A culinary (?) voyage through Vietnam - Part II

Street vendors selling food in the foot walking zone and some laundry very cheap

This is the second part from my culinary food report, part 1 can be found over there.Like mentioned before, I had the impression that, just like the Cantonese neighbors or just like the Indonesians, Vietnamese like to eat always, at any time and everywhere. Food plays such an important part of their life and I am convinced that if I would be able to speak some Vietnamese, I could introduce you to some local greeting goes something like: Did you eat rice today?


Food is being sold during daytime and in the night, on the street side, out of pots or barrels, in small and big sized restaurants, or stalls on rivers and on the sea from small or big sized boats where snacks can be bought and restaurant can be found, food is being sold from baskets, swimming supermarkets or of bicycles and it's being eaten with great delight by young and old.

desert lady carrying her pots attached to a stick she carries on her shoulder

hoi an restaurant on a houseboat

Swimming fish and seafood restaurant

swimming supermarket lady selling goods in her boat

old noodle fan lady eating her noodles ont he wet market

Actually, it did make me think a bit of Guangzhou where you also will find streets snacks being sold all night long. And just like in Guangzhou, it seems that everything will be eaten. All animals that move too slow, will find their way into the cooking pots of Vietnamese cooks and no part should be spared. Why waste anything that can be transformed into food? You can eat dogs starfish grilled octopus snack snails and frogs (hail to the French), and you can buy bottles of alcohol with strange animals emerged in the liquid (some say it works as a natural Viagra).

Street in the middle of the night full of bbq stands

food stalls in the middle of night

Food stall in the wet market, serving different chicken, tofu, chilli prawn, veggie and other delicacies

little starfish snack sold from a fisher boat

Scorpion and snake alcohol, picture found on this blog

But it is still easy to avoid all of the above mentioned specialties and you will find an abundance of savory dishes full of rich and fresh tastes, always with a strong hint of fresh herbs. You will also discover a cuisine that is rich of influences from all over the world. You will find dishes that origin from China such as the mi Guan, a noodle dish that originated in China.

Hoi An Mi Guan Noodles Hoi An style

There is the famous Vietnamese spring roll that comes in a fried version and also in a fresh version (also called summer rolls). The fresh version uses fresh ingredients such as pork or shrimp, fresh herbs, lettuce, cucumbers, rice vermicelli and all ingredients are wrapped in rice paper which has been moistened for easier rolling of the spring roll. Other kinds of spring rolls can be found all over Asia in neighboring and non neighboring countries such as Thailand, Philippines, China and many more.

Stuffing and rolling the fresh spring roll

Plate of fried spring rolls

Vietnamese beef salad

A last dish that gets honorary mentions from me is the Xoi Chien Phong. To make this fried rice ball is art on its own. The making looks easy when you watch the master cook doing it, but I guess it takes ages to master the technique that is needed in order to make this perfectly round, brown, hollow fried rice ball. The rice ball is often served alongside with sticky rice, which will be scooped up with a broken piece of the rice ball.

rice ball dessert

cook baking a ricefloor ball in hot oil pan

With this desert my report from our culinary tour in Vietnam ends here. During our tour I discovered and learned to appreciate the real flavors of Vietnam and I sure look forward to take another trip to see more of this fascinating country, the friendly people and discover more of their delicious cuisine and I can only encourage everybody to visit this fascinating country if you got the chance.