese cuisine! Welcome to Vietnam!