Cuisine of Vietnam

Typical dishes of Vietnamese cuisine

Vietnam’s cuisine is known for its widespread use of fish sauce, soy sauce and hoisin sauce (its smell provides a unique character to the kitchen). The recipes of dishes from Vietnam use many vegetables, herbs and spices, including lemon grass, lime and kaffir lime leaves. Across all regions the emphasis is always on serving fresh food.

Ingredients

The most used meats in Vietnamese cuisine are pork, beef, although lamb/goat is very common throughout the territory. In the field of seafood, shrimps are very common, and different types of tropical fish. There are some foods considered taboo in Western culture such as the flesh of a snake, or turtle which are considered delicacies. To this must be added that the consumption of dog meat is more widespread in the north of the country. An example is the Hot Vietnamese vit lon which is a duck egg (similar to balut) that has within it an embryo in development phase which is cooked in brine and eaten served with herbs, salt and pepper.

Regions of Vietnamese cuisine

Vietnamese cuisine can be limited to three clearly defined parts or regions. The cuisine of the north tends to be simpler in their preparations as compared to the cuisines of the central or southern part, and employs large numbers of stir-fries, sometimes using soy sauce, while the southern cuisines of Vietnam use more vegetables, fish and other seafood. The cuisine in the central part of Vietnam has been influenced by the colonization of different cultures.

Typical cuisine Vietnamese

A typical Vietnamese family meal may include the following courses:
Roast fish; stir-fried vegetables; a big bowl of rice to share among the guests (each person has a small wooden bowl with chopsticks); small bowls of fish sauce and soy sauce and a big bowl of soup to share with the people. People sit on the floor, sometimes on a specific coiled bundle at lunchtime.

Typical dishes
Soups

Vietnamese cuisine is known for having a variety of noodle soups, each with different flavors as part of the country in which they are testing. A common feature of all soups is to use a very intense broth.

Bun Bo Hue – noodle soup with lemon grass intense flavor
Pho – soup popular in Vietnam
Banh canh – rice soup
Cha Gio – spring roll
Goi cuon – summer roll

Ingredients for the preparation Pho soup

Desserts

Dessert typically includes different types of fruits such as passion fruit, cactus flower, lychee and jackfruit.