Vietnamese food and drink
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Vietnamese cuisine has become a favourite throughout the Western world and a journey through Vietnam is a gastronomic treat.
One of the delights of visiting Vietnam is the cuisine, and there are said to be about 500 traditional dishes. Eating is such an integral part of the culture that a time-honoured Vietnamese proverb, “hoc an, hoc noi”, dictates that people should “learn to eat before learning to speak”.
Vietnamese cuisine is the sum of many parts. Vietnam has an enviable natural prosperity, and the cooking techniques showcase the bounty from land and sea to great advantage. Colonialism and foreign influences led to a marrying of techniques and ingredients.
Famous dishes such as pho and fresh spring rolls are but the tip of a gastronomic iceberg. In addition to a myriad of foods and preparations, there is a staggering number of sauces and dips limited only by the imagination of each cook. If cooking were painting, Vietnam would have one of the world’s most colourful palettes. The Vietnamese themselves have no culinary inhibitions and are always willing to try something new. When you combine the two, nothing is ruled out.
STAPLES & SPECIALITIES
From the land comes rice, and from the sea and waterways fresh fish for nuoc mam (fish sauce). Together they form the bedrock of Vietnamese cuisine. In supporting roles are the myriad pungent roots, leafy herbs and aromatic tubers, which give Vietnamese salads, snacks, soups and stews their distinctive fragrance and kick. But there are constants: for the Vietnamese cook, freshness and a balanced combination of flavours and textures are paramount.
Pho
You can have pho (rice noodles) everywhere in Vietnam, but it is almost a cult in Hanoi. This full and balanced meal in a bowl will cost you less than 10,000d. In Ihe north the people eat it at any time of day or night, while in the south it’s popular for breakfast. It is artistry, practicality and economy.
Com
Vietnamese have a reverence for corn (rice). It is the “staff of life”, not only at the table but in the economy and culture. Rice can be made into almost anything - wrappers, wine and noodles. Bank trang (rice paper) is something of a misnomer. This stuff is not very good for writing on, but is very good for eating. People il to wrap Vietnamese spring rolls.
Vegetarian cookery uses a lot of glutinous rice, gao nep, a “sticky rice” with a slightly sweet flavour when cooked. Stuffed with mung-bean paste or other savouries, it is the backbone of a variety of rice cakes.
Nem
One of the most popular dishes is nem (Vietnamese spring rolls) which are known as cha gio in the south and nem Sai Gon or nem ran in the north. They are made of rice paper, and are rilled with minced pork, crab, vermicelli, onion, mushroom and eggs. Nem ran are vegetable spring rolls.
A variation on the theme are the delicious larger “fresh” spring rolls called banh trang in the south and banh da in the north. With these you , put the ingredients together yourself and roll your own. The outer shell is a translucent rice crepe.
Herbs & Spices
While rice and nuoc mam define Vietnamese “food”, it is spices that define Vietnamese “cuisine” - the study, practice and development of the kitchen arts. There could be no pho bo without them, just plain beef noodle soup, and nothing to wax rhapsodic about.
Fruits & Vegetables
After rice, fruits and vegetables make up the bulk of the Vietnamese diet. If given the choice of abandoning vegetables or abandoning meat, virtually all Vietnamese would eschew flesh and keep the vegies. And they would not be the inveterate snackers and grazers thai they are were it not for the gift of fruit.
Fish, Meat & Fowl
Thanks to Vietnam’s long coastline, seafood has always been a major source of protein. Crabs, prawns, shrimps, cuttlefish, clams, eel, shellfish and many species of fin fish can be found up and down the coast. For seafood lovers a coastal culinary cruise is one of the highlights of a trip through Vietnam.
In Vietnam chickens, as well as other fowl, are produced in barnyards where they grow up fit, happy and tasty. Beef tends to be expensive as there is not much suitable land for cattle to graze. It can be tough but usually has a good flavour. Pork is one of the favourite meats. Frogs’ legs are good but lamb and mutton arc rarely seen. Chinese-style sausages are common in the markets. Then there are those, shall we say, “unusual” meats (see the boxed text “Travel Your Tastebuds).
Desserts
Do ngot (Vietnamese sweets) and do trang mieng (desserts) are popular everywhere, and are especially prevalent during festivals, when danh (traditional cakes) come in a wide variety of shapes and flavours.
NUOC MAM
Nuoc mam is the one ingredient that is quintessentially Vietnamese and it lends a distinctive character to Vietnamese cooking. The sauce is made by fermenting highly salted fish in large ceramic vats for four to 12 months. Connoisseurs insist the high-grade rocket fuel has a much milder aroma than the cheaper variety, though most foreigners will find it hard to tell the difference. It is very often used as a dipping sauce, and takes the place of salt on a Western table. It can be mixed with garlic, chilli, sugar, vinegar and fresh lime to make the dipping sauce nuoc chom. Insist on the real thing (rather than the lighter stuff) - you will not have been to Vietnam otherwise.
If nuoc mam isn’t strong enough for you, try mam tom a powerful shrimp paste that American soldiers sometimes called “Viet Cong tear gas”. It’s often served with dog meat - foreigners generally find it far more revolting than the dog itself.
TRAVEL YOUR TASTEBUDS
No matter what part of the world you come from, if you travel much in Vietnam you are going to encounter food that to you might seem unusual. The fiercely omnivorous Vietnamese find nothing strange in eating insects, algae, offal or fish bladders. They’ll feast on the flesh of dogs, they’ll eat a crocodile, or a dish of cock’s testicles. They’ll kill a venomous snake before your eyes, cut out its still-beating heart, feed it to you with a cup of the serpent’s blood to wash it down, and say it increases your potency. They’ll slay a monkey and then barbecue it at your tableside.
To the Vietnamese there is nothing “strange” about anything that will sustain the body. To them a food is either wholesome or it isn’t; it’s nutritious or it isn’t; it tastes good or it doesn’t. And that’s all they worry about. They’ll try anything once, even Kentucky Fried Chicken.
During your travels, avoid eating endangered species, as this will only further endanger them. If you are keen for some canine chow, or keen to avoid it, look out for the words thit cho in the north, thit cay in the south.
We Dare You! The Top Five
1.Crickets 2.Dog 3.Duck embryo 4.Field mouse 5.King cobra
Regional Specialities
For such a long country, the way that the people treat their produce is bound to differ according to where they are. Northern food displays a Chinese heritage, but in the south, where the weather is more tropical, the dishes have a more aromatic, spicy nose. In the middle lies Hue, the home of Vietnamese imperial cooking, which features a range of sophisticated, refined dishes designed to tempt jaded royal appetites of yore.
THE NORTH
We are forever thankful to the capital for pho, but there are other tasty teasers in the north. Banh cuon (rice rolls) are produced everywhere in Vietnam, but those that are made in Hanoi have special characteristics, with wrappings as thin as a sheet of paper.
In Hanoi there is a type of oc (snail) living in ponds and lakes that grows to the size of a golf ball, has a streaked colour and, while chewy, is very tasty. Bun oc are boiled snails dipped in nuoc cham.
THE CENTRE
Emperor Tu Duc was a demanding diner, but Hue should be thankful as his legacy is some of the best food in Vietnam.
Appearance is very important, not only in the of colour and the arrangement of food on the plate, bul also in the manner of serving. The menu for an imperial-style banquet today, whether in a fine restaurant or hotel banquet room or even a private home, might include up to a dozen dishes.
Hoi An is best known for cao lau (doughy flat noodles mixed with croutons, bean sprouts and greens and topped off with pork slices). Word has it among foreign tourists that true cao lau can only be made from water drawn from the Ba Le Well, and that you can taste the difference if someone tries to sneak a bastardised version by you.
THE SOUTH
With the cultivation of a greater range of tropical and temperate fruits and vegetables, and more varieties of spice, the south favours spicy dishes. Curries have been around since earliest times, although - unlike the Indian originals - they are not hot but aromatic, influenced by Cambodia. Almost anything cooked in coconut milk is a typical southern dish.
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