Vietnamese cuisine is a style of cooking derived from Vietnam

Vietnam

Vietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...

. Fish sauce

Fish sauce

Fish sauce is a condiment that is derived from fish that have been allowed to ferment. It is an essential ingredient in many curries and sauces. Fish sauce is a staple ingredient in numerous cultures in Southeast Asia and the coastal regions of East Asia, and features heavily in Thai and Vietnamese...

 and paste, soy paste, rice, fresh herb

Herb

Except in botanical usage, an herb is "any plant with leaves, seeds, or flowers used for flavoring, food, medicine, or perfume" or "a part of such a plant as used in cooking"...

s, fruits and vegetables are commonly used. Vietnamese recipe

Recipe

A recipe is a set of instructions that describe how to prepare or make something, especially a culinary dish.-Components:Modern culinary recipes normally consist of several components*The name of the dish...

s utilize a diverse range of herb

Herb

Except in botanical usage, an herb is "any plant with leaves, seeds, or flowers used for flavoring, food, medicine, or perfume" or "a part of such a plant as used in cooking"...

s, including lemongrass

Cymbopogon

Cymbopogon is a genus of about 55 species of grasses, native to warm temperate and tropical regions of the Old World and Oceania. It is a tall perennial grass...

, mint

Mentha

Mentha is a genus of flowering plants in the family Lamiaceae . The species are not clearly distinct and estimates of the number of species varies from 13 to 18. Hybridization between some of the species occurs naturally...

, Vietnamese mint, long coriander

Eryngium foetidum

Eryngium foetidum is a tropical perennial and annual herb in the family Apiaceae. It is native to Mexico and South America but is cultivated worldwide...

 and Thai basil

Thai basil

Thai basil is a type of sweet basil native to Southeast Asia that has been cultivated to provide a distinctive set of traits. It has an identifiable licorice flavor not present in sweet basil, and its flavor is more stable under high or extended cooking temperatures than that of sweet basil...

 leaves. Traditional Vietnamese cooking is greatly admired for freshness of the ingredients and for the healthy eating style.

The most common meat

Meat

Meat is animal flesh that is used as food. Most often, this means the skeletal muscle and associated fat and other tissues, but it may also describe other edible tissues such as organs and offal...

s used in Vietnamese cuisine

Cuisine

Cuisine is a characteristic style of cooking practices and traditions, often associated with a specific culture. Cuisines are often named after the geographic areas or regions that they originate from...

 are fish

Fish (food)

Fish is a food consumed by many species, including humans. The word "fish" refers to both the animal and to the food prepared from it. Fish has been an important source of protein for humans throughout recorded history.-Terminology:...

, chicken

Chicken (food)

Chicken is the most common type of poultry in the world, and is prepared as food in a wide variety of ways, varying by region and culture.- History :...

, pork

Pork

Pork is the culinary name for meat from the domestic pig , which is eaten in many countries. It is one of the most commonly consumed meats worldwide, with evidence of pig husbandry dating back to 5000 BC....

, beef

Beef

Beef is the culinary name for meat from bovines, especially domestic cattle. Beef can be harvested from cows, bulls, heifers or steers. It is one of the principal meats used in the cuisine of the Middle East , Australia, Argentina, Brazil, Europe and the United States, and is also important in...

, and various kinds of seafood

Seafood

Seafood is any form of marine life regarded as food by humans. Seafoods include fish, molluscs , crustaceans , echinoderms . Edible sea plants, such as some seaweeds and microalgae, are also seafood, and are widely eaten around the world, especially in Asia...

. The Vietnamese also have a strong vegetarian tradition influenced by Buddhist values.

Regional variations

The mainstream culinary traditions in all three regions of Vietnam share some fundamental features:

• Freshness of food: Most meats are only briefly cooked to preserve their original textures and colors. Vegetables are freshly eaten; if they are cooked, they are boiled or only briefly stir-fried.
• Presence of herbs and vegetables: Herbs and vegetables are essential to many Vietnamese dishes and are often abundantly used.
• Broths or soup-based dishes are characteristic of all three regions
• Presentation: The condiments that accompany Vietnamese meals are usually colorful and arranged in eye-pleasing manners.

While sharing some key features, Vietnamese culinary tradition differs from region to region.

In Northern Vietnam, colder climate limits the production and availability of spices. As a result, the foods here are often less spicy than those in other regions. Black pepper is used in place of chiles as the most popular ingredient to produce spicy flavors. In general, Northern Vietnamese cuisine is not bold in any particular flavor - sweet, salty, spicy, bitter, or sour. Most Northern Vietnamese foods feature light and balanced flavors that result from subtle combinations of many different flavoring ingredients. The use of meats such as pork, beef, and chicken were relatively limited in the past. Freshwater fish, crustaceans, and mollusks - such as prawns, squids, shrimps, crabs, clams, mussels - are widely used. Many notable dishes of Northern Vietnam are crab-centered (e.g., bún riêu). Fish sauce, soy sauce, prawn sauce, and lime are among the main flavoring ingredients. Being the cradle of Vietnamese civilization, Northern Vietnam produces many signature dishes of Vietnam, such as phở, bún riêu, bánh cuốn, which were carried to Central and Southern Vietnam through the road of Vietnamese migration.

The abundance of spices produced by Central Vietnam's mountainous terrain makes this region's cuisine notable for its spicy food, which sets it apart from the two other regions of Vietnam where foods are mostly non-spicy. Once the capital of the last dynasty of Vietnam, Hue's culinary tradition features highly decorative and colorful food, reflecting the influence of ancient Vietnamese royal cuisine. The region's cuisine is also notable for its sophisticated meals constituted by many complex dishes served in small portions. Chili peppers and shrimp sauces are among the frequently used ingredients. Some Vietnamese signature dishes produced in Central Vietnam are bún bò Huế and bánh xèo.

The warm weather and fertile soil of Southern Vietnam create an ideal condition for growing a wide variety of fruits, vegetables, and livestock. As a result, foods in Southern Vietnam are often vibrant and flavorful with liberal uses of garlic

Garlic

Allium sativum, commonly known as garlic, is a species in the onion genus, Allium. Its close relatives include the onion, shallot, leek, chive, and rakkyo. Dating back over 6,000 years, garlic is native to central Asia, and has long been a staple in the Mediterranean region, as well as a frequent...

, shallot

Shallot

The shallot is the botanical variety of Allium cepa to which the multiplier onion also belongs. It was formerly classified as the species A. ascalonicum, a name now considered a synonym of the correct name...

s, and fresh herb

Herb

Except in botanical usage, an herb is "any plant with leaves, seeds, or flowers used for flavoring, food, medicine, or perfume" or "a part of such a plant as used in cooking"...

s. Sugar is added to food more than in the other regions. The preference for sweetness in Southern Vietnam can also be seen through the widespread use of coconut milk in Southern Vietnamese cuisine. Vast shorelines make seafood a natural staple for people in this region. Southern Vietnam has also been the region where influences from foreign cuisines (Chinese, Indian, French, Thai etc.) are most prominent.

External influences

As distinct as Vietnamese cuisine is, it has been influenced by several sources.

Due to historical contact with China, Vietnam shares many of its characteristics with China. In culinary traditions, Chinese introduced to Vietnam many dishes including hoành thánh (wonton

Wonton

Not to be confused with WantonA wonton is a type of dumpling commonly found in a number of Chinese cuisines.-Filling:...

), xá xíu (char siu

Char siu

Char siu , otherwise known as barbecued meat in China or Chinese-flavored barbecued meat outside China, is a popular way to flavor and prepare pork in Cantonese cuisine. It is classified as a type of siu mei, Cantonese roasted meat...

), há cảo (dumpling

Dumpling

Dumplings are cooked balls of dough. They are based on flour, potatoes or bread, and may include meat, fish, vegetables, or sweets. They may be cooked by boiling, steaming, simmering, frying, or baking. They may have a filling, or there may be other ingredients mixed into the dough. Dumplings may...

), hủ tiếu (ka tieu), mì (wheat noodles), bò bía (Popiah

Popiah

Popiah is a Fujian/Chaozhou-style fresh spring roll common in Taiwan, Singapore, and Malaysia. Popiah is often eaten in the Fujian province of China and its neighbouring Chaoshan on the Qingming Festival. In the Teochew dialect, popiah is pronounced as "Bo-BEE-a", which means "thin wafer"...

), bánh quẩy (youtiao), mooncake

Mooncake

Mooncake is a Chinese bakery product traditionally eaten during the Mid-Autumn Festival / Zhongqiu Festival. The festival is for lunar worship and moon watching; mooncakes are regarded as an indispensable delicacy on this occasion. Mooncakes are offered between friends or on family gatherings...

 and bánh pía (Suzhou style mooncake), bánh tổ (nian gao

Nian gao

Niángāo, Year cake or Chinese New Year's cake is a food prepared from glutinous rice and consumed in Chinese cuisine. It is available in Asian supermarkets and from health food stores. While it can be eaten all year round, traditionally it is most popular during Chinese New Year...

), sủi dìn (tang yuan), bánh bò

Bánh bò

Bánh bò is a sweet, chewy sponge cake from Vietnam. It is made from rice flour, water, sugar, and yeast, and has a honeycomb-like appearance on the inside due to the presence of numerous small air bubbles. Coconut milk is also usually a part of the batter, imparting a slight flavor and aroma of...

, bánh bao

Bánh bao

Bánh bao is a ball-shaped dumpling with pork or chicken meat, onions, eggs, mushrooms and vegetables inside, in Vietnamese cuisine. The steamed bun often has ground pork or chicken, Chinese sausage, and a portion of a hard-boiled egg inside...

 (baozi

Baozi

A bāozi or simply known as bao, bau, humbow, nunu, bausak, pow or pau is a type of steamed, filled bun or bread-like item in various Chinese cuisines, as there is much variation as to the fillings and the preparations...

), cơm chiên Dương Châu (Yangzhou-fried rice), mì xào (chow mein

Chow mein

Chow mein is a Chinese term for a dish of stir-fried noodles, of which there are many varieties.-Etymology:...

). Vietnamese adopted these foods and added their own styles and flavors to the foods. Ethnic minorities in the mountainous region near China-Vietnam border also adopted some foods from China. Ethnic Tày

Tay people

The Tày people speak a language of the Central Tai language group, and live in northern Vietnam. They are sometimes also called Thô, T'o, Tai Tho, Ngan, Phen, Thu Lao, or Pa Di....

 and Nùng in Lạng Sơn province adopted "thịt lợn quay" (roasted pork) and "khau nhục" (braised pork belly) from China. Some New world vegetables such as chilli and maize also made way to Vietnam from the Ming dynasty

Ming Dynasty

The Ming Dynasty, also Empire of the Great Ming, was the ruling dynasty of China from 1368 to 1644, following the collapse of the Mongol-led Yuan Dynasty. The Ming, "one of the greatest eras of orderly government and social stability in human history", was the last dynasty in China ruled by ethnic...

.

The French introduced to Vietnam baguettes, which were then combined with Vietnamese stuffing to become a popular fast food

Fast food

Fast food is the term given to food that can be prepared and served very quickly. While any meal with low preparation time can be considered to be fast food, typically the term refers to food sold in a restaurant or store with preheated or precooked ingredients, and served to the customer in a...

 in Vietnam called bánh mì

Bánh mì

Bánh mì or bánh mỳ is a Vietnamese term for all kinds of bread. Bread, or more specifically the baguette, was introduced by the French during its colonial period. The bread most commonly found in Vietnam is single serve and resembles a torpedo, therefore the term bánh mì is synonymous with this...

 and known overseas as "Vietnamese sandwich". The French also brought to Vietnam onions, cauliflower, lettuce, potatoes, tarragon, carrot, artichoke, asparagus, and coffee. Onions are called "hành tây" (literally "Western shallots"), asparagus as "măng tây" (literally "Western bamboo shoots") and potatoes are called "khoai tây" (literally "Western yam") in Vietnamese, which reflect their origin before arriving to Vietnam. French influenced dishes are numerous and not limited to: xà lách (salad), pâté

Pâté

Pâté is a mixture of ground meat and fat minced into a spreadable paste. Common additions include vegetables, herbs, spices, and either wine or cognac, armagnac or brandy...

, patê sô (a Brittany pasty called "paté chaud), bánh sừng trâu (croissant), bánh flan

Flan

Crème caramel , flan , or caramel custard is a custard dessert with a layer of soft caramel on top, as opposed to crème brûlée, which is custard with a hard caramel top...

, ya ua (yogurt), rôti (rotisserie), bơ (butter), vịt nấu cam (duck à l'orange), ốp lết (omelette), ốp la (œufs au plat), phạc xi (farcies), bít tết (beefsteak), sốt vang (cooking with wine), dăm bông (jambon), xúc xích (saucisse).

During the 17th century, contact with the Siam from India lead to the adoption of curry

Curry

Curry is a generic description used throughout Western culture to describe a variety of dishes from Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Sri Lankan, Thai or other Southeast Asian cuisines...

 in Vietnamese cuisine. Though not common in the North, cà ri is a quite popular dish in central and southern Vietnam. The most common form is the chicken curry and to a lesser extent, the goat curry. The chicken curry is an indispensable dish in many social gathering events such as weddings, funerals and the yearly death anniversary of a loved one. In Vietnam, curry is eaten either with the French baguettes or with steamed rice. The round rice noodles (rice vermicelli) are sometimes eaten with curry.

Vietnamese cuisine also has Khmer influences with the adoption of mắm bồ hóc (prahok

Prahok

Prahok​​ is a crushed, salted and fermented fish paste that is used in Cambodian cuisine as a seasoning or a condiment. It originated as a way of preserving fish during the longer months when fresh fish was not available in abundant supply...

). Mắm bồ hóc is used as a central ingredient of a Vietnamese rice noodle soup called "bún nước lèo."

With the contact with communist countries from Eastern Europe, the Vietnamese adopted dishes such as stuffed cabbage soup, xà lách Nga (Russian salad) and Czech beer.

From Thailand, Vietnamese adopted xôi xoài (mango sticky rice) and lẩu Thái (Thai hotpot) - a very popular party food in Vietnam, especially in Saigon. Recently, the Koreans and Japanese also introduced Mì Hàn Quốc and Mù tạt wasabi to many countries.

Cooking techniques

Common Vietnamese methods usually observed in preparing all ingredients include:

• Rán,Chiên: fried dishes.
  • Chiên nước mắm: Fried with fish sauce.
  • Chiên bột: Battered then deep fried.
• Rang: fried dishes without oil.
• Áp chảo: Pan-fried then sautéed.
• Xào: stir fry, sautéing.
  • Xào tỏi: Stir fry with garlic. Very common way of treating vegetables.
  • Xào sả ớt: Sautéed with garlic and chilli.
  • Xào lăn: Pan searing or stir frying quickly to cook rare meat.
  • Xáo măng: Cooked/sautéed with bamboo shoots.
• Nhồi thịt: Squid or vegetable stuffed with minced meat then cooked.
• Sốt chua ngọt: Fried with sweet and sour sauce.
• Kho
  Kho
  Kho is a cooking technique in Vietnamese cuisine in which a protein source such as fish, shrimp, poultry, pork, beef, or fried tofu is braised on low heat in a mixture of fish sauce, sugar, and water or a water substitute such as young coconut juice...
  
  : stew, braised dishes.
  • Kho khô: literally dried stew (until the sauce thickens).
  • Kho tiêu/kho gừng/kho riềng: Stewed with peppercorns/ginger/galangal.
• Nấu: Simply means cooking, usually in a pot.
  • Nấu nước dừa: Cooked with coconut juice.
• Hầm/Ninh: slow-cook with spices or other ingredients over a long period of time.
• Rim: simmering.
• Luộc: boiling with water, usually applied to fresh vegetables and meat.
• Hấp: steamed dishes.
  • Hấp sả: Hấp or steamed with lemongrass.
  • Hấp Hồng Kông or Hấp xì dầu: "Hong Kong" style steamed dish (ie: with scallion, ginger and soy sauce).
• Om: clay pot cooking of Northern style.
  • Om sữa: Cooked in clay pot with milk.
  • Om chuối đậu: Cooked with young banana and tofu.
• Gỏi
  GOI
  - Codes :GOI is:* the IATA airport code of Dabolim Airport in the village of Dabolim, Goa, India* the ICAO airline designator of Gofir S.A. airline, Switzerland* the LSE ticker of GoIndustry DoveBid, an international valuation and auction firm...
  
  : salad dishes.
• Nướng: grilled dishes.
  • Nướng xiên: skewer
    Skewer
    A skewer is a thin metal or wood stick used to hold pieces of food together. They are used while grilling or roasting meats, and in other culinary applications....
    
    ed dishes.
  • Nướng ống tre: Cooked in bamboo tubes over fire.
  • Nướng mọi/nướng trui/thui: Char-grilled over open fire.
  • Nướng đất sét/lá chuối: Cooked in a clay mould or banana leaves wrap. Recently clay moulds and banana leaves are being replaced by kitchen foil, hence the method has evolved into nướng giấy bạc.
  • Nướng muối ớt: Marinated with salt and chilli then grilled.
  • Nướng tỏi: Marinated with garlic then grilled.
  • Nướng mỡ hành: Grilled then topped with melted lard, peanuts and chopped green onions.
• Bằm: sauteed mixed of chopped ingredients.
• Cháo: congee
  Congee
  Congee is a type of rice porridge popular in many Asian countries. It can be eaten alone or served with a side dish. Names for congee are as varied as the style of its preparation...
  
   dishes.
• Súp: soup
  Soup
  Soup is a generally warm food that is made by combining ingredients such as meat and vegetables with stock, juice, water, or another liquid. Hot soups are additionally characterized by boiling solid ingredients in liquids in a pot until the flavors are extracted, forming a broth.Traditionally,...
  
   dishes (not canh or clear broth soup)
• Rô ti: roasting meat then bring to a simmer.
• Cà ri: curry dishes.
• Quay: roasted dishes.
• Lẩu: hot pot
  Hot pot
  Hot pot , less commonly Chinese fondue or steamboat, refers to several East Asian varieties of stew, consisting of a simmering metal pot of stock at the center of the dining table. While the hot pot is kept simmering, ingredients are placed into the pot and are cooked at the table...
  
   dishes.
• Nhúng dấm: Cooked in a vinegar-based hotpot
  Hotpot
  Hot pot may refer to:* Lancashire hotpot, a traditional British stew of meat, potatoes and vegetables* Hot pot, a dish or style of cooking from China, Taiwan, and Southeast Asia**Shabu-shabu* Hodge-Podge soup* Karelian hot pot...
  
  .
• Cuốn: Refers to any dish featuring rice paper
  Rice paper
  Rice paper usually refers to paper made from parts of the rice plant, like rice straw or rice flour. The term is also used for paper made from or containing other plants, such as hemp, bamboo or mulberry...
  
   wraps with bún
  Bun
  A bun is a small, usually sweet, bread. Commonly they are hand-sized or smaller, domed in shape, with a flat bottom. A bun can also be a savory bread roll similar to a bap or barmcake....
  
   and fresh herbs.
• Bóp thấu/tái chanh: Raw meat/seafood preparing with lime or vinegar.

Typical Vietnamese family meal

A typical meal for the average Vietnamese family would include:

• Large bowl/pot/cooker of steamed white rice
  Rice
  Rice is the seed of the monocot plants Oryza sativa or Oryza glaberrima . As a cereal grain, it is the most important staple food for a large part of the world's human population, especially in East Asia, Southeast Asia, South Asia, the Middle East, and the West Indies...
  
  
• Individual bowls
• Fish/seafood, meat, tofu (grilled, boiled, steamed, stewed or stir-fried with vegetables)
• A stir-fry dish
• Raw, pickled, steamed, or fresh vegetables
• Canh (a clear broth
  Broth
  Broth is a liquid food preparation, typically consisting of either water or an already flavored stock, in which bones, meat, fish, cereal grains, or vegetables have been simmered. Broth is used as a basis for other edible liquids such as soup, gravy, or sauce. It can be eaten alone or with garnish...
  
   with vegetables and often meat or seafood) or other Vietnamese-style soup
  Soup
  Soup is a generally warm food that is made by combining ingredients such as meat and vegetables with stock, juice, water, or another liquid. Hot soups are additionally characterized by boiling solid ingredients in liquids in a pot until the flavors are extracted, forming a broth.Traditionally,...
  
  
• Prepared fish sauce
  Fish sauce
  Fish sauce is a condiment that is derived from fish that have been allowed to ferment. It is an essential ingredient in many curries and sauces. Fish sauce is a staple ingredient in numerous cultures in Southeast Asia and the coastal regions of East Asia, and features heavily in Thai and Vietnamese...
  
   for dipping, to which garlic, pepper, chili, ginger or lime juice are sometimes added according to taste.
• Dipping sauces and condiments depending on the main dishes, such as pure fish sauce, ginger fish sauce, tamarind fish sauce, soy sauce, muối tiêu chanh (salt and pepper with lime juice) or muối ớt (chilli and salt).
• Small dish of relishes, such as salted eggplant, pickled white cabbage, pickled papaya, pickled garlic or pickled bean sprouts
• Fresh fruits or desserts, such as chè
  Chè
  Chè is a Vietnamese term that refers to any traditional Vietnamese sweet dessert soup or pudding.As such, it may, with the addition of qualifying adjectives, refer to a wide variety of distinct soups or puddings, which may be served either hot or cold...
  
  

All dishes apart from the individual bowls of rice are communal and to be shared.

Feast

Feast (Vietnamese

Vietnamese language

Vietnamese is the national and official language of Vietnam. It is the mother tongue of 86% of Vietnam's population, and of about three million overseas Vietnamese. It is also spoken as a second language by many ethnic minorities of Vietnam...

: cỗ, tiệc) is a significant event for families or a villages, usually up to 12 people for each table. Feast is prepared for weddings, funerals or in festivals, including wish-for-longevity ceremony. In a feast, ordinary foods are not served but boiled rice is still used. The well-known feast is the feast of 49 quan họ villages with cỗ năm tầng.

Vietnamese feast has two courses: main course (món mặn. Literally: salty dish) and dessert (món ngọt. Literally: sweet dish). All dishes, except for individual bowls of rice, are enjoyed collectively. All main course dishes are served simultaneously rather than subsequently. The most major dish of the main course is place in the centers of the tables, usually big pots of soup or hotpot.

Attendants are arranged into several groups according to their social status, genders, ages, their degree of acquantaince and their eating habits and preferences. It is a custom that female guests will bring some food and help the hosts to prepare the feast.

A basic feast (Vietnamese: cỗ một tầng) consists of ten dishes: five dishes in bowls (năm bát): bóng, miến (cellophane noodles

Cellophane noodles

Cellophane noodles are a type of transparent noodle made from starch , and water.They are generally sold in dried form, boiled to reconstitute, then used in soups, stir fried dishes,...

), măng (bamboo shoot), mọc (meat ball), chim or gà tần (bird or chicken stew dishes) and five dishes in plates (năm đĩa): giò (Vietnamese sausage), chả, gà or vịt luộc (boiled chicken or duck), nộm (Vietnamese salad) and xào (stir-frying dishes). This kind of feast is original and is organized in the Northern Vietnam. Other variances are held in Central and Southern Vietnam.

Four dishes are indispensable in the feast of Tết

Tet

Tet can mean:*Tết or Tết Nguyên Đán, the Vietnamese new year**Tet Offensive, a military campaign that began in 1968*Têt in Roussillon, France*Equal temperament, abbreviated as 12-TET, 19-TET and so on...

 are giò (Vietnamese sausage), nem (spring roll), ninh (stew dishes) and mọc (meat ball). In this time, the feast for offering ancestors includes: sticky rice, boiled chicken, Vietnamese rice wine, and other preferred foods by ancestors in the past.

Gifts are given before guests leave the feast.

Popularity

Outside of Vietnam, Vietnamese cuisine is widely available in countries with strong Vietnamese immigrant communities, such as Australia, the United States, Canada, and France. Vietnamese cuisine is also popular in Japan, Korea

Korea

Korea ) is an East Asian geographic region that is currently divided into two separate sovereign states — North Korea and South Korea. Located on the Korean Peninsula, Korea is bordered by the People's Republic of China to the northwest, Russia to the northeast, and is separated from Japan to the...

, Czech Republic

Czech Republic

The Czech Republic is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Poland to the northeast, Slovakia to the east, Austria to the south, and Germany to the west and northwest....

, Germany, Poland, and Russia, and in areas with dense Asian populations.

In recent years, Vietnamese cuisine has become popular in other Southeast Asian countries such as Laos

Laos

Laos Lao: ສາທາລະນະລັດ ປະຊາທິປະໄຕ ປະຊາຊົນລາວ Sathalanalat Paxathipatai Paxaxon Lao, officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic, is a landlocked country in Southeast Asia, bordered by Burma and China to the northwest, Vietnam to the east, Cambodia to the south and Thailand to the west...

, and Thailand

Thailand

Thailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...

.

Dishes that have become trademarks of Vietnamese cuisine are phở

PHO

PHO may refer to:* Primary Health Organisation* Potentially hazardous object, an asteroid or comet that could potentially collide with Earth...

, gỏi cuốn (spring/summer rolls), bún

Rice vermicelli

Rice vermicelli are thin noodles made from rice and are a form of rice noodles. They are sometimes referred to as rice noodles or rice sticks, but they should not be confused with cellophane noodles, which is another type of vermicelli....

, and bánh mì

Bánh mì

Bánh mì or bánh mỳ is a Vietnamese term for all kinds of bread. Bread, or more specifically the baguette, was introduced by the French during its colonial period. The bread most commonly found in Vietnam is single serve and resembles a torpedo, therefore the term bánh mì is synonymous with this...

(Vietnamese baguette).

Television shows featuring Vietnamese food have increased its publicity. On The Great Food Truck Race, a vietnamese sandwich truck called Nom Nom Truck received the most money in the first five episodes. Anthony Bourdain wrote for the Financial Times in 2005, “A year from now, I plan to live here. I will move to a small fishing village in a coastal area of Vietnam near Hoi An. I have no idea what I'm going to do there, other than write about the experience. I plan only on being a visual curiosity, the lone westerner in a Vietnamese community; to rent a house, move in with few, if any, expectations and let the experience wash over me. Whatever happens, happens.”

Yin Yang balance

The principle of yin and yang

Yin and yang

In Asian philosophy, the concept of yin yang , which is often referred to in the West as "yin and yang", is used to describe how polar opposites or seemingly contrary forces are interconnected and interdependent in the natural world, and how they give rise to each other in turn. Opposites thus only...

 is applied in selecting the ingredients of a dish and the dishes of a meal, in matching dishes with seasonal or climatic conditions, with the prevalent environment and with the current physical well-being of the diners.

Some examples are:

• Duck meat is considered "cool" so is served in summer, which is hot, and with ginger fish sauce
  Fish sauce
  Fish sauce is a condiment that is derived from fish that have been allowed to ferment. It is an essential ingredient in many curries and sauces. Fish sauce is a staple ingredient in numerous cultures in Southeast Asia and the coastal regions of East Asia, and features heavily in Thai and Vietnamese...
  
  , which is "warm." On the other hand, chicken, which is "warm," and pork, which is "hot," are used in cold winters.
• Seafood ranging from "cool" to "cold" are suitable to use with ginger
  Ginger
  Ginger is the rhizome of the plant Zingiber officinale, consumed as a delicacy, medicine, or spice. It lends its name to its genus and family . Other notable members of this plant family are turmeric, cardamom, and galangal....
  
   ("warm").
• Spicy, which is extremely yang, must be harmonized by sour, which is extremely yin.
• Balut- "Hột vịt lộn," meaning " Upside-down egg" ("cold"), must be combined with Vietnamese mint "Rau răm" ("hot").
• Cold
  Common cold
  The common cold is a viral infectious disease of the upper respiratory system, caused primarily by rhinoviruses and coronaviruses. Common symptoms include a cough, sore throat, runny nose, and fever...
  
   and flu patients must drink ginger water ("hot").

Five element correspondence

Vietnamese cuisine is influenced by the Asian principle of five elements and Mahābhūta

Mahabhuta

Mahābhūta is Sanskrit and Pāli for "great element." In Buddhism, the "four great elements" are earth, water, fire and air...

.

Many Vietnamese dishes include five spices (Vietnamese

Vietnamese language

Vietnamese is the national and official language of Vietnam. It is the mother tongue of 86% of Vietnam's population, and of about three million overseas Vietnamese. It is also spoken as a second language by many ethnic minorities of Vietnam...

: ngũ vị): spicy (metal), sour (wood), bitter (fire), salty (water) and sweet (Earth), corresponding to: five organs (Vietnamese

Vietnamese language

Vietnamese is the national and official language of Vietnam. It is the mother tongue of 86% of Vietnam's population, and of about three million overseas Vietnamese. It is also spoken as a second language by many ethnic minorities of Vietnam...

: ngũ tạng): gall bladder, small intestine, large intestine, stomach and urinary bladder.

Vietnamese dishes also include five types of nutrients (Vietnamese

Vietnamese language

Vietnamese is the national and official language of Vietnam. It is the mother tongue of 86% of Vietnam's population, and of about three million overseas Vietnamese. It is also spoken as a second language by many ethnic minorities of Vietnam...

: ngũ chất): powder, water or liquid, mineral elements, protein and fat.

Vietnamese cooks try to have five colours (Vietnamese

Vietnamese language

Vietnamese is the national and official language of Vietnam. It is the mother tongue of 86% of Vietnam's population, and of about three million overseas Vietnamese. It is also spoken as a second language by many ethnic minorities of Vietnam...

: ngũ sắc): white (metal), green (wood), yellow (Earth), red (fire) and black (water) in their dishes.

Dishes in Vietnam appeal to gastronomes via five senses (Vietnamese

Vietnamese language

Vietnamese is the national and official language of Vietnam. It is the mother tongue of 86% of Vietnam's population, and of about three million overseas Vietnamese. It is also spoken as a second language by many ethnic minorities of Vietnam...

: năm giác quan): food arrangement attracts eyes, sounds come from crisp ingredients, five spices detected on the tongue, aromatic ingredients coming mainly from herbs stimulate the nose and some meals, especially finger food

Finger food

Finger food is food meant to be eaten directly using the hands, in contrast to food eaten with a knife and fork, chopsticks, or other utensils. In some cultures, food is almost always eaten with the hands; for example, Ethiopian cuisine is eaten by rolling various dishes up in injera bread. In the...

, can be perceived by touching.

Cultural importance

Salt is used as the connection between the world of the living and the world of the dead. Bánh phu thê is used to remind new couples of perfection and harmony at their weddings. Food is often placed at the ancestral altar as an offering to the dead. Cooking and eating play an extremely important role in Vietnamese culture. The word ăn (eat) is included in a great number of proverbs and has a large range of semantic extensions.

Proverbs

Examples:

• Ăn coi nồi, ngồi coi hướng (lit. "Checking the status of the rice pot when eating, watch where/what direction you are sitting.") = Be careful of possible faux pas(es).
• Ăn theo thuở, ở theo thì = Living in accordance to one's limit and social circumstance. A variation of "In Rome, do as Romans do" (within your means)
• Cha ăn mặn, con khát nước (lit. "Father eats salty food, the children will be thirsty.") = Bad actions will later bring bad luck/consequences to descendants.
• Ăn kĩ no lâu, cày sâu tốt lúa (lit. Eating carefully [make you] feel full longer, ploughing deep is good for the rice) = Careful execution brings better results than hasty actions.

Semantic extensions

Examples:

• Ăn nói (lit. eating speaking) = Speaking (chosen in context of care, consideration, courtersy)
• Ăn ở (lit. eating living) = [one's] behavior and/in dealing with others.
• Ăn nằm (lit. eating lying down) = A rather polite folksy way of saying having sex.
• Ăn mặc (lit. eating putting on cloth) = [state of] Dressing [usually in context of comments from others]
• Ăn xài (lit. eating spending) = Spending money, buying stuff, usually used in context of extravagance.
• Ăn diện (lit. eating dressing up) = Dressing up, usually used in context of extravagance.
• Ăn thua (lit. Winning losing) = Various. Không ăn thua (lit. No winning losing) = Having no effect at all. Ăn thua đủ (lit. winning losing full)= Fully committed to protest/argument/action regardless of the outcome whatsovever.
• Ăn chơi (lit. eating playing) = Extravagant lifestyle, playboy-like lifestyle.

Popular dishes

When Vietnamese dishes are referred to in English, it is generally by the Vietnamese name with the diacritic

Diacritic

A diacritic is a glyph added to a letter, or basic glyph. The term derives from the Greek διακριτικός . Diacritic is both an adjective and a noun, whereas diacritical is only an adjective. Some diacritical marks, such as the acute and grave are often called accents...

s left off. Some dishes have gained descriptive English names as well.

Popular Vietnamese dishes include:

Noodle dishes

Name	Description
Bánh hỏi	An extremely thin noodle that is woven into intricate bundles. Often topped with spring onion and a complementary meat dish, such as thịt heo quay (roasted pork, often eaten at weddings).
Bún thịt nướng	A thin rice vermicelli served cold with grilled marinated pork chops and nước chấm (fish sauce Fish sauce Fish sauce is a condiment that is derived from fish that have been allowed to ferment. It is an essential ingredient in many curries and sauces. Fish sauce is a staple ingredient in numerous cultures in Southeast Asia and the coastal regions of East Asia, and features heavily in Thai and Vietnamese... , served with julienned daikon Daikon Daikon , Raphanus sativus var. longipinnatus, also called White Radish, Japanese radish, Oriental radish, Chinese radish, lo bok and Mooli , is a mild flavoured, very large, white East Asian radish... and carrot Carrot The carrot is a root vegetable, usually orange in colour, though purple, red, white, and yellow varieties exist. It has a crisp texture when fresh... ). A similar Northern version is bún chả Bún chả Grilled Pork Noodle Soup is a Vietnamese dish, which is thought to be originated from Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam. Bun cha is served with a plate of white rice noodle and herbs in a steamy broth.-External links:* *... with grilled pork meatballs in place of grilled pork chops.
Bún chả Bún chả Grilled Pork Noodle Soup is a Vietnamese dish, which is thought to be originated from Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam. Bun cha is served with a plate of white rice noodle and herbs in a steamy broth.-External links:* *...	A simple and popular dish, basically a combination vermicelli plate. Grilled pork (often ground) and vermicelli noodles are served over a bed of greens (salad and sliced cucumber), herbs and bean sprouts. Often includes a few chopped-up egg rolls, spring onions, and shrimp. Served with roasted peanuts on top and a small bowl of nước chấm.
Bún chả giò	it is similar to the above dish except deep-fried spring rolls are substituted for the meats.
Cao lầu Cao lau Cao lầu is a regional dish made with noodles, pork, and greens and is only found in the town of Hội An, in the Quang Nam Province of central Vietnam. Its unique taste is rumoured to be contributed by the water from an undisclosed ancient Cham well just outside of the town.-External links:****...	A Hội An Hoi An Hội An , or rarely Faifo, is a city of Vietnam, on the coast of the South China Sea in the South Central Coast of Vietnam. It is located in Quang Nam province and is home to approximately 120,000 inhabitants...  dish, made of specially "burnt-flavoured" egg noodles topped with meats.
Mì Quảng Mi quang Mì Quảng , is a Vietnamese noodle dish that is originated from the provinces of Quang Nam and Da Nang, in the South Central Coast of Vietnam. In the region, it is one of the most popular dishes, and it is served in various occasions such as family party, death anniversary, and Tết...	A popular and extremely complicated noodle dish, originating from Quang Nam. Mi Quang varies in its preparation but features sharply contrasting flavors and textures in a shallow bowl of broth, noodles, herbs, vegetables, and roasted rice chips (bánh đa).
Mì xào dòn	A dish of crispy deep-fried egg noodles, topped with a wide array of seafood Seafood Seafood is any form of marine life regarded as food by humans. Seafoods include fish, molluscs , crustaceans , echinoderms . Edible sea plants, such as some seaweeds and microalgae, are also seafood, and are widely eaten around the world, especially in Asia... , vegetables and shrimp in a gravy Gravy Gravy is a sauce made often from the juices that run naturally from meat or vegetables during cooking. In North America the term can refer to a wider variety of sauces and gravy is often thicker than in Britain...  sauce Sauce In cooking, a sauce is liquid, creaming or semi-solid food served on or used in preparing other foods. Sauces are not normally consumed by themselves; they add flavor, moisture, and visual appeal to another dish. Sauce is a French word taken from the Latin salsus, meaning salted... . This is a dish of Chinese Chinese cuisine Chinese cuisine is any of several styles originating in the regions of China, some of which have become highly popular in other parts of the world – from Asia to the Americas, Australia, Western Europe and Southern Africa...  origin.
Bánh tằm cà ri	A Cà Mau Cà Mau Cà Mau is a city in southern Vietnam. It is the capital of Ca Mau province, a province in the Mekong Delta region, in the southernmost part of Vietnam's inland territory. Vietnam's incumbent Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung was born and raised here... specialty, made of special rice noodles and very spicy chicken curry.

Noodle soups

Vietnamese cuisine boasts a huge variety of noodle soups, each with distinct influences, origins and flavours. A common characteristic of many of these soups is a rich broth.

Name	Description
Bún bò Huế Bun Bo Hue Bún bò Huế or more specifically, bún bò giò heo is a popular Vietnamese soup rice vermicelli dish. The predominant flavor is of lemon grass.-Features:...	Spicy beef noodle soup Noodle soup Noodle soup refers to a variety of soups with noodles and other ingredients served in a light broth. Noodle soup is an East and Southeast Asian staple. Less well known, a form of fresh noodle is used in soup in certain parts of Europe , and in northern China; usually, it is served for breakfast...  originated from the royal city of Huế Hue Hue is one of the main properties of a color, defined technically , as "the degree to which a stimulus can be describedas similar to or different from stimuli that are described as red, green, blue, and yellow,"...  in Central Vietnam. Beef bones, ferment Fermentation (food) Fermentation in food processing typically is the conversion of carbohydrates to alcohols and carbon dioxide or organic acids using yeasts, bacteria, or a combination thereof, under anaerobic conditions. Fermentation in simple terms is the chemical conversion of sugars into ethanol... ed shrimp paste, lemongrass, and dried chili Chili pepper Chili pepper is the fruit of plants from the genus Capsicum, members of the nightshade family, Solanaceae. The term in British English and in Australia, New Zealand, India, Malaysia and other Asian countries is just chilli without pepper.Chili peppers originated in the Americas... es give the broth its distinctive flavors. Often served with mint leaves, bean sprouts, and lime Lime (fruit) Lime is a term referring to a number of different citrus fruits, both species and hybrids, which are typically round, green to yellow in color, 3–6 cm in diameter, and containing sour and acidic pulp. Limes are a good source of vitamin C. Limes are often used to accent the flavors of foods and...  wedges. Blood cakes and pig's feet are also common ingredients at some restaurants in the United States and possibly elsewhere..
Bún măng vịt	Bamboo Bamboo Bamboo is a group of perennial evergreens in the true grass family Poaceae, subfamily Bambusoideae, tribe Bambuseae. Giant bamboos are the largest members of the grass family....  shoots and duck noodle soup.
Bún Ốc	Vermicelli with snail Snail Snail is a common name applied to most of the members of the molluscan class Gastropoda that have coiled shells in the adult stage. When the word is used in its most general sense, it includes sea snails, land snails and freshwater snails. The word snail without any qualifier is however more often... s (sea snails similar to the snails in French cuisine French cuisine French cuisine is a style of food preparation originating from France that has developed from centuries of social change. In the Middle Ages, Guillaume Tirel , a court chef, authored Le Viandier, one of the earliest recipe collections of Medieval France... ).
Bánh canh Banh canh Bánh canh is a thick Vietnamese noodle that can be made from a mixture of rice and tapioca flour. In bánh canh soup dishes, the noodles are combined with one of several soup bases, such as:...	A thick tapioca/rice noodle Noodle The noodle is a type of food, made from any of a variety of doughs, formed into long thin ribbons, strips, curly-cues, waves, helices, pipes, tubes, strings, or other various shapes, sometimes folded. They are usually cooked in a mixture of boiling water and/or oil. Depending upon the type, noodles...  soup with a simple broth. Often includes pork, crab Crab True crabs are decapod crustaceans of the infraorder Brachyura, which typically have a very short projecting "tail" , or where the reduced abdomen is entirely hidden under the thorax... , chicken, shrimp Shrimp Shrimp are swimming, decapod crustaceans classified in the infraorder Caridea, found widely around the world in both fresh and salt water. Adult shrimp are filter feeding benthic animals living close to the bottom. They can live in schools and can swim rapidly backwards. Shrimp are an important... , spring onions and freshly sautée Sautee Sautee may refer to:*Sautee Nacoochee, Georgia*Sautee Valley Historic District*Sautéing, a method of cooking food.... d onions sprinkled on top.
Bún riêu Bún riêu Bún riêu is a Vietnamese meat rice vermicelli soup. There are several varieties of bún riêu, including bún riêu cua, bún riêu cá, and bún riêu ốc....	A noodle soup Noodle soup Noodle soup refers to a variety of soups with noodles and other ingredients served in a light broth. Noodle soup is an East and Southeast Asian staple. Less well known, a form of fresh noodle is used in soup in certain parts of Europe , and in northern China; usually, it is served for breakfast...  made of thin rice noodles and topped with crab and shrimp paste, served in a tomato-based broth and garnished with bean sprouts, prawn paste, herb leaves, water spinach, and chunks of tomato.
Mì bò viên	A Chinese-influenced egg noodle soup with beef meatballs and raw steak
Phở PHO PHO may refer to:* Primary Health Organisation* Potentially hazardous object, an asteroid or comet that could potentially collide with Earth...	A noodle soup with a rich, clear broth made from a long boil Boil A boil, also called a furuncle, is a deep folliculitis, infection of the hair follicle. It is always caused by infection by the bacterium Staphylococcus aureus, resulting in a painful swollen area on the skin caused by an accumulation of pus and dead tissue... ing of meat and spices. There are many varieties of phở made with different meats (most commonly beef or chicken) along with beef meatballs. Phở is typically served in bowls with spring onion, (in phở tai) slices of semi-cooked beef (to be cooked by the boiling hot broth), and broth. In the South, vegetables and various herbs are also added.
Hủ Tiếu	A noodle soup with many varied styles including a 'dry' (non-soup but with sauce) version, brought to Vietnam by way of Chinese Chinese people The term Chinese people may refer to any of the following:*People with Han Chinese ethnicity ....  (Teochew) immigrants. The noodles are usually egg noodles or rice noodles Rice noodles Rice noodles are noodles that are made from rice. Their principal ingredients are rice flour and water. However, sometimes other ingredients such as tapioca or corn starch are also added in order to improve the transparency or increase the gelatinous and chewy texture of the noodles.Rice noodles... , however, many other types may be used. The soup base is made of pork bones.

Soups and cháo (congees)

Name	Description
Súp măng cua	A blended asparagus-crab combination soup. Served typically as a first dish at banquets.
Lẩu (Vietnamese hot pot Hot pot Hot pot , less commonly Chinese fondue or steamboat, refers to several East Asian varieties of stew, consisting of a simmering metal pot of stock at the center of the dining table. While the hot pot is kept simmering, ingredients are placed into the pot and are cooked at the table... )	A spicy variation of the Vietnamese sour soup, with many vegetables, meats and seafood, as well as some spicy herbs.
Cháo	A variation of congee Congee Congee is a type of rice porridge popular in many Asian countries. It can be eaten alone or served with a side dish. Names for congee are as varied as the style of its preparation... . There are also a variety of different broths and meats used, including duck, offal Offal Offal , also called, especially in the United States, variety meats or organ meats, refers to the internal organs and entrails of a butchered animal. The word does not refer to a particular list of edible organs, which varies by culture and region, but includes most internal organs other than... , fish, etc. When chicken is used, it is called Cháo gà.
Canh chua Canh chua Canh chua is a sour soup indigenous to the Mekong Delta region of southern Vietnam. It is typically made with fish from the Mekong River Delta, pineapple, tomatoes , and bean sprouts, in a tamarind-flavored broth...	Vietnamese sour soup - typically include fish, pineapple Pineapple Pineapple is the common name for a tropical plant and its edible fruit, which is actually a multiple fruit consisting of coalesced berries. It was given the name pineapple due to its resemblance to a pine cone. The pineapple is by far the most economically important plant in the Bromeliaceae... s, tomatoes, herbs, beansprouts, tamarind Tamarind Tamarind is a tree in the family Fabaceae. The genus Tamarindus is monotypic .-Origin:... , and various kinds of vegetables; when made in style of a hotpot Hotpot Hot pot may refer to:* Lancashire hotpot, a traditional British stew of meat, potatoes and vegetables* Hot pot, a dish or style of cooking from China, Taiwan, and Southeast Asia**Shabu-shabu* Hodge-Podge soup* Karelian hot pot... , it is called Lẩu Canh Chua.

Rice dishes

Name	Description
Cơm chiên Dương Châu	A Chinese fried rice dish, named after the Yangzhou Yangzhou Yangzhou is a prefecture-level city in central Jiangsu Province, People's Republic of China. Sitting on the northern bank of the Yangtze River, it borders the provincial capital of Nanjing to the southwest, Huai'an to the north, Yancheng to the northeast, Taizhou to the east, and Zhenjiang across...  region in China. It is a well-known dish in Vietnam.
Cơm gà rau thơm (Vietnamese mint chicken rice)	A dish of rice cooked in chicken stock and topped with chicken that has been fried then shredded, and flavoured with mint and other herbs. The rice has a unique texture and taste that the fried mint garnish enhances. Served with a special herb sauce on the side.
Cơm hến	Rice with clams - a popular inexpensive dish in the city of Huế Hue Hue is one of the main properties of a color, defined technically , as "the degree to which a stimulus can be describedas similar to or different from stimuli that are described as red, green, blue, and yellow,"...  and its vicinity.
Cơm tấm Com tam Cơm tấm in Vietnamese is cooked rice from fractured rice grains. Tấm refers to the broken rice grains, while cơm refers to cooked rice....	In general, grilled pork (either ribs or shredded) plus bì (thinly shredded pork mixed with cooked and thinly shredded pork skin plus fried ground rice) over com tam ("broken rice" in Vietnamese) and sweet and sour Sweet and sour Sweet and sour is a generic term that encompasses many styles of sauce, cuisine and cooking methods. It has long been popular in North America and Europe, where it is stereotypically considered a component of standard Chinese cuisine...  fish sauce. Other types of meat, prepared in various ways, may be served with the broken rice. One can have barbecue Barbecue Barbecue or barbeque , used chiefly in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, New Zealand and Australia is a method and apparatus for cooking meat, poultry and occasionally fish with the heat and hot smoke of a fire, smoking wood, or hot coals of... d beef, pork, or chicken served with the broken rice. The rice and meat are served with various greens and pickled vegetables, along with a prawn paste cake Cake Cake is a form of bread or bread-like food. In its modern forms, it is typically a sweet and enriched baked dessert. In its oldest forms, cakes were normally fried breads or cheesecakes, and normally had a disk shape...  (chả tôm), steamed egg (trứng hấp) and grilled prawns.

Sticky rice dishes

Name	Description
Bánh chưng Banh Chung Bánh chưng is a traditional Vietnamese cake which is made from glutinous rice, mung bean, pork and other ingredients. Its origin is told by the legend of Lang Liêu, a prince of the sixth Hùng Vương, who became Hùng Vương's successor thank to his creation of bánh chưng and bánh dày, which...	Sticky rice wrapped in banana Banana Banana is the common name for herbaceous plants of the genus Musa and for the fruit they produce. Bananas come in a variety of sizes and colors when ripe, including yellow, purple, and red....  leaves and stuffed with mung bean Mung bean The mung bean is the seed of Vigna radiata. It is native to the Indian subcontinent.-Description:They are small, ovoid in shape, and green in color...  paste, lean pork and black pepper, traditionally eaten during the Lunar New Year(Tết Tet Tet can mean:*Tết or Tết Nguyên Đán, the Vietnamese new year**Tet Offensive, a military campaign that began in 1968*Têt in Roussillon, France*Equal temperament, abbreviated as 12-TET, 19-TET and so on... ). Bánh chưng is popular in the North, while its cousin version bánh tét Bánh tét Bánh tét is a Vietnamese savoury but sometimes sweetened cake made primarily from glutinous rice, which is rolled in a banana leaf into a thick, log-like cylindrical shape, with a meat or vegetarian filling , then boiled. After cooking, the banana leaf is removed and the cake is sliced into...  is more popular in the South. Bánh tét has the same content, except cylindrical in shape and lean pork is substituted with fatty pork.
Xôi Xôi Xôi is a sweet or savory Vietnamese dish made from glutinous rice and other ingredients. Although it is often served as a dessert, in many mountainous areas in Vietnam, people eat xôi as a main dish.-Sweet:...	Sticky rice with coconut Coconut The coconut palm, Cocos nucifera, is a member of the family Arecaceae . It is the only accepted species in the genus Cocos. The term coconut can refer to the entire coconut palm, the seed, or the fruit, which is not a botanical nut. The spelling cocoanut is an old-fashioned form of the word...  milk, cooked the same way as one cooks rice Rice Rice is the seed of the monocot plants Oryza sativa or Oryza glaberrima . As a cereal grain, it is the most important staple food for a large part of the world's human population, especially in East Asia, Southeast Asia, South Asia, the Middle East, and the West Indies... , or steamed for a firmer texture and more flavorful taste. It comes in a great number of varieties.

Dumplings and pancakes

Name
Bánh bao	A Steamed bun Bun A bun is a small, usually sweet, bread. Commonly they are hand-sized or smaller, domed in shape, with a flat bottom. A bun can also be a savory bread roll similar to a bap or barmcake....  dumpling Dumpling Dumplings are cooked balls of dough. They are based on flour, potatoes or bread, and may include meat, fish, vegetables, or sweets. They may be cooked by boiling, steaming, simmering, frying, or baking. They may have a filling, or there may be other ingredients mixed into the dough. Dumplings may...  that can be stuffed with onion Onion The onion , also known as the bulb onion, common onion and garden onion, is the most widely cultivated species of the genus Allium. The genus Allium also contains a number of other species variously referred to as onions and cultivated for food, such as the Japanese bunching onion The onion... , mushroom Mushroom A mushroom is the fleshy, spore-bearing fruiting body of a fungus, typically produced above ground on soil or on its food source. The standard for the name "mushroom" is the cultivated white button mushroom, Agaricus bisporus; hence the word "mushroom" is most often applied to those fungi that... s, or vegetables. Bánh bao is an adaptation from the Chinese baozi Baozi A bāozi or simply known as bao, bau, humbow, nunu, bausak, pow or pau is a type of steamed, filled bun or bread-like item in various Chinese cuisines, as there is much variation as to the fillings and the preparations...  to fit Vietnamese taste. Vegetarian banh bao are also available. Vegetarian bánh bao are popular food in Buddhist temple Temple A temple is a structure reserved for religious or spiritual activities, such as prayer and sacrifice, or analogous rites. A templum constituted a sacred precinct as defined by a priest, or augur. It has the same root as the word "template," a plan in preparation of the building that was marked out... s. Typical stuffings for bánh bao include slices of marinated xá xíu (BBQ pork from Chinese cooking) meat, tiny boiled quail Quail Quail is a collective name for several genera of mid-sized birds generally considered in the order Galliformes. Old World quail are found in the family Phasianidae, while New World quail are found in the family Odontophoridae...  eggs, and pork.
Bánh bèo Bánh bèo A bánh bèo is a variety of small steamed rice cake or rice pancake in Vietnamese cuisine. It is white in color and typically features a dimple in the center, which is filled with savory ingredients including chopped dried or fresh shrimp, scallions, mung bean paste, crispy fried shallots, fish...	A central Vietnamese dish consisting of tiny round rice flour pancakes, each served in a similarly shaped dish. They are topped with mince Mince Mińce is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Choroszcz, within Białystok County, Podlaskie Voivodeship, in north-eastern Poland.... d shrimp and other ingredients such as chives, fried shallot Shallot The shallot is the botanical variety of Allium cepa to which the multiplier onion also belongs. It was formerly classified as the species A. ascalonicum, a name now considered a synonym of the correct name... s, and pork rinds. Eaten with nước chấm.
Bánh bột chiên (fried rice flour cake)	A Chinese influenced pastry Pastry Pastry is the name given to various kinds of baked products made from ingredients such as flour, sugar, milk, butter, shortening, baking powder and/or eggs. Small cakes, tarts and other sweet baked products are called "pastries."...  that exists in many versions all over Asia; the Vietnamese version features a special tangy soy sauce on the side, rice flour cubes with fried eggs (either duck or chicken) and some vegetables. This is a popular after-school snack for young students in the Southern part of Vietnam.
Bánh bột lọc	A Huế Hue Hue is one of the main properties of a color, defined technically , as "the degree to which a stimulus can be describedas similar to or different from stimuli that are described as red, green, blue, and yellow,"...  food, consisting of tiny rice dumplings made in a clear rice flour batter Batter (cooking) Batter is a semi-liquid mixture of one or more flours combined with liquids such as water, milk or eggs used to prepare various foods. Often a leavening agent such as baking powder is included to aerate and fluff up the batter as it cooks, or the mixture may be naturally fermented for this purpose... , often in a small flattish tube shape. Stuffed with shrimp and ground pork. It is wrapped and cooked inside a banana leaf, served often as Vietnamese hors d'œuvres at more casual buffet Buffet A buffet is a system of serving meals in which food is placed in a public area where the diners generally serve themselves. Buffets are offered at various places including hotels and many social events... -type parties.
Bánh xèo Bánh Xèo Bánh xèo are Vietnamese savoury fried pancakes made of rice flour, water, turmeric powder, stuffed with slivers of fatty pork, shrimp, diced green onion, and bean sprouts. Southern-styled banh xeo contains coconut milk and certain Central region skips the turmeric powder altogether...	A type of crepe Crêpe A crêpe or crepe , is a type of very thin pancake, usually made from wheat flour or buckwheat flour . The word is of French origin, deriving from the Latin crispa, meaning "curled". While crêpes originate from Brittany, a region in the northwest of France, their consumption is widespread in France...  made out of rice flour Flour Flour is a powder which is made by grinding cereal grains, other seeds or roots . It is the main ingredient of bread, which is a staple food for many cultures, making the availability of adequate supplies of flour a major economic and political issue at various times throughout history...  with turmeric Turmeric Turmeric is a rhizomatous herbaceous perennial plant of the ginger family, Zingiberaceae. It is native to tropical South Asia and needs temperatures between 20 °C and 30 °C and a considerable amount of annual rainfall to thrive... , shrimps with shells on, slivers of fatty pork, sliced onions, and sometimes button mushroom Button mushroom Agaricus bisporus—known variously as the common mushroom, button mushroom, white mushroom, table mushroom, champignon mushroom, crimini mushroom, Swiss brown mushroom, Roman brown mushroom, Italian brown, Italian mushroom, cultivated mushroom, or when mature, the Portobello mushroom—is an edible... s, fried in one or two teaspoons of oil Oil An oil is any substance that is liquid at ambient temperatures and does not mix with water but may mix with other oils and organic solvents. This general definition includes vegetable oils, volatile essential oils, petrochemical oils, and synthetic oils.... , usually coconut Coconut The coconut palm, Cocos nucifera, is a member of the family Arecaceae . It is the only accepted species in the genus Cocos. The term coconut can refer to the entire coconut palm, the seed, or the fruit, which is not a botanical nut. The spelling cocoanut is an old-fashioned form of the word...  oil, which is the most popular oil used in Vietnam. It is eaten with lettuce Lettuce Lettuce is a temperate annual or biennial plant of the daisy family Asteraceae. It is most often grown as a leaf vegetable. It is eaten either raw, notably in salads, sandwiches, hamburgers, tacos, and many other dishes, or cooked, as in Chinese cuisine in which the stem becomes just as important...  and various local herbs and dipped in Nước chấm or sweet fermented peanut butter Peanut butter Peanut butter is a food paste made primarily from ground dry roasted peanuts, popular in North America, Netherlands, United Kingdom, and parts of Asia, particularly the Philippines and Indonesia. It is mainly used as a sandwich spread, sometimes in combination as in the peanut butter and jelly...  sauce. Rice paper Rice paper Rice paper usually refers to paper made from parts of the rice plant, like rice straw or rice flour. The term is also used for paper made from or containing other plants, such as hemp, bamboo or mulberry... s are sometimes used as wrappers to contain banh xeo and the accompanying vegetables.

Wraps and rolls

Name	Description
Bánh cuốn	Rice flour rolls stuffed with ground pork, prawns, and wood ear Cloud ear fungus Cloud ear fungus is an edible jelly fungus. It is gray-brown in color and often used in Asian cooking.-Etymology:...  mushroom. They are eaten in a variety of ways with many side dishes, including one out of many kinds of chả CHA CHA may stand for:Sports* Canadian Hockey Association * College Hockey America, the NCAA Division I conference* College Hockey Association, the ACHA Division II conference* Continental Hockey Association...  (sausage).
Bì cuốn	Rice paper rolls with the bi (bì) mixture of thinly shredded pork and thinly shredded pork skin tossed with powdered toasted rice, among other ingredients, along with salad Salad Salad is any of a wide variety of dishes, including vegetable salads; salads of pasta, legumes, eggs, or grains; mixed salads incorporating meat, poultry, or seafood; and fruit salads. They may include a mixture of cold and hot, often including raw vegetables or fruits.Green salads include leaf... . Similar to summer roll Summer roll A gỏi cuốn, summer roll, Vietnamese salad roll, or fresh roll is a Vietnamese dish consisting of pork, prawn, herbs, bún , and other ingredients wrapped in Vietnamese bánh tráng . They are served at room temperature, and are not deep fried... s.
Bò bía (Vietnamese-style popiah Popiah Popiah is a Fujian/Chaozhou-style fresh spring roll common in Taiwan, Singapore, and Malaysia. Popiah is often eaten in the Fujian province of China and its neighbouring Chaoshan on the Qingming Festival. In the Teochew dialect, popiah is pronounced as "Bo-BEE-a", which means "thin wafer"... )	Stir-fried jicama Jícama Pachyrhizus erosus, commonly known as Jícama , Yam, and Mexican Turnip, is the name of a native Mexican vine, although the name most commonly refers to the plant's edible tuberous root. Jícama is one species in the genus Pachyrhizus. Plants in this genus are commonly referred to as yam bean,...  and carrots, Chinese sausage Sausage A sausage is a food usually made from ground meat , mixed with salt, herbs, and other spices, although vegetarian sausages are available. The word sausage is derived from Old French saussiche, from the Latin word salsus, meaning salted.Typically, a sausage is formed in a casing traditionally made... , shredded scrambled eggs, all wrapped with vermicelli noodle in a rice paper roll. Dipped into a spicy peanut Peanut The peanut, or groundnut , is a species in the legume or "bean" family , so it is not a nut. The peanut was probably first cultivated in the valleys of Peru. It is an annual herbaceous plant growing tall...  sauce (with freshly roasted and ground peanuts). It is of Chinese (Hokkien Fujian cuisine Fujian cuisine is one of the native Chinese cuisines derived from the native cooking style of the province of Fujian, China. Fujian style cuisine is known to be light but flavourful, soft, and tender, with particular emphasis on umami taste, known in Chinese cooking as "xiānwèi" , as well as... /Chaozhou Chiuchow cuisine Chiuchow cuisine, Teochew cuisine or Chaozhou cuisine or Chaoshan cuisine originates from the Chaoshan region of China in the north-easternmost area of the Guangdong province, which includes the cities of Chaozhou, Shantou and Jieyang... ) origin, having been brought over by the immigrants. In Saigon (particularly in Cholon), it is common to see an old Teochew man or woman selling bò bía at their roadside stand. The name bò bía phonetically resembles its original name popiah Popiah Popiah is a Fujian/Chaozhou-style fresh spring roll common in Taiwan, Singapore, and Malaysia. Popiah is often eaten in the Fujian province of China and its neighbouring Chaoshan on the Qingming Festival. In the Teochew dialect, popiah is pronounced as "Bo-BEE-a", which means "thin wafer"...  in the Teochew language.
Chả giò or Nem rán (Northern)	A kind of spring roll Spring roll Spring rolls is an umbrella term used in some Western cultures to describe disparate varieties of filled, rolled appetizers similar to the Chinese chūn juǎn , from which the term was derived...  (sometimes referred to as egg roll Egg roll An egg roll is an appetizer and dinner, a variant of spring roll that has spread throughout the world as a staple of Asian cuisine. Egg rolls with fillings are commonly served in Vietnamese cuisine.-Description:... ) – deep-fried flour rolls filled with pork, yam Yam (vegetable) Yam is the common name for some species in the genus Dioscorea . These are perennial herbaceous vines cultivated for the consumption of their starchy tubers in Africa, Asia, Latin America and Oceania... , crab, shrimp, rice vermicelli, mushrooms ("wood ear Cloud ear fungus Cloud ear fungus is an edible jelly fungus. It is gray-brown in color and often used in Asian cooking.-Etymology:... " variety) and other ingredients. The spring roll goes by many names - as many people actually use (falsely) the word "spring roll" while referring to the fresh transparent rice paper rolls (discussed below as "Summer Rolls"), where the rice paper is dipped into water to soften and then rolled up with various ingredients. Traditionally these rolls are made with a rice paper Rice paper Rice paper usually refers to paper made from parts of the rice plant, like rice straw or rice flour. The term is also used for paper made from or containing other plants, such as hemp, bamboo or mulberry...  wrapper but in recent years Vietnamese chefs outside of Vietnam have changed the recipe to use a wheat-flour-based wrapper.
Gỏi cuốn (Salad rolls)	Also known as Vietnamese fresh rolls, or summer roll Summer roll A gỏi cuốn, summer roll, Vietnamese salad roll, or fresh roll is a Vietnamese dish consisting of pork, prawn, herbs, bún , and other ingredients wrapped in Vietnamese bánh tráng . They are served at room temperature, and are not deep fried... s. They are rice paper Rice paper Rice paper usually refers to paper made from parts of the rice plant, like rice straw or rice flour. The term is also used for paper made from or containing other plants, such as hemp, bamboo or mulberry...  rolls that often include shrimp, herbs, pork, rice vermicelli and other ingredients wrapped up and dipped in nước chấm or peanut sauce. Spring rolls almost constitute an entire category of Vietnamese foods, as there are numerous different kinds of spring rolls with different ingredients in them.

Bánh tráng can be understood as either of the following:

• Bánh tráng cuốn
  Rice paper
  Rice paper usually refers to paper made from parts of the rice plant, like rice straw or rice flour. The term is also used for paper made from or containing other plants, such as hemp, bamboo or mulberry...
  
  

thin rice flour sheet dried into what is commonly called "rice paper", used in making spring roll

Spring roll

Spring rolls is an umbrella term used in some Western cultures to describe disparate varieties of filled, rolled appetizers similar to the Chinese chūn juǎn , from which the term was derived...

 (aka chả giò), and summer rolls (aka gỏi cuốn) by applying some water to soften the texture.

• Bánh tráng nướng (in the South), or bánh đa in the North

These are large round flat rice crackers

Cracker (food)

A cracker is a baked good commonly made from grain flour dough and typically made in quantity in various hand-sized or smaller shapes. Flavorings or seasonings, such as salt, herbs, seeds, and/or cheese, may be added to the dough or sprinkled on top before baking...

, which, when heated, enlarge into round, easily shattered pieces. They can be eaten separately, although they are most commonly added into the vermicelli

Vermicelli

Vermicelli is a traditional type of pasta round in section that is thicker than spaghetti.-Vermicelli thickness comparison:In USA, the National Pasta Association, founded in 1904, lists, together with various spelling mistakes, vermicelli as a thinner type of spaghetti.-History in Italy:In...

 noodle dishes like cao lầu

Cao lau

Cao lầu is a regional dish made with noodles, pork, and greens and is only found in the town of Hội An, in the Quang Nam Province of central Vietnam. Its unique taste is rumoured to be contributed by the water from an undisclosed ancient Cham well just outside of the town.-External links:****...

 and Mì Quảng

Mi quang

Mì Quảng , is a Vietnamese noodle dish that is originated from the provinces of Quang Nam and Da Nang, in the South Central Coast of Vietnam. In the region, it is one of the most popular dishes, and it is served in various occasions such as family party, death anniversary, and Tết...

. Many types of 'bánh tráng' exist, including the clear sesame

Sesame

Sesame is a flowering plant in the genus Sesamum. Numerous wild relatives occur in Africa and a smaller number in India. It is widely naturalized in tropical regions around the world and is cultivated for its edible seeds, which grow in pods....

 seed ones, prawn-like cracker with dried spring onions, sweet milk

Milk

Milk is a white liquid produced by the mammary glands of mammals. It is the primary source of nutrition for young mammals before they are able to digest other types of food. Early-lactation milk contains colostrum, which carries the mother's antibodies to the baby and can reduce the risk of many...

, and so on.

Sandwiches

Name	Description
Bánh mì Bánh mì Bánh mì or bánh mỳ is a Vietnamese term for all kinds of bread. Bread, or more specifically the baguette, was introduced by the French during its colonial period. The bread most commonly found in Vietnam is single serve and resembles a torpedo, therefore the term bánh mì is synonymous with this...  kẹp thịt	Vietnamese baguette Baguette A baguette is "a long thin loaf of French bread" that is commonly made from basic lean dough...  or French bread containing pâté Pâté Pâté is a mixture of ground meat and fat minced into a spreadable paste. Common additions include vegetables, herbs, spices, and either wine or cognac, armagnac or brandy... , Vietnamese mayonnaise Mayonnaise Mayonnaise, , often abbreviated as mayo, is a sauce. It is a stable emulsion of oil, egg yolk and either vinegar or lemon juice, with many options for embellishment with other herbs and spices. Lecithin in the egg yolk is the emulsifier. Mayonnaise varies in color but is often white, cream, or pale... , different selections of Vietnamese cold cuts (of which there is a large variety, most commonly ham Ham Ham is a cut of meat from the thigh of the hind leg of certain animals, especiallypigs. Nearly all hams sold today are fully cooked or cured.-Etymology:... , head cheese Head cheese Head cheese , or brawn , is a cold cut that originated in Europe. A version pickled with vinegar is known as souse. Head cheese is not a cheese but a terrine or meat jelly made with flesh from the head of a calf or pig , and often set in aspic. Which parts of the head are used can vary, but the... , and a Vietnamese bologna Bologna Bologna is the capital city of Emilia-Romagna, in the Po Valley of Northern Italy. The city lies between the Po River and the Apennine Mountains, more specifically, between the Reno River and the Savena River. Bologna is a lively and cosmopolitan Italian college city, with spectacular history,... ), pickled daikon Daikon Daikon , Raphanus sativus var. longipinnatus, also called White Radish, Japanese radish, Oriental radish, Chinese radish, lo bok and Mooli , is a mild flavoured, very large, white East Asian radish... , pickled carrot Carrot The carrot is a root vegetable, usually orange in colour, though purple, red, white, and yellow varieties exist. It has a crisp texture when fresh... , and cucumber Cucumber The cucumber is a widely cultivated plant in the gourd family Cucurbitaceae, which includes squash, and in the same genus as the muskmelon. The plant is a creeping vine which bears cylindrical edible fruit when ripe. There are three main varieties of cucumber: "slicing", "pickling", and...  slices. The sandwich is often garnished with coriander leaves and black pepper. This food is common everywhere in Vietnam as a favorite of factory workers and students, and eaten for any meal of the day, commonly breakfast Breakfast Breakfast is the first meal taken after rising from a night's sleep, most often eaten in the early morning before undertaking the day's work...  and lunch. There are a wide variety of bánh mì (with different meats) and many shops have popped up across North America serving primarily Bánh mì.
Bánh mì trứng (Breakfast Bánh mì)	This can be stuffed with scrambled eggs and canned sardine Sardine Sardines, or pilchards, are several types of small, oily fish related to herrings, family Clupeidae. Sardines are named after the Mediterranean island of Sardinia, around which they were once abundant.... s, or the more popular version: eggs fried sunny-side-up with onions, sprinkled with soy sauce and eaten with a fresh (and sometimes buttered) baguette.
Bánh Pâté Chaud Pâté Chaud Pâté chaud or Bánh patê sô is a Vietnamese puff pastry that means "hot pie" in French. The pastry is made of a light layered and flaky outside with a meat filling. Traditionally, the filling consist of a pork meat, but today, chicken and beef are common used...	A French inspired meat-filled pastry. Characterized by flaky crust and either pork or chicken as the filling.

Meat dishes

Name	Description
Bò kho (Meat Soup)	A beef and vegetable stew, often cooked with warm, spicy herbs and served very hot with French baguettes for dipping. In northern Vietnam, it is known as "bò sốt vang"
Bò lá lốt	A dish of spiced beef rolled in a pepper leaf (lá lốt) and grilled.
Bò lúc lắc (Shaking beef)	A dish of beef cut into cubes and marinated, served over greens (usually watercress Watercress Watercresses are fast-growing, aquatic or semi-aquatic, perennial plants native from Europe to central Asia, and one of the oldest known leaf vegetables consumed by human beings... ), and sautéed onions and tomatoes. Eaten with rice.
Bò 7 món Bo 7 Mon Bò 7 món is a selection of beef dishes in Vietnamese cuisine, which is typically served at weddings. Multi-course meals such as Bò 7 món are representative of higher-end Vietnamese cuisine....  (Vietnamese seven courses of Beef)	A less popular version is the Cá 7 Món, seven courses of fish.
Chả lụa	A sausage Sausage A sausage is a food usually made from ground meat , mixed with salt, herbs, and other spices, although vegetarian sausages are available. The word sausage is derived from Old French saussiche, from the Latin word salsus, meaning salted.Typically, a sausage is formed in a casing traditionally made...  made with ground lean pork and potato starch Potato starch Potato starch is starch extracted from potatoes. The cells of the root tubers of the potato plant contain starch grains . To extract the starch, the potatoes are crushed; the starch grains are released from the destroyed cells... . Also available fried; known as chả chiên. There are various kinds of chả CHA CHA may stand for:Sports* Canadian Hockey Association * College Hockey America, the NCAA Division I conference* College Hockey Association, the ACHA Division II conference* Continental Hockey Association...  (sausage), made of ground chicken (chả gà), ground beef (chả bò), fish (chả cá), or tofu (chả chay, or vegetarian sausage).
Gà nướng sả	Grilled chicken with lemon grass(sả). Lemon grass grilled beef and other meats are also popular variations.
Nem nướng	Grilled Grilling Grilling is a form of cooking that involves dry heat applied to the surface of food, commonly from above or below.Grilling usually involves a significant amount of direct, radiant heat, and tends to be used for cooking meat quickly and meat that has already been cut into slices...  meatballs, usually made of seasoned pork. Often colored reddish with food coloring Food coloring Food coloring is a substance, liquid or powder, that is added to food or drink to change its color. Food coloring is used both in commercial food production and in domestic cooking...  and with a distinct taste, grilled on skewer Skewer A skewer is a thin metal or wood stick used to hold pieces of food together. They are used while grilling or roasting meats, and in other culinary applications.... s like kebab Kebab Kebab is a wide variety of meat dishes originating in Middle East and later on adopted by the Middle East, and Asia Minor, and now found worldwide. In English, kebab with no qualification generally refers more specifically to shish kebab served on the skewer... s. Ingredients in the marinade include fish sauce.
Nem Nguội	A Huế dish and a variation of the Nem nướng meatball Meatball A meatball is made from an amount of ground meat rolled into a small ball, sometimes along with other ingredients, such as breadcrumbs, minced onion, spices, and possibly eggs... s, these also come from Central Vietnam. They are chilled, small and rectangular in shape, and stuffed with vermicelli. The reddish meat is covered with peppers and typically a chili. Very spicy, eaten almost exclusively as a cocktail snack.

Seafood dishes

Name	Description
Cá cuốn	A roll with fish and spring onions.
Cá kho tộ	Caramelized fish in clay pot.
Chạo tôm Chao tom Chạo tôm is a traditional Vietnamese dish that comes from the Huế region of central Vietnam. It consists of barbecued shrimp surimi on a sugar cane stick. It is often presented as a dish during large banquets prepared for weddings, holidays, or similar special events....	Prawn paste/cake on sugarcane.

Salads

Gỏi

GOI

- Codes :GOI is:* the IATA airport code of Dabolim Airport in the village of Dabolim, Goa, India* the ICAO airline designator of Gofir S.A. airline, Switzerland* the LSE ticker of GoIndustry DoveBid, an international valuation and auction firm...

 is Vietnamese salad. Many varieties with the most popular including:

Name	Description
Gỏi đu đủ	Vietnamese papaya Papaya The papaya , papaw, or pawpaw is the fruit of the plant Carica papaya, the sole species in the genus Carica of the plant family Caricaceae...  Salad typically with shredded papaya, herbs, various meats such as shrimp, slices of pork, liver Liver (food) The liver of mammals, fowl, and fish are commonly eaten as food by humans. Domestic pig, ox, lamb, calf, chicken, and goose livers are widely available from butchers and supermarkets.... , or jerky Jerky Jerky can refer to:*Jerky, a type of dried meat*The Jerky Boys, a prank phone call performance groupSee also*Jerk... , herbs, and with a more vinegar Vinegar Vinegar is a liquid substance consisting mainly of acetic acid and water, the acetic acid being produced through the fermentation of ethanol by acetic acid bacteria. Commercial vinegar is produced either by fast or slow fermentation processes. Slow methods generally are used with traditional... -based rendition of nước chấm.
Gỏi Huế rau muống	A salad dish originating from Huế (Central Vietnam), including water spinach Ipomoea aquatica Ipomoea aquatica is a semi-aquatic tropical plant grown as a leaf vegetable. It is known in English as Water Spinach, Water Morning Glory, Water Convolvulus, or by the more ambiguous names "Chinese spinach" and "swamp cabbage". It has many other names in other languages, such as "Phak bung" in Thai...  (Rau Muống).
Gỏi ngó sen	Lotus Nelumbo nucifera Nelumbo nucifera, known by a number of names including Indian Lotus, Sacred Lotus, Bean of India, or simply Lotus, is a plant in the monogeneric family Nelumbonaceae...  stem salad, with shrimp and pork or chicken.
Goi Ga	Chicken and cabbage salad.

Curries

• Vietnamese curry
  Curry
  Curry is a generic description used throughout Western culture to describe a variety of dishes from Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Sri Lankan, Thai or other Southeast Asian cuisines...
  
   is also popular, especially in the south. Curry chicken can be either similar to the Thai curries with coconut milk
  Coconut milk
  Coconut milk is the water that comes from the grated meat of a coconut. The colour and rich taste of the milk can be attributed to the high oil content. In many parts of the world, the term coconut milk is also used to refer to coconut water, the naturally occurring liquid found inside the hollow...
  
   or similar to Caribbean curries, stir-fried with no coconut milk. It is usually served with bread, rice, or noodles.

• Another type of well-known Vietnamese curry is beef brisket
  Brisket
  Brisket is a cut of meat from the breast or lower chest of beef or veal. The beef brisket is one of the eight beef primal cuts. The brisket muscles include the superficial and deep pectorals. As cattle do not have collar bones, these muscles support about 60% of the body weight of standing/moving...
  
   curry or oxtail
  Oxtail
  Oxtail is the culinary name for the tail of cattle. Formerly, it referred only to the tail of an ox or steer, a castrated male. An oxtail typically weighs 2 to 4 lbs. and is skinned and cut into short lengths for sale.Oxtail is a bony, gelatinous meat, and is usually slow-cooked, often stewed or...
  
   curry. The beef curries are often served with French bread for dipping, or with rice.

• Cà ri gà is a popular Vietnamese curry that is made with chicken, carrots, sweet potatoes, and peas in a coconut curry sauce. It is also served with rice or baguette.

Pickled vegetable dishes

Dưa muối is Vietnamese term for this.

Name	Description
Dưa chua, Dưa cải muối chua	Made from a kind of mustard green
Cà bát muối xổi	Made from a kind of eggplant
Dưa kiệu	Made from Allium chinense Allium chinense Allium chinense is an edible species of wild onion in the Amaryllis family... . This is a dish of Tết Tet Tet can mean:*Tết or Tết Nguyên Đán, the Vietnamese new year**Tet Offensive, a military campaign that began in 1968*Têt in Roussillon, France*Equal temperament, abbreviated as 12-TET, 19-TET and so on...  holiday.
Dưa hành	Made from onion bulbs.
Dưa món	Made from carrot, daikon, green papaya,...

Fermented fishes or shrimps

Mắm is a Vietnamese term for fermented fish or shimps. Mắm is used as main course, ingredients or condiments. The types of fish most commonly used to make mắm are catfish

Catfish

Catfishes are a diverse group of ray-finned fish. Named for their prominent barbels, which resemble a cat's whiskers, catfish range in size and behavior from the heaviest and longest, the Mekong giant catfish from Southeast Asia and the second longest, the wels catfish of Eurasia, to detritivores...

, snakeheads

Channidae

The Snakeheads are members of the freshwater perciform fish family Channidae, native to Africa and Asia. These elongated predatory fish are distinguished by a long dorsal fin, large mouth and shiny teeth. They breathe air with a suprabranchial organ, a primitive form of a labyrinth organ...

, and mackerel

Mackerel

Mackerel is a common name applied to a number of different species of fish, mostly, but not exclusively, from the family Scombridae. They may be found in all tropical and temperate seas. Most live offshore in the oceanic environment but a few, like the Spanish mackerel , enter bays and can be...

s. The fish flesh remains intact (this is how it is different from nước mắm), and can be eaten cooked or uncooked, with or without vegetables and condiments.

Name	Description
Mắm tôm	Made from fermented shrimps.
Mắm cá thu	Made from mackerel fish. This is usually made in Bình Định province Binh Dinh Province Bình Định is a province of Vietnam. It is located in Vietnam's South Central Coast region.-Administration:Binh Dinh is divided into one city and 10 districts:*An Lão*An Nhơn*Hoài Ân*Hoài Nhơn*Phù Cát*Phù Mỹ*Tuy Phước*Tây Sơn*Vân Canh... .
Mắm nêm	Usually made from round scad Round scad The Round scad, Decapterus punctatus, is a species of fish in the Carangidae. It was described in 1829 by the French zoologist, Georges Cuvier. Although the Round scad is considered a good food fish, it is mostly caught for use as bait.-Description:...  fish. This is a dish of Central Vietnam.
Mắm tôm chua	Made from shrimp, green papaya. This is a dish of Huế Hue Hue is one of the main properties of a color, defined technically , as "the degree to which a stimulus can be describedas similar to or different from stimuli that are described as red, green, blue, and yellow,"...  city.
Mắm ruốc	Made from krills. This is a dish from Central Vietnam.
Mắm cá linh	Made from a kind of fish that immigrates to Mekong delta every flood season from Tonlé Sap Tonlé Sap The Tonlé Sap is a combined lake and river system of major importance to Cambodia.The Tonlé Sap is the largest freshwater lake in South East Asia and is an ecological hot spot that was designated as a UNESCO biosphere in 1997.... , Cambodia Cambodia Cambodia , officially known as the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia... .

Sour fermented meat dishes

Nem chua is Vietnamese term for this. Nem chua is used instantly or being fried. Nem chua is made from pork meat, coated by fried rice (thính gạo), mixed with pork skin and then wrapped in country gooseberry's leaves (lá chùm ruột) or Erythrina orientalis

Erythrina orientalis

Erythrina orientalis is a plant species in the genus Erythrina.The pterocarpan orientanol A can be isolated from the wood of E. orientalis. The pterocarpans orientanol B and C, folitenol and erythrabyssin II, the pterocarpene erycristagallin and the prenylated isoflavone bidwillol A can be isolated...

's leaves (lá vông nem). The preservation process will finish in about 3–5 days.

Nem chua has its variations in many areas: Vĩnh Yên, Ước Lễ village (Hà Đông), Vẽ village (Hà Nội), Quảng Yên (Quảng Ninh), Thanh Hóa

Thanh Hóa

Thanh Hóa is the capital city of Vietnam's Thanh Hoa province. The population is nearly 200,000 with an area of only 57.9 square kilometers....

, Đông Ba (Huế

Hue

Hue is one of the main properties of a color, defined technically , as "the degree to which a stimulus can be describedas similar to or different from stimuli that are described as red, green, blue, and yellow,"...

), Ninh Hòa (Khánh Hòa

Khánh Hòa

Khánh Hòa may refer to a number of places in Vietnam:*Khanh Hoa Province*Khánh Hòa, An Giang - a commune of An Giang Province...

), Thủ Đức (Ho Chi Minh city

Ho Chi Minh City

Ho Chi Minh City , formerly named Saigon is the largest city in Vietnam...

), Lai Vung (Đồng Tháp), v.v...

Sausage

See Giò lụa

The Vietnamese term for sausage is giò

GIO

GIO is a computer bus standard developed by SGI and used in a variety of their products in the 1990s as their primary expansion system. GIO was similar in concept to competing standards such as NuBus or PCI, but saw little use outside SGI and severely limited the devices available on their...

, usually made from fresh ground pork and beef. Sausage makers may use their meat, skin or ear. Fish sauce

Fish sauce

Fish sauce is a condiment that is derived from fish that have been allowed to ferment. It is an essential ingredient in many curries and sauces. Fish sauce is a staple ingredient in numerous cultures in Southeast Asia and the coastal regions of East Asia, and features heavily in Thai and Vietnamese...

 is added before banana leaves are used to wrapped. The last step is boiling. For common sausage, 1 kg meat is boiled for 1 hour. For chả quế, the boiled meat mixture will then be roasted with cinnamon

Cinnamon

Cinnamon is a spice obtained from the inner bark of several trees from the genus Cinnamomum that is used in both sweet and savoury foods...

.

Chè

Chè is a type of desert commonly made by boiling beans or a starchy root such as yam or taro in water and sugar. Coconut milk and shredded coconuts are commonly added to chè, especially in southern Vietnam.

Fruit preserves

Vietnamese use fruits in season. When the season is passing, they made fruit preserves, called ô mai in Vietnamese language

Vietnamese language

Vietnamese is the national and official language of Vietnam. It is the mother tongue of 86% of Vietnam's population, and of about three million overseas Vietnamese. It is also spoken as a second language by many ethnic minorities of Vietnam...

. The natural taste of ô mai is a requirement. The original taste of ô mai is sour, sweet, salty and spicy. The most famous kind of ô mai is ô mai mơ, made from apricot

Apricot

The apricot, Prunus armeniaca, is a species of Prunus, classified with the plum in the subgenus Prunus. The native range is somewhat uncertain due to its extensive prehistoric cultivation.- Description :...

 harvested from the forest around Perfume pagoda

Perfume Pagoda

The Perfume Pagoda or Perfume Temple is a vast complex of Buddhist temples and shrines built into the limestone Huong Tich mountains. It is the site of a religious festival which draws large numbers of pilgrims from across Vietnam.The centre of the Perfume Temple lies in Huong Son Commune, My Duc...

 (chùa Hương), Hà Tây province. This ô mai consists of apricot covered by ginger, sugar, liquorice root slivers. Ô mai is a favourite food of Vietnamese school girls.

Tofu

Tofu

Tofu

is a food made by coagulating soy milk and then pressing the resulting curds into soft white blocks. It is part of East Asian and Southeast Asian cuisine such as Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Indonesian, Vietnamese, and others. There are many different varieties of tofu, including fresh tofu and tofu...

 (Vietnamese

Vietnamese language

Vietnamese is the national and official language of Vietnam. It is the mother tongue of 86% of Vietnam's population, and of about three million overseas Vietnamese. It is also spoken as a second language by many ethnic minorities of Vietnam...

: đậu hũ) is widely used in Vietnamese cuisine. Tofu is boiled, fried (sprinkled by ground shrimp or oil-dipped minced spring onion) or used as ingredient in a variety of dishes.

Other soybean

Soybean

The soybean or soya bean is a species of legume native to East Asia, widely grown for its edible bean which has numerous uses...

 products ranges from soy sauce

Soy sauce

Soy sauce is a condiment produced by fermenting soybeans with Aspergillus oryzae or Aspergillus sojae molds, along with water and salt...

 (nước tương)- usually light soy sauce, fermented bean paste

Fermented bean paste

Fermented bean paste is a category of fermented foods typically made from ground soybeans, which are indigenous to the cuisines of East and Southeast Asia...

 (tương

Tuong

Tương is the name applied to a variety of condiments a kind of fermented bean paste made from soybean and commonly used in Vietnamese cuisine....

), fermented bean curd (đậu phụ nhự or chao) to douhua (soft tofu sweet soup- tàu hũ nước đường).

Pastries

See Bánh lá

Bánh lá

Bánh lá is a category of bánh, or Vietnamese cakes, that consist of a parcel of a variety of rice stuffed with some fillings and wrapped in a leaf or leaves.-Varieties:*Bánh bột lọc - cassava cake packed with shrimp...

The Vietnamese name for pastries is bánh. Most Vietnamese pastries is made by leaf- wrapping and boiling. The most famous pair of cake is square cake (bánh chưng

Banh Chung

Bánh chưng is a traditional Vietnamese cake which is made from glutinous rice, mung bean, pork and other ingredients. Its origin is told by the legend of Lang Liêu, a prince of the sixth Hùng Vương, who became Hùng Vương's successor thank to his creation of bánh chưng and bánh dày, which...

) symbolizing the Earth and a round cake (bánh dày) symbolizing the Heaven, which are used in Vietnamese New Year (Tết

Tet

Tet can mean:*Tết or Tết Nguyên Đán, the Vietnamese new year**Tet Offensive, a military campaign that began in 1968*Têt in Roussillon, France*Equal temperament, abbreviated as 12-TET, 19-TET and so on...

).

Condiments

Vietnamese usually use raw vegetables as condiments for their dishes. It named rau sống (literally: raw vegetable) or rau ghém (literally: sliced vegetable). It combines properly with each main dish in flavour. For some dishes, rau sống could come into almost all the flavours: sour, bitter, spicy,...Dishes in which rau sống is indispensable are bánh xèo

Bánh Xèo

Bánh xèo are Vietnamese savoury fried pancakes made of rice flour, water, turmeric powder, stuffed with slivers of fatty pork, shrimp, diced green onion, and bean sprouts. Southern-styled banh xeo contains coconut milk and certain Central region skips the turmeric powder altogether...

 and hot pot

Hot pot

Hot pot , less commonly Chinese fondue or steamboat, refers to several East Asian varieties of stew, consisting of a simmering metal pot of stock at the center of the dining table. While the hot pot is kept simmering, ingredients are placed into the pot and are cooked at the table...

. The vegetables principally are herbs and wild edible vegetables gathered from forests and family gardens. Leaves and buds are the most common parts of vegetables used. Most of the vegetables have medicinal value.

Rau sống includes:

• Lettuce (xà lách)

• Raw bean sprout (giá sống)

• Herbs (rau thơm)

• Shreded banana flower (bắp chuối bào)

• Green banana (chuối xanh)

• Split water spinach (rau muống chẻ)

• Mango
  Mango
  The mango is a fleshy stone fruit belonging to the genus Mangifera, consisting of numerous tropical fruiting trees in the flowering plant family Anacardiaceae. The mango is native to India from where it spread all over the world. It is also the most cultivated fruit of the tropical world. While...
  
   bud (đọt xoài)

• Guava
  Guava
  Guavas are plants in the myrtle family genus Psidium , which contains about 100 species of tropical shrubs and small trees. They are native to Mexico, Central America, and northern South America...
  
   leaves (lá ổi)

Match

• Chicken dishes are combined with lime
  Lime (fruit)
  Lime is a term referring to a number of different citrus fruits, both species and hybrids, which are typically round, green to yellow in color, 3–6 cm in diameter, and containing sour and acidic pulp. Limes are a good source of vitamin C. Limes are often used to accent the flavors of foods and...
  
   leaves.
• Crab and seashell dishes are combined with fishy smell herb and perilla
  Perilla
  Perilla is the common name of the herbs of the genus Perilla of the mint family, Lamiaceae. In mild climates, the plant reseeds itself. There are both green-leafed and purple-leafed varieties, which are generally recognized as separate species by botanists. The leaves resemble stinging nettle...
  
  .
• Dishes reputed as "cold" or "fishy smelled", such as catfish, clams or snails, are combined with ginger or lemongrass.

Sauces

• Mắm tôm (shrimp paste
  Shrimp paste
  Shrimp paste or shrimp sauce, is a common ingredient used in Southeast Asian and Southern Chinese cuisine. It is known as terasi in Indonesian, ngapi in Burmese, kapi in Thai, Khmer and Lao language, belacan in Malay, mắm ruốc, mắm tép and mắm tôm in...
  
  )
• Nước mắm
  Fish sauce
  Fish sauce is a condiment that is derived from fish that have been allowed to ferment. It is an essential ingredient in many curries and sauces. Fish sauce is a staple ingredient in numerous cultures in Southeast Asia and the coastal regions of East Asia, and features heavily in Thai and Vietnamese...
  
  (fish extract) The fish sauce can be used as it is or mixed with lemon juice, garlic, vinegar, sugar, and chili. This mixture is called Nước mắm pha
• Tương
  Tuong
  Tương is the name applied to a variety of condiments a kind of fermented bean paste made from soybean and commonly used in Vietnamese cuisine....
  
  Made from fermented soybeans
• Soya sauce, mostly used in marinades and sauces.
• Hot chili sauce

Food colourings

The colour of Vietnamese food comes from natural ingredients.

• Red: usually from beetroot
  Beetroot
  The beetroot, also known as the table beet, garden beet, red beet or informally simply as beet, is one of the many cultivated varieties of beets and arguably the most commonly encountered variety in North America, Central America and Britain.-Consumption:The usually deep-red roots of beetroot are...
  
   or by frying annatto
  Annatto
  Annatto, sometimes called roucou or achiote, is a derivative of the achiote trees of tropical regions of the Americas, used to produce a yellow to orange food coloring and also as a flavoring...
  
   seed to make oil (dầu điều)
• Orange: for sticky rice, comes from Gac
  Gac
  Momordica cochinchinensis is a Southeast Asian fruit found throughout the region from Southern China to Northeastern Australia.-Etymology:It is commonly known as gac, from the Vietnamese gấc or quả gấc...
  
  
• Yellow: from turmeric
  Turmeric
  Turmeric is a rhizomatous herbaceous perennial plant of the ginger family, Zingiberaceae. It is native to tropical South Asia and needs temperatures between 20 °C and 30 °C and a considerable amount of annual rainfall to thrive...
  
  
• Green: from pandan
  Pandanus amaryllifolius
  Pandanus amaryllifolius is a tropical plant in the screwpine genus which is known commonly as pandan and is used widely in Southeast Asian cooking as a flavoring. The plant is rare in the wild but is widely cultivated. It is an upright green plant with fan-shaped sprays of long, narrow, bladelike...
  
   leaf or katuk
• Purple: from magenta plant (lá cẩm)
• Black: of gai cake is from ramie
  Ramie
  Ramie is a flowering plant in the nettle family Urticaceae, native to eastern Asia. It is a herbaceous perennial growing to 1–2.5 m tall; the leaves are heart-shaped, 7–15 cm long and 6–12 cm broad, and white on the underside with dense small hairs—this gives it a silvery appearance;...
  
   leaf (lá gai)
• Dark brown: for stew dishes, using nước màu or nước hàng, which is made by heating sugar to the temperature above that of caramel
  Caramel
  Caramel is a beige to dark-brown confection made by heating any of a variety of sugars. It is used as a flavoring in puddings and desserts, as a filling in bonbons, and as a topping for ice cream, custard and coffee....
  
   (170 °C).

Colourings can be absorbed by mixing ground colourings or colouring liquid or wraping before boiling to get the extracts. When colouring dishes, the tastes and smells of colourings must also be considered.

Herbs and spices

• Coriander
  Coriander
  Coriander is an annual herb in the family Apiaceae. Coriander is native to southern Europe and North Africa to southwestern Asia. It is a soft, hairless plant growing to tall. The leaves are variable in shape, broadly lobed at the base of the plant, and slender and feathery higher on the...
  
   and green onion
  Scallion
  Scallions , are the edible plants of various Allium species, all of which are "onion-like", having hollow green leaves and lacking a fully developed root bulb.-Etymology:The words...
  
   leaves can be found in most Vietnamese dishes.
• A basic technique of stir-frying vegetable is frying garlic
  Garlic
  Allium sativum, commonly known as garlic, is a species in the onion genus, Allium. Its close relatives include the onion, shallot, leek, chive, and rakkyo. Dating back over 6,000 years, garlic is native to central Asia, and has long been a staple in the Mediterranean region, as well as a frequent...
  
   or shallot
  Shallot
  The shallot is the botanical variety of Allium cepa to which the multiplier onion also belongs. It was formerly classified as the species A. ascalonicum, a name now considered a synonym of the correct name...
  
   with oil before put vegetable into the pan.
• In Northern Vietnam, all dishes with fish must be garnished with dill
  Dill
  Dill is a perennial herb. It is the sole species of the genus Anethum, though classified by some botanists in a related genus as Peucedanum graveolens C.B.Clarke.-Growth:...
  
  .
• In Central Vietnam, the mixture of ground lemon grass and chilli pepper are frequently used in dishes with beef.
• In Southern Vietnam, coconut water
  Coconut water
  Coconut water is the clear liquid inside young coconuts . As the fruit matures, the coconut water is gradually replaced by the coconut meat and air. A very young coconut has very little meat; the meat that it has is very tender, almost a gel...
  
   is used in most stew dishes.
• The pair culantro (ngò gai) and rice paddy herb (ngò om or ngổ) is indispensable in all kinds of sour soups in the Southern Vietnam.
• Spearmint
  Spearmint
  Mentha spicata syn. M. cordifolia is a species of mint native to much of Europe and southwest Asia, though its exact natural range is uncertain due to extensive early cultivation. It grows in wet soils...
  
   is often used with strongly fishy fishes.
• Perilla
  Perilla
  Perilla is the common name of the herbs of the genus Perilla of the mint family, Lamiaceae. In mild climates, the plant reseeds itself. There are both green-leafed and purple-leafed varieties, which are generally recognized as separate species by botanists. The leaves resemble stinging nettle...
  
   is usually used with crab dishes.

Desserts

Name	Description
Chè Chè Chè is a Vietnamese term that refers to any traditional Vietnamese sweet dessert soup or pudding.As such, it may, with the addition of qualifying adjectives, refer to a wide variety of distinct soups or puddings, which may be served either hot or cold...	A sweet dessert beverage or pudding usually made from beans and sticky rice Glutinous rice Glutinous rice is a type of short-grained Asian rice that is especially sticky when cooked. It is called glutinous Glutinous rice (Oryza sativa var. glutinosa or Oryza glutinosa; also called sticky rice, sweet rice, waxy rice, botan rice, biroin chal, mochi rice, and pearl rice, and pulut) is a... . Many varieties of chè are available, each with different fruit Fruit In broad terms, a fruit is a structure of a plant that contains its seeds.The term has different meanings dependent on context. In non-technical usage, such as food preparation, fruit normally means the fleshy seed-associated structures of certain plants that are sweet and edible in the raw state,... s, bean Bean Bean is a common name for large plant seeds of several genera of the family Fabaceae used for human food or animal feed.... s (for example, mung bean Mung bean The mung bean is the seed of Vigna radiata. It is native to the Indian subcontinent.-Description:They are small, ovoid in shape, and green in color... s or kidney beans Common bean Phaseolus vulgaris, the common bean, is an herbaceous annual plant domesticated independently in ancient Mesoamerica and the Andes, and now grown worldwide for its edible bean, popular both dry and as a green bean. The leaf is occasionally used as a leaf vegetable, and the straw is used for fodder... ), and other ingredients. Chè can be served cold – such as sâm bổ lường, which includes dried jujube Jujube Ziziphus zizyphus , commonly called jujube , red date, Chinese date, Korean date, or Indian date is a species of Ziziphus in the buckthorn family Rhamnaceae, used primarily as a fruiting shade tree.-Distribution:Its precise natural distribution is uncertain due to extensive cultivation,... , longan Longan Dimocarpus longan, commonly known as the longan, is a tropical tree native to South and Southeast Asia, in the Indomalaya ecozone known for its edible fruit.-Vernacular names:The fruit is known as longan or longyan in English... , fresh seaweed, barley and lotus seed Lotus seed Lotus seeds or lotus nuts are the seeds of plants in the genus Nelumbo, particularly the species Nelumbo nucifera. The seeds are of great importance to East Asian cuisine and are used extensively in traditional Chinese medicine and in Chinese desserts. The seeds are most commonly sold in the... s – or hot.
Rau câu	A popular gelatin dessert Gelatin dessert Gelatin desserts are desserts made with sweetened and flavored gelatin. They can be made by combining plain gelatin with other ingredients or by using a premixed blend of gelatin with additives...  cake made with agar Agar Agar or agar-agar is a gelatinous substance derived from a polysaccharide that accumulates in the cell walls of agarophyte red algae. Throughout history into modern times, agar has been chiefly used as an ingredient in desserts throughout Asia and also as a solid substrate to contain culture medium...  and flavored with coconut milk, pandan Pandanus Pandanus is a genus of monocots with about 600 known species. They are numerous palmlike dioecious trees and shrubs native of the Old World tropics and subtropics. They are classified in the order Pandanales, family Pandanaceae.-Overview:...  or other flavors. Because the gelatin is firm in texture compared to American gelatin, Vietnamese gelatin can be layered and shaped into intricate cakes. The gelatin is often called sương sa.
Chuối Chiên	Banana Banana Banana is the common name for herbaceous plants of the genus Musa and for the fruit they produce. Bananas come in a variety of sizes and colors when ripe, including yellow, purple, and red....  fried in a batter and often served hot with cold ice cream Ice cream Ice cream is a frozen dessert usually made from dairy products, such as milk and cream, and often combined with fruits or other ingredients and flavours. Most varieties contain sugar, although some are made with other sweeteners... , usually vanilla Vanilla Vanilla is a flavoring derived from orchids of the genus Vanilla, primarily from the Mexican species, Flat-leaved Vanilla . The word vanilla derives from the Spanish word "", little pod...  or coconut.
Bánh Flan	Influenced by French cuisine and served with caramel sauce.
Sinh tố Smoothie	A fruit smoothie made with just a few teaspoons of sweetened condensed milk, crushed ice and fresh local fruits. The smoothies come in many varieties including custard apple Custard apple Custard apple, a common name, can refer to:*Custard-apple, also called bull's heart, the fruit of the tree Annona reticulata.*The custard-apple tree itself, Annona reticulataThe term may also refer to:... , sugar apple, avocado Avocado The avocado is a tree native to Central Mexico, classified in the flowering plant family Lauraceae along with cinnamon, camphor and bay laurel... , jackfruit Jackfruit The jackfruit is a species of tree in the Artocarpus genus of the mulberry family . It is native to parts of Southern and Southeast Asia. It is the national fruit of Bangladesh, . The jackfruit tree is believed to be indigenous to the southwestern rain forests of India... , durian Durian The durian is the fruit of several tree species belonging to the genus Durio and the Malvaceae family . Widely known and revered in southeast Asia as the "king of fruits", the durian is distinctive for its large size, unique odour, and formidable thorn-covered husk... , strawberry Strawberry Fragaria is a genus of flowering plants in the rose family, Rosaceae, commonly known as strawberries for their edible fruits. Although it is commonly thought that strawberries get their name from straw being used as a mulch in cultivating the plants, the etymology of the word is uncertain. There... , passionfruit Passiflora edulis Passiflora edulis is a vine species of passion flower that is native to Paraguay, Brazil and northern Argentina . Its common names include passion fruit and passionfruit... , dragonfruit Pitaya A pitaya or pitahaya is the fruit of several cactus species, most importantly of the genus Hylocereus . These fruits are commonly known as dragon fruit – cf... , lychee Lychee The lychee is the sole member of the genus Litchi in the soapberry family, Sapindaceae. It is a tropical and subtropical fruit tree native to Southern China and Southeast Asia, and now cultivated in many parts of the world... , mango Mango The mango is a fleshy stone fruit belonging to the genus Mangifera, consisting of numerous tropical fruiting trees in the flowering plant family Anacardiaceae. The mango is native to India from where it spread all over the world. It is also the most cultivated fruit of the tropical world. While... , and banana.
Da Ua	Made with condensed milk Condensed milk Condensed milk, also known as sweetened condensed milk, is cow's milk from which water has been removed and to which sugar has been added, yielding a very thick, sweet product which when canned can last for years without refrigeration if unopened. The two terms, condensed milk and sweetened...  and has a sweet, tart flavor. It can be eaten in its cool, soft form or frozen. In Vietnam, it can be seen served frozen in small, clear bags.

There are also various cakes and confections made with any combination of sweet beans, tropical fruit and glutinous rice.

Other

Name	Description
Bia hơi Bia hoi Bia hơi, , is a type of draft beer popular in Vietnam.Bia hơi is available throughout Vietnam. It is mostly to be found in small bars and on street corners. The beer is brewed daily and each bar gets a fresh batch delivered every day in plastic jugs...	A Vietnamese specialty draft beer produced locally in small batches.
Cà phê sữa đá	Strong iced coffee Coffee Coffee is a brewed beverage with a dark,init brooo acidic flavor prepared from the roasted seeds of the coffee plant, colloquially called coffee beans. The beans are found in coffee cherries, which grow on trees cultivated in over 70 countries, primarily in equatorial Latin America, Southeast Asia,... , most often served with sweetened condensed milk at the bottom of the cup to be stirred in. The beverage is very popular among the Vietnamese.
Nước mía Sugarcane juice Sugarcane juice is the juice extracted from pressed sugarcane. It is consumed as a beverage worldwide, and especially in regions where sugarcane is commercially grown such as Southeast Asia, South Asia, and Latin America....	Sugar cane juice extracted from squeezing sugar cane plant, served with ice.
Rau má	Pennywort juice made from blending fresh pennywort leaves with water and sugar until dissolved. The beverage is a near-transparent green color and served over ice.
(tropical sorbets)
Sữa đậu nành (Soy milk)	A soybean drink served either hot or cold, sweetened or unsweetened.
Rượu đế	A distilled liquor made of rice.
Trà đá	A kind of ice tea popular for its cheap price. Has a faint lime-yellow color and usually doesn't have much taste.
Nước sắn dây hoa bưởi	Made of kudzu Kudzu Kudzu is a plant in the genus Pueraria in the pea family Fabaceae, subfamily Faboideae. It is a climbing, coiling, and trailing vine native to southern Japan and southeast China. Its name comes from the Japanese name for the plant, . It is a weed that climbs over trees or shrubs and grows so...  and pomelo Pomelo The pomelo is a citrus fruit native to Southeast Asia. It is usually pale green to yellow when ripe, with sweet white flesh and very thick albedo . It is the largest citrus fruit, 15–25 cm in diameter, and usually weighing 1–2 kg...  flower extract.

Exotic dishes

The use of ingredients that are typically uncommon or taboo in most countries is one of the quintessential attributes that make Vietnamese cuisine unique. Television chef Andrew Zimmern

Andrew Zimmern

Andrew Zimmern is a James Beard Award-winning TV personality, chef, food writer, and teacher. As the co-creator, host, and consulting producer of Travel Channel's series Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern and Andrew Zimmern's Bizarre World, he travels the world exploring food in its own native...

 visited Vietnam in the twelfth episode of his popular show Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern

Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern

Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern is a documentary-styled travel and cuisine television show hosted by Andrew Zimmern on the Travel Channel. The first season debuted on Monday, February 26, 2007 at 9pm ET/PT....

. Cobra beating heart and dried bones, silk worms and bull penis are some examples of the dishes he sampled.

In some countries, unusual ingredients, most of the time, can be found only in exotic restaurants. What makes the use of these ingredients in Vietnam stand out is that ingredients that are deemed atypical in most countries can play a customary role in daily family dishes, from the poor's to the riches'.

A common and inexpensive breakfast dish that can be found in any wet market, balut or hột vịt lộn is a fertilized duck egg with a nearly developed embryo

Embryo

An embryo is a multicellular diploid eukaryote in its earliest stage of development, from the time of first cell division until birth, hatching, or germination...

 inside which is boiled and eaten in the shell. It is typically served with fresh herbs: rau răm or Vietnamese coriander

Vietnamese coriander

Persicaria odorata, the Vietnamese coriander, is an herb whose leaves are used in Southeast Asian cooking. Other English names for the herb include Vietnamese mint, Vietnamese cilantro, Cambodian mint and hot mint. The Vietnamese name is rau răm, while in Malaysia and Singapore it is called daun...

, salt

Salt

In chemistry, salts are ionic compounds that result from the neutralization reaction of an acid and a base. They are composed of cations and anions so that the product is electrically neutral...

, and pepper

Black pepper

Black pepper is a flowering vine in the family Piperaceae, cultivated for its fruit, which is usually dried and used as a spice and seasoning. The fruit, known as a peppercorn when dried, is approximately in diameter, dark red when fully mature, and, like all drupes, contains a single seed...

; lime juice is another popular additive, when available. A more unusual version of balut dish - Fetus quails ("trứng cút lộn")- is a snack favored by many Vietnamese students. Paddy crab and paddy snail are the main ingredients in "bún riêu ốc" - a popular noodle dish - and in some everyday soup dishes ("canh") and braised food ("món bung"). Family meals with silk worms ("nhộng"), banana flowers ("hoa chuối"), sparrows, doves, fermented fish and shrimp

Fish sauce

Fish sauce is a condiment that is derived from fish that have been allowed to ferment. It is an essential ingredient in many curries and sauces. Fish sauce is a staple ingredient in numerous cultures in Southeast Asia and the coastal regions of East Asia, and features heavily in Thai and Vietnamese...

 ("mắm cá, mắm tôm tép") are not rare sights. Seasonal favorites include ("rươi") or ragworm

Nereididae

Nereididae are a family of polychaete worms. It contains about 500 – mostly marine – species grouped into 42 genera. They may be commonly called ragworms or clam worms.-Characteristics:...

, which are made into many dishes such as fried "rươi" omelet ( chả rươi), fermented "rươi" sauce (mắm rươi), steamed rươi (rươi hấp), stir-fried rươi with radish or bamboo shoot (rươi xào củ niễng măng tươi hay củ cải).

Vietnamese cuisine is also notable for its wide range of meat choices. Exotic meat such as dog meat

Dog meat

Dog meat refers to edible parts and the flesh derived from dogs. Human consumption of dog meat has been recorded in many parts of the world, including ancient China, ancient Mexico, and ancient Rome. According to contemporary reports, dog meat is consumed in a variety of countries such as...

, snake

Snake

Snakes are elongate, legless, carnivorous reptiles of the suborder Serpentes that can be distinguished from legless lizards by their lack of eyelids and external ears. Like all squamates, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping scales...

, soft-shell turtle, deer and domestic goat are sold in street-side restaurants and generally paired with alcoholic beverages. A taboo in many Western countries, consumption of dog meat

Dog meat

Dog meat refers to edible parts and the flesh derived from dogs. Human consumption of dog meat has been recorded in many parts of the world, including ancient China, ancient Mexico, and ancient Rome. According to contemporary reports, dog meat is consumed in a variety of countries such as...

 is a common sight throughout the country and is believed to raise the libido in men. Paddy mouse meat

Mouse

A mouse is a small mammal belonging to the order of rodents. The best known mouse species is the common house mouse . It is also a popular pet. In some places, certain kinds of field mice are also common. This rodent is eaten by large birds such as hawks and eagles...

 - barbecued, braised, stir- or deep-fried - is a rarer dish that can be found in many Vietnamese rural areas or even high-end city restaurants.

Anthony Bourdain

Anthony Bourdain

Anthony Michael "Tony" Bourdain is an American chef, author and television personality. He is well known for his 2000 book Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly, and is the host of Travel Channel's culinary and cultural adventure program Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations.A...

, the host chef of Travel Channel

Travel Channel

The Travel Channel is a satellite and cable television channel that is headquartered in Chevy Chase, Maryland, US. It features documentaries and how-to shows related to travel and leisure around the United States and throughout the world. Programming has included shows in African animal safaris,...

's Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations, wrote in April 2005, for the Financial Times, "...everything is used - and nothing wasted in Vietnam." Animal parts that are often disposed of in many Western countries are utilized fully in Vietnamese cooking. Organs, including lungs, livers, hearts, intestines and bladders of pigs, cows and chickens are sold at an even higher price than their meat. Chicken testicles

Animelles

The testicles of calves, lambs, cocks, and other animals are eaten in many parts of the world, under a wide variety of euphemistic culinary names...

 and undeveloped eggs are stir-fried with vegetables and served as an everyday dish.

Many of the traditional Northern Lunar New Year - Tết

Tet

Tet can mean:*Tết or Tết Nguyên Đán, the Vietnamese new year**Tet Offensive, a military campaign that began in 1968*Têt in Roussillon, France*Equal temperament, abbreviated as 12-TET, 19-TET and so on...

 - dishes such as thịt đông, giò thủ, canh măng móng giò involve the use of pig heads, tongues, throats and feet. Pig and cow tails as well as chicken heads, necks and feet are Vietnamese favorite beer dishes. Bóng

Bong

A bong is a filtration device/apparatus generally used for smoking cannabis, tobacco,or other herbal substances.In construction and function a bong is similar to a hookah, except smaller and more portable...

, used as an ingredient in "canh bóng" – a kind of soup, is pig skin baked until popped. Steamed pig brains can be found anywhere along a Vietnamese street. Different kinds of animal blood is made into tiết canh by whisking the blood with fish sauce and cold water in a shallow dish along with finely chopped cooked duck innards (such as gizzards), sprinkled with crushed peanut

Peanut

The peanut, or groundnut , is a species in the legume or "bean" family , so it is not a nut. The peanut was probably first cultivated in the valleys of Peru. It is an annual herbaceous plant growing tall...

s and chopped herbs such as Vietnamese coriander

Vietnamese coriander

Persicaria odorata, the Vietnamese coriander, is an herb whose leaves are used in Southeast Asian cooking. Other English names for the herb include Vietnamese mint, Vietnamese cilantro, Cambodian mint and hot mint. The Vietnamese name is rau răm, while in Malaysia and Singapore it is called daun...

, mint

Mentha

Mentha is a genus of flowering plants in the family Lamiaceae . The species are not clearly distinct and estimates of the number of species varies from 13 to 18. Hybridization between some of the species occurs naturally...

, etc. It is then cooled until the blood coagulates into a soft jelly-like mixture and served raw.

Vegetables

• Bitter melon
  Bitter melon
  Momordica charantia, called bitter melon or bitter gourd in English, is a tropical and subtropical vine of the family Cucurbitaceae, widely grown in Asia, Africa, and the Caribbean for its edible fruit, which is among the most bitter of all fruits...
  
   (khổ qua)
• Bok choy (cải bó xôi)
• Cabbage
  Cabbage
  Cabbage is a popular cultivar of the species Brassica oleracea Linne of the Family Brassicaceae and is a leafy green vegetable...
  
   (cải bắp)
• Carrot
  Carrot
  The carrot is a root vegetable, usually orange in colour, though purple, red, white, and yellow varieties exist. It has a crisp texture when fresh...
  
   (cà rốt)
• Cauliflower
  Cauliflower
  Cauliflower is one of several vegetables in the species Brassica oleracea, in the family Brassicaceae. It is an annual plant that reproduces by seed...
  
   (súp lơ or bông cải)
• Ceylon spinach (mồng tơi)

• Chayote
  Chayote
  The chayote , also known as christophene, vegetable pear, mirliton, pear squash, christophine , chouchoute , choko , starprecianté, citrayota, citrayote , chuchu , chow chow , cho cho , sayote ,...
  
   (su su)
• Chili pepper
  Chili pepper
  Chili pepper is the fruit of plants from the genus Capsicum, members of the nightshade family, Solanaceae. The term in British English and in Australia, New Zealand, India, Malaysia and other Asian countries is just chilli without pepper.Chili peppers originated in the Americas...
  
   (ớt)
• Cucumber
  Cucumber
  The cucumber is a widely cultivated plant in the gourd family Cucurbitaceae, which includes squash, and in the same genus as the muskmelon. The plant is a creeping vine which bears cylindrical edible fruit when ripe. There are three main varieties of cucumber: "slicing", "pickling", and...
  
   (dưa leo)
• Crown daisy
  Garland chrysanthemum
  Garland chrysanthemum, botanically Chrysanthemum coronarium or Leucanthemum coronarium, also known as chrysanthemum greens or edible chrysanthemum, is native to the Mediterranean and East Asia...
  
   (cải cúc or tần ô)
• Daikon
  Daikon
  Daikon , Raphanus sativus var. longipinnatus, also called White Radish, Japanese radish, Oriental radish, Chinese radish, lo bok and Mooli , is a mild flavoured, very large, white East Asian radish...
  
   (củ cải trắng)
• Eggplant (cà tím)
• Jicama
  Jícama
  Pachyrhizus erosus, commonly known as Jícama , Yam, and Mexican Turnip, is the name of a native Mexican vine, although the name most commonly refers to the plant's edible tuberous root. Jícama is one species in the genus Pachyrhizus. Plants in this genus are commonly referred to as yam bean,...
  
   (củ đậu or củ sắn)

• Hemlock water dropwort (rau cần ta)
• Katuk (rau ngót)
• Joseph's coat (rau dền đỏ)
• Tonkin jasmine (hoa thiên lý)
• Water cress (cải xong)
• Water spinach
  Ipomoea aquatica
  Ipomoea aquatica is a semi-aquatic tropical plant grown as a leaf vegetable. It is known in English as Water Spinach, Water Morning Glory, Water Convolvulus, or by the more ambiguous names "Chinese spinach" and "swamp cabbage". It has many other names in other languages, such as "Phak bung" in Thai...
  
   (rau muống)

Fruits

• Acerola
  Acerola
  Malpighia emarginata is a tropical fruit-bearing shrub or small tree in the family Malpighiaceae. Common names include acerola, Barbados cherry, West Indian cherry and wild crapemyrtle....
  
   (sơ ri or xê-ri)
• Buddha's hand
  Buddha's hand
  Buddha's hand, Citrus medica var. sarcodactylis , is a fragrant citron variety whose fruit is segmented into finger-like sections. The origin of Buddha's hand plant is traced back to Northeastern India or China.-Description:Citrus medica var...
  
   (phật thủ)
• Canistel (trái trứng gà)
• Cherimoya
  Cherimoya
  The Cherimoya is the fruit of the species Annona cherimola, which is native to the Andes. Today they are grown throughout South and Central America.-Description:...
  
   (mãng cầu tây)
• Coconut
  Coconut
  The coconut palm, Cocos nucifera, is a member of the family Arecaceae . It is the only accepted species in the genus Cocos. The term coconut can refer to the entire coconut palm, the seed, or the fruit, which is not a botanical nut. The spelling cocoanut is an old-fashioned form of the word...
  
   (dừa)
• Chinese date (táo tàu)
• Custard apple
  Custard-apple
  The tree also grows in Egypt,but the fruit is quite greenish in color not brown or yellowish.The common name for the fruit in Egypt is "Kishta".The custard-apple, also called bullock's heart or bull's heart, is the fruit of the tree Annona reticulata...
  
   (bình bát or mãng cầu)
• Durian
  Durian
  The durian is the fruit of several tree species belonging to the genus Durio and the Malvaceae family . Widely known and revered in southeast Asia as the "king of fruits", the durian is distinctive for its large size, unique odour, and formidable thorn-covered husk...
  
   (sầu riêng)
• milk fruit
  Chrysophyllum cainito
  Chrysophyllum cainito is a tropical tree of the family Sapotaceae, native to the lowlands of Central America and the West Indies. It grows rapidly and reaches 20 m in height....
  
   (vú sữa)
• Guava
  Guava
  Guavas are plants in the myrtle family genus Psidium , which contains about 100 species of tropical shrubs and small trees. They are native to Mexico, Central America, and northern South America...
  
   (ổi)
• Jackfruit
  Jackfruit
  The jackfruit is a species of tree in the Artocarpus genus of the mulberry family . It is native to parts of Southern and Southeast Asia. It is the national fruit of Bangladesh, . The jackfruit tree is believed to be indigenous to the southwestern rain forests of India...
  
   (mít)

• Langsat
  Lansium domesticum
  Lansium domesticum, also known as langsat or lanzones, is a fruit from the family Meliaceae. The plant, which originates from western Southeast Asia. It is the provincial flower for the Indonesian province of South Sumatra.-Names:...
  
   (bòn bon)
• Longan
  Longan
  Dimocarpus longan, commonly known as the longan, is a tropical tree native to South and Southeast Asia, in the Indomalaya ecozone known for its edible fruit.-Vernacular names:The fruit is known as longan or longyan in English...
  
   (long nhãn)
• Lychee
  Lychee
  The lychee is the sole member of the genus Litchi in the soapberry family, Sapindaceae. It is a tropical and subtropical fruit tree native to Southern China and Southeast Asia, and now cultivated in many parts of the world...
  
   (vải)
• Mango
  Mango
  The mango is a fleshy stone fruit belonging to the genus Mangifera, consisting of numerous tropical fruiting trees in the flowering plant family Anacardiaceae. The mango is native to India from where it spread all over the world. It is also the most cultivated fruit of the tropical world. While...
  
   (xoài)
• Mangosteen
  Mangosteen
  The purple mangosteen , colloquially known simply as mangosteen, is a tropical evergreen tree believed to have originated in the Sunda Islands and the Moluccas of Indonesia. The tree grows from 7 to 25 m tall...
  
   (măng cụt)
• Otaheite gooseberry
  Otaheite gooseberry
  Phyllanthus acidus, known as the Otaheite gooseberry, Malay gooseberry, Tahitian gooseberry, country gooseberry, star gooseberry, West India gooseberry, simply gooseberry tree, is one of the trees with edible small yellow berries fruit in the Phyllanthaceae family...
  
   (chùm ruột)
• Papaya
  Papaya
  The papaya , papaw, or pawpaw is the fruit of the plant Carica papaya, the sole species in the genus Carica of the plant family Caricaceae...
  
   (đu đủ)
• Persimmon
  Persimmon
  A persimmon is the edible fruit of a number of species of trees in the genus Diospyros in the ebony wood family . The word Diospyros means "the fire of Zeus" in ancient Greek. As a tree, it is a perennial plant...
  
   (hồng)
• Pitaya
  Pitaya
  A pitaya or pitahaya is the fruit of several cactus species, most importantly of the genus Hylocereus . These fruits are commonly known as dragon fruit – cf...
  
   - dragon fruit (thanh long)
• Plum
  Plum
  A plum or gage is a stone fruit tree in the genus Prunus, subgenus Prunus. The subgenus is distinguished from other subgenera in the shoots having a terminal bud and solitary side buds , the flowers in groups of one to five together on short stems, and the fruit having a groove running down one...
  
   (mận)
• Pomelo
  Pomelo
  The pomelo is a citrus fruit native to Southeast Asia. It is usually pale green to yellow when ripe, with sweet white flesh and very thick albedo . It is the largest citrus fruit, 15–25 cm in diameter, and usually weighing 1–2 kg...
  
   (bưởi)

• Rambutan
  Rambutan
  The rambutan is a medium-sized tropical tree in the family Sapindaceae, and the fruit of this tree. It is native to Vietnam, Indonesia, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, and elsewhere in Southeast Asia, although its precise natural distribution is unknown. It is closely related to several...
  
   (chôm chôm)
• Sapodilla
  Sapodilla
  Manilkara zapota, commonly known as the sapodilla, is a long-lived, evergreen tree native to southern Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean. An example natural occurrence is in coastal Yucatan in the Petenes mangroves ecoregion, where it is a subdominant plant species...
  
   (hồng xiêm or xa-pô-chê)
• Spondias cytherea; see Spondias
  Spondias
  Spondias is a genus of flowering plants in the cashew family, Anacardiaceae. The genus consists of 17 described species, 7 of which are native to the Neotropics and about 10 are native to tropical Asia...
  
   genus (cóc)
• Soursop
  Soursop
  The Soursop is tripti broadleaf, flowering, evergreen tree native to Central America, the Caribbean and northern South America, Colombia and Brazil, Mexico, Peru, Venezuela, Soursop is also native to sub-Saharan African countries that lie within the tropics. Today, it is also grown in some areas...
  
   (mãng cầu Xiêm)
• Star fruit
  Carambola
  Carambola, also known as starfruit, is the fruit of Averrhoa carambola, a species of tree native to the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. The fruit is a popular food throughout Southeast Asia, the South Pacific and parts of East Asia...
  
   (khế)
• Sweetsop
  Sugar-apple
  Annona squamosa is a species of Annona native to the tropical Americas and widely grown in Colombia, El Salvador, India, Pakistan and the Philippines...
  
   (na or mãng cầu ta)
• Rose apple (roi in the North, mận Đà Lạt in the South)
• Tomato
  Tomato
  The word "tomato" may refer to the plant or the edible, typically red, fruit which it bears. Originating in South America, the tomato was spread around the world following the Spanish colonization of the Americas, and its many varieties are now widely grown, often in greenhouses in cooler...
  
   (cà chua)
• Water apple (roi in the north, mận in the south)
• Watermelon
  Watermelon
  Watermelon is a vine-like flowering plant originally from southern Africa. Its fruit, which is also called watermelon, is a special kind referred to by botanists as a pepo, a berry which has a thick rind and fleshy center...
  
   (dưa hấu)

Herbs (rau thơm)

• Genus Allium
  Allium
  Allium is a monocot genus of flowering plants, informally referred to as the onion genus. The generic name Allium is the Latin word for garlic....
  
  :
  • Using leaf and flower: scallion
    Scallion
    Scallions , are the edible plants of various Allium species, all of which are "onion-like", having hollow green leaves and lacking a fully developed root bulb.-Etymology:The words...
    
     or green onion (hành lá or hành hương or hành hoa), Chinese chives (hẹ)
  • Using bulb: garlic
    Garlic
    Allium sativum, commonly known as garlic, is a species in the onion genus, Allium. Its close relatives include the onion, shallot, leek, chive, and rakkyo. Dating back over 6,000 years, garlic is native to central Asia, and has long been a staple in the Mediterranean region, as well as a frequent...
    
     (tỏi), shallot
    Shallot
    The shallot is the botanical variety of Allium cepa to which the multiplier onion also belongs. It was formerly classified as the species A. ascalonicum, a name now considered a synonym of the correct name...
    
     (hành tím), onion
    Onion
    The onion , also known as the bulb onion, common onion and garden onion, is the most widely cultivated species of the genus Allium. The genus Allium also contains a number of other species variously referred to as onions and cultivated for food, such as the Japanese bunching onion The onion...
    
     (hành tây), Allium chinense
    Allium chinense
    Allium chinense is an edible species of wild onion in the Amaryllis family...
    
     (củ kiệu) and chives
    Chives
    Chives are the smallest species of the edible onions. A perennial plant, they are native to Europe, Asia and North America.. Allium schoenoprasum is the only species of Allium native to both the New and the Old World....
    
     (củ nén or hành tăm).
  • Welsh onion
    Welsh onion
    Allium fistulosum L. is a perennial onion. Other names that may be applied to this plant include green onion, spring onion, escallion, and salad onion...
    
     (hưng cừ) and leek
    Leek
    The leek, Allium ampeloprasum var. porrum , also sometimes known as Allium porrum, is a vegetable which belongs, along with the onion and garlic, to family Amaryllidaceae, subfamily Allioideae...
    
     (tỏi tây or hành boarô) are not traditionally used.
• Family Zingiberaceae
  Zingiberaceae
  Zingiberaceae, or the Ginger family, is a family of flowering plants consisting of aromatic perennial herbs with creeping horizontal or tuberous rhizomes, comprising ca. 52 genera and more than 1300 species, distributed throughout tropical Africa, Asia, and the Americas.Many species are important...
  
  : using ginger
  Ginger
  Ginger is the rhizome of the plant Zingiber officinale, consumed as a delicacy, medicine, or spice. It lends its name to its genus and family . Other notable members of this plant family are turmeric, cardamom, and galangal....
  
   (gừng), galangal
  Galangal
  Galangal is a rhizome of plants of the genus Alpinia or Kaempferia in the ginger family Zingiberaceae, with culinary and medicinal uses originated from Indonesia...
  
   (riềng)- greater galangal (riềng nếp) is preferred to lesser galangal
  Lesser galangal
  Alpinia officinarum, known as lesser galangal, is a plant in the ginger family, cultivated in Southeast Asia. It originated in China, where its name ultimately derives. It can grow several feet high, with long leaves and reddish-white flowers. The rhizomes, known as galangal, are valued for their...
  
   (riềng thuốc) because of the stronger flavour, turmeric
  Turmeric
  Turmeric is a rhizomatous herbaceous perennial plant of the ginger family, Zingiberaceae. It is native to tropical South Asia and needs temperatures between 20 °C and 30 °C and a considerable amount of annual rainfall to thrive...
  
   (nghệ) and black cardamom
  Black cardamom
  Black cardamom, also known as hill cardamom, Bengal cardamom, greater cardamom, Indian cardamom, Nepal cardamom, or winged cardamom, brown cardamom, thảo quả and tsao-ko) comes from either of two species in the family Zingiberaceae...
  
   (thảo quả).
• Bacopa monnieri
  Bacopa monnieri
  Bacopa monnieri is a perennial, creeping herb whose habitat includes wetlands and muddy shores...
  
  (rau đắng)
• Coriander
  Coriander
  Coriander is an annual herb in the family Apiaceae. Coriander is native to southern Europe and North Africa to southwestern Asia. It is a soft, hairless plant growing to tall. The leaves are variable in shape, broadly lobed at the base of the plant, and slender and feathery higher on the...
  
   (rau ngò or ngò rí)
• Spearmint
  Spearmint
  Mentha spicata syn. M. cordifolia is a species of mint native to much of Europe and southwest Asia, though its exact natural range is uncertain due to extensive early cultivation. It grows in wet soils...
  
   (húng lủi)
• Elsholtzia ciliata
  Elsholtzia ciliata
  Elsholtzia ciliata, commonly known as Vietnamese Balm is a weed native to Asia, sometimes grown as an ornamental plant.The plant is an erect herb that grows to about 60 cm in height. The leaves are long, stalked, and serrated, and reach 2 to 8.5 cm in length and .8 to 2.5 cm in width. In shape...
  
  (kinh giới)

• Lemon grass
  Cymbopogon
  Cymbopogon is a genus of about 55 species of grasses, native to warm temperate and tropical regions of the Old World and Oceania. It is a tall perennial grass...
  
   (xả or sả)
• Long coriander/culantro
  Eryngium foetidum
  Eryngium foetidum is a tropical perennial and annual herb in the family Apiaceae. It is native to Mexico and South America but is cultivated worldwide...
  
   (ngò gai)
• Peppermint
  Peppermint
  Peppermint is a hybrid mint, a cross between the watermint and spearmint . The plant, indigenous to Europe, is now widespread in cultivation throughout all regions of the world...
  
   (húng cây or rau bạc hà)
• Perilla
  Perilla
  Perilla is the common name of the herbs of the genus Perilla of the mint family, Lamiaceae. In mild climates, the plant reseeds itself. There are both green-leafed and purple-leafed varieties, which are generally recognized as separate species by botanists. The leaves resemble stinging nettle...
  
   (tía tô)
• Rice paddy herb
  Limnophila aromatica
  Limnophila aromatica is a tropical flowering plant in the plantain family, Plantaginaceae. It is native to Southeast Asia, where it flourishes in hot temperatures and grows most often in watery environments, particularly in flooded rice fields...
  
   (ngò ôm)
• Houttuynia cordata
  Houttuynia
  Houttuynia cordata in Lao; ; English lizard tail and chameleon plant; ), In English, it is known as Lizard tail, chameleon plant, heartleaf, fishwort and Bishop's weed...
  
  (giấp cá or diếp cá)

• Thai basil
  Thai basil
  Thai basil is a type of sweet basil native to Southeast Asia that has been cultivated to provide a distinctive set of traits. It has an identifiable licorice flavor not present in sweet basil, and its flavor is more stable under high or extended cooking temperatures than that of sweet basil...
  
   (rau quế, húng quế, or rau húng quế) sometimes substituted with sweet basil in the United States
• Vietnamese coriander
  Vietnamese coriander
  Persicaria odorata, the Vietnamese coriander, is an herb whose leaves are used in Southeast Asian cooking. Other English names for the herb include Vietnamese mint, Vietnamese cilantro, Cambodian mint and hot mint. The Vietnamese name is rau răm, while in Malaysia and Singapore it is called daun...
  
   (rau răm)
• Dill
  Dill
  Dill is a perennial herb. It is the sole species of the genus Anethum, though classified by some botanists in a related genus as Peucedanum graveolens C.B.Clarke.-Growth:...
  
   (thì là)
• Parsley
  Parsley
  Parsley is a species of Petroselinum in the family Apiaceae, native to the central Mediterranean region , naturalized elsewhere in Europe, and widely cultivated as an herb, a spice and a vegetable.- Description :Garden parsley is a bright green hairless biennial herbaceous plant in temperate...
  
  

Vietnamese utensils

• Basket
  Basket
  A basket is a container which is traditionally constructed from stiff fibres, which can be made from a range of materials, including wood splints, runners, and cane. While most baskets are made from plant materials, other materials such as horsehair, baleen, or metal wire can be used. Baskets are...
  
  , various kinds (rổ or rá)
• Bowl
  Bowl (vessel)
  A bowl is a common open-top container used in many cultures to serve food, and is also used for drinking and storing other items. They are typically small and shallow, although some, such as punch bowls and salad bowls, are larger and often intended to serve many people.Bowls have existed for...
  
   (small bowl: bát in Northern Vietnam or chén in Southern Vietnam; large bowl: tô)
• Chopsticks
  Chopsticks
  Chopsticks are small, often tapered, sticks used in pairs of equal length as the traditional eating utensils of China and its diaspora, Japan, Korea, Vietnam and Northern provinces of Laos, Thailand and Burma. Generally believed to have originated in ancient China, they can also be found in some...
  
   (đũa)
• Chõ- a kind of steamer to cook glutinous rice
  Glutinous rice
  Glutinous rice is a type of short-grained Asian rice that is especially sticky when cooked. It is called glutinous Glutinous rice (Oryza sativa var. glutinosa or Oryza glutinosa; also called sticky rice, sweet rice, waxy rice, botan rice, biroin chal, mochi rice, and pearl rice, and pulut) is a...
  
  
• Clay pot cooking
  Clay pot cooking
  thumb|Clay-pot Rice With Swamp EelClay pot cooking is a technique of cooking food in an unglazed clay pot which has been soaked in water so as to release steam during the cooking process...
  
   (thố đất)
• Cup (cốc or ly)
• Dipper
  Dipper
  Dippers are members of the genus Cinclus in the bird family Cinclidae, named for their bobbing or dipping movements. They are unique among passerines for their ability to dive and swim underwater.-Description:...
  
   (gáo)
• Flat drying basket (nong or nia)
• Knife
  Knife
  A knife is a cutting tool with an exposed cutting edge or blade, hand-held or otherwise, with or without a handle. Knives were used at least two-and-a-half million years ago, as evidenced by the Oldowan tools...
  
   (dao)
• Mill
  Mill (grinding)
  A grinding mill is a unit operation designed to break a solid material into smaller pieces. There are many different types of grinding mills and many types of materials processed in them. Historically mills were powered by hand , working animal , wind or water...
  
   (cối xay gạo)
• Mortar
  Mortar and pestle
  A mortar and pestle is a tool used to crush, grind, and mix solid substances . The pestle is a heavy bat-shaped object, the end of which is used for crushing and grinding. The mortar is a bowl, typically made of hard wood, ceramic or stone...
  
   (cối giã)
• Pestle (chày)
• Plate
  Plate (dishware)
  A plate is a broad, concave, but mainly flat vessel on which food can be served. A plate can also be used for ceremonial or decorative purposes.-Materials:...
  
   (dĩa or đĩa)
• Pot
  Pot
  Pot commonly refers to pottery, the ceramic ware made by pottersPot may also refer to:- Containers :* Plant pot or flower pot, a container in which plants are cultivated* Cooking pot, a stove-top cooking utensil* Chamber pot, a bedside urinal...
  
  , various kinds (nồi and niêu)
• Spoon
  Spoon
  A spoon is a utensil consisting of a small shallow bowl, oval or round, at the end of a handle. A type of cutlery , especially as part of a place setting, it is used primarily for serving. Spoons are also used in food preparation to measure, mix, stir and toss ingredients...
  
   (thìa in Northern Vietnam or muỗng in Southern Vietnam)
• Teacup
  Teacup
  A teacup is a small cup, with or without a handle, generally a small one that may be grasped with the thumb and one or two fingers. It is typically made of a ceramic material. It is usually part of a set, composed of a cup and a matching saucer. These in turn may be part of a tea set in...
  
   (tách or chén uống trà)
• Teapot
  Teapot
  A teapot is a vessel used for steeping tea leaves or a herbal mix in near-boiling water. Tea may be either in a tea bag or loose, in which case a tea strainer will be needed, either to hold the leaves as they steep or to catch the leaves inside the teapot when the tea is poured...
  
   (ấm pha trà)
• Tray
  Tray
  A tray is a shallow platform designed for carrying things. It is larger than a salver, a diminutive version commonly used for lighter and smaller servings, and it can be fashioned from numerous materials, including silver, brass, sheet iron, wood, melamine, and papier-mâché...
  
  , various kinds (mâm and khay)

See also

• List of Vietnamese dishes
• List of Vietnamese culinary specialities
• List of Vietnamese produce varieties
• List of Vietnamese ingredients
• Vietnamese noodles
  Vietnamese noodles
  Vietnamese cuisine includes many types of noodles. These include:-Noodles by ingredients:Vietnamese noodles are available in either fresh or dried form....
  
  
• Vietnamese wine
  Vietnamese wine
  Vietnamese wine is wine produced in the Southeast Asian country of Vietnam. The area was first cultivated for viticulture during the French colonial rule of the region in the late 19th century. The region's tropical climate was ill suited for the type of Vitis vinifera that the French colonists...
  
  
• Rượu đế rice wine
• Basa fish
  Basa fish
  The basa fish, Pangasius bocourti, is a type of catfish in the family Pangasiidae. Basa are native to the Mekong River Delta in Vietnam and Chao Phraya basin in Thailand. These fish are important food fish with an international market. They are often labeled in North America and Australia as "basa...
  
  

Notations

• Nguyen, Andrea Quynhgiao; Cost, Bruce (FRW); Beisch, Leigh. (2006) Into the Vietnamese kitchen: treasured foodways, modern flavors. Ten Speed Press, ISBN 1-58008-665-9
• Le, Ann; Fay, Julie. (2006) The Little Saigon Cookbook: Vietnamese Cuisine and Culture in Southern California's Little Saigon, Globe Pequot, ISBN 0-7627-3831-6
• Thị Chơi Triệu, Marcel Isaak, (1998) The Food of Vietnam: Authentic Recipes from the Heart of Indochina, Tuttle Publishing, ISBN 962-593-394-8
• McDermott, Nancie; Alpert, Caren (2005) Quick & Easy Vietnamese: 75 Everyday Recipes Chronicle Books, ISBN 0-8118-4434-X
• Chi Nguyen; Judy Monroe, (2002) Cooking the Vietnamese way: revised and expanded to include new low-fat and vegetarian recipes Twenty-First Century Books, ISBN 0-8225-4125-4
• Pauline Nguyen; Luke Nguyen; Mark Jensen (2007), Secrets of the Red Lantern: Stories and Vietnamese Recipes from the Heart Murdoch Books, ISBN 1-74045-904-0
• Trieu Thi Choi, Thị Chơi Triệu, Marcel Isaak, Heinz Von Holzen (2005), Authentic Recipes from Vietnam Tuttle Publishing, ISBN 0-7946-0327-0