Dining on traditional Vietnamese cuisine is part of total immersion
into the culture. Vietnamese food is quite unlike any other food in
Southeast Asia. It=92s even quite different from China.
Dining on traditional Vietnamese cuisine is part of total immersion
into the culture. Vietnamese food is quite unlike any other food in
Southeast Asia. It=92s even quite different from China. Overall it=92s a
blend of Malay; Indian; French and influences and incorporates
baguettes and pate from France; and curries and chilies from India.
Foreign visitors consider Vietnamese food quite healthy. It is neither
spicy nor oily. Vietnamese eat mainly rice and noodles. Bread is not
daily family food. Delicious bowls of noodle soup with vegetables and
meat can be purchased everywhere inexpensively for breakfast or even
lunch. Each average meal consists of three to five dishes. Tourists
can enjoy Vietnamese food everywhere at deluxe restaurants or even at
street cafes.
As you travel up or down the country; you will notice sharp
differences in both main dishes and snacks eaten by locals. Its one of
the joys of traveling in the country; and it=92s a good idea to ask your
guide to point out interesting things to eat.
Once you are in Vietnam; you immediately fall in love with Vietnamese
Food. Vietnam is also a coffee-lover=92s dream. It seems like every
street cafe sells the thick coffee preferred by locals. We try to
introduce here some typical Vietnamese food that no tourist can ignore
when they come to Vietnam.
PHO
For Vietnamese; Pho is life; love and all things that matter.
In Vietnam; Pho is mostly a restaurant food. Though some people
prepare it at home; most prefer going to noisy soup shops. Here are a
few tips:
- Pho comes with a variety of toppings including rare beef; well-done
beef and slices of brisket; tendon; tripe and even meatballs. If
you=92re a novice; try pho Tai Chin; which includes the rare and well-
done beef combination.
- Sprinkle some black pepper; then add bean sprouts; fresh chili and a
little squeeze of lime to your bowl. Using your fingers; pluck the
Asian basil leaves from their sprigs and; if they=92re available; shred
the saw-leaf herbs and add to the soup. Add little by little; eating
as you go. If you put the greens in all at once; the broth will cool
too fast and the herbs will overcook and lose their bright flavors.
NEM
One of the best Vietnamese foods! The Vietnamese Version of the egg
roll; Cha Gio is a seasoned mixture of eggs; ground pork; and
sometimes crab or shrimp rolled tightly in rice paper and deep-fried.
It is served accompanied by lettuce; cucumber and Nuoc Mam.
The proper way to eat these delicacies is to roll them in a piece of
lettuce with a slice of cucumber and dip it into the Nuoc Mam.
BANH CHUNG
Banh Chung or square rice cake is a Vietnamese traditional dish most
commonly found during the =93TET=94 New Year celebration. Every Vietnamese
family must have =93Banh Chung=94 among their offerings to be placed on
the ancestors` altars.
One or two days before Tet; the family gathers to prepare and cook the
rice cakes around the warm fire. =93Banh Chung=94 is made of glutinous
rice; pork meat and green bean paste; and is wrapped in a square of
=93Dong=94 leaves (rush leaves) giving the rice a green color after
boiling for ten hours.
During =93Tet=94 New Year; the rice cakes are served with =93gio lua=94 or
lean pork pie; and =93hanh muoi=94 or salted sour onions.
COFFEE
Vietnam is also a leading coffee exporter in the world. You can easy
find many coffee houses in the streets of all cites. Please remember
that Vietnamese coffee is quite =93strong=94. If you take as many as four
cups of coffee in a day; you may be sleepless at night.
Vietnamese coffee is a very good gift from Vietnam for your family
member after a visit to Vietnam. One the most favorite trademark is
Trung Nguyen.
MAM (SALTED FISH)
Mam originally comes from the South because it is newly cultivated
land and there are plenty of fish. Mam made from trout can be consumed
with rice or with boiled pork and fresh vegetables and it=92s considered
an undeniable food of the Daily life in Mekong Delta. Fish caught from
rivers or ponds are carefully salted. It can be reserved in month or
even years
COM (GREEN-RICE)
In a clear autumn morning, when the Northeast wind lightly blows;
green-rice from Vong village (a famous village in Hanoi) travels with
young country girls to the corners of the city. Green rice is said to
be the quintessence of the earth and sky, the milk of rice paddies in
buds. Vong villagers now pick and choose the right kinds of rice to
make green-rice. Traditionally, green-rice is an offering
indispensable on engagement day of the couple, from the bridegroom=92s
family to the bride=92s family.
XOI (GLUTINOUS RICE)
Rice is categorized in two: normal rice and sticky rice. The second is
indispensable in people=92s daily life as well as on holidays. Sticky
rice is plentiful in types: banana flavor, coconut-leaf, sesame and
coconut, sausage, back-peas, green-peas, maize and mixed sticky
rice...are just a few in 3 parts to name. =93Nep than=94, =93Nep cai hoa
vang=94 are best flavors to make rice and wine.
What a wonder it=92s on a winter day! Dressed in warm clothes, we drop
in a little shop at night and have a bowl of white sticky rice
consumed with pork or eggs. On New Year=92s days or holidays, sticky
rice is what must be on the family altar.
CHA CA LA VONG (LA VONG FISH-PIE)
The inventor of this fish-pie came from Doan family on Hang Son
Street, Hanoi. In 19th century, Hanoi people normally baked pork, but
he baked fish-unstinking fish to make fish-pie. Hanoi people then soon
got infatuate it and his eating-house turned prosperous. Henceforth,
the name of the street was changed into Cha Ca (fish-pie) from its
former name Hang Son (Paint Street) due to success of his eatery.
To Hanoi people, the taste of Cha Ca remains as it was. To have tasty
pie, shopkeepers have to select good fish with solid fresh, less bones
and good scent. Processed fish is mixed in fish sauce, pepper,
galingale, saffron and rice-ferment. Then put on a fire-tongs and
grilled right on the eaters' table. Eaters, while eating, have to fan
the fire, turn upside down to make both sides baked. Then they put the
fish into a bowl of boiling fat and consumed with rice vermicelli,
groundnuts, spices, dried rice-cake, sliced onion leaves, some drops
of lemon juice and a little coleopteran.
Hanoi people try fish-pie only in Autumn, when the cold wind is
blowing outside, spices are in season and a group of friends slowly
drink and enjoy the food in a small restaurant on Cha Ca street, what
a wonder it's!
BUN BO HUE (HUE BEEF VERMICELLI)
All over Vietnam, you can find and enjoy beef-vermicelli and it seems
tastes from all parts in the country meet and make up special flavor
of Hue vermicelli.
Hue people enjoy beef-vermicelli in their own way and the food here is
a combined art of something fashionable, something very popular. Hue
connoisseurs rarely enjoy the food in well-decorated restaurants, and
an eating place frequented by tourists is opposite to city post-office
on Ly Thuong Kiet Street. Beef-vermicelli is consumed here day and
night, the broth-pot is kept boiling but this is not the most visited
one because Hue city folks only have beef-vermicelli in the morning
and they have their own choice.
CAKES IN THE CENTRAL PART
Central part, a sunny and rainy area is a bridge that links North and
South and rich in wet-rice, maize, sweet potato, corn and manioc.
These agriculture crops have enriched their life and the people in the
central part have created kinds of cakes made of skillfully prepared
would be a shoe in people hard-working life and aptitude in food
invention.
There are hundreds kinds of cakes: dumpling, boiled dumpling, coconut-
cake, rice-wafer, rice-pie, corn-cake, steamed cake, pan cake, white
rice cake=85are just few to name. Separate cakes are made of certain
ingredients.
Each cake needs certain skills to prepare, for people in the central
part, especially in Hue, cake are synonymous with decorative to their
highly tastes daily meals
More special Vietnam tours offer:
- http://www.activetravel.asia/special_offer/
- http://www.activetravelshop.com/?name=3Dproduct&op=3DlistSubcategories&ca=
t=3DShortexcursions
- http://www.activetravelvietnam.com/tour.php
Supported by www.activetravelmagazines.com |