Vietnam Cuisine - simple, rustic and close.

Vietnam Cuisine is almost simple and easy to eat with many ones, it is close to people because you don't have to go to luxurious restaurants to eat, you can find gifts right on streets to enjoy street food with friendly people.


Like other countries, Vietnam has also its own culture of cuisine. Vietnam is an agricultural country of tropical monsoon climate, Vietnam territory is divided into three regions markedly, they are North, Central and South, each region has its own feature of cuisine. This makes Vietnam Cuisine rich and diverse. Not fussy in processing like China, not picky in presentation like Japan, Vietnam Cuisine is simple both in processing and in presentation, eating. This is a culinary culture using many kinds of aromatic herbs such as: basil , shiso , marjoram , green onion, cumin,etc ;many special sauce such as: shirmp sauce, tiny shrimp sauce, sauce made of garlic, lemon, sugar, fish sauce, other ingredients.

A special point of Vietnam Cuisine is in mixing ingredients, they are almost not too spicy, too sweet or too fat.  When eating, mixing ingredients expresses clearly, Vietnamese people rarely eats one by one, a meal is a combination of dishes from the beginning until the end. Vietnam Cuisine follows two principles, they are Yin yang and Five Elements. In Yin yang, they cook a dish that makes you feel like cold, they will add some ingredients which is hot to balance for the dish. In Five Elements: Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, Water, corresponding to them, Vietnamese people has five tastes: Sour, Bitter, Sweet, Spicy and Salt; five colors: Green, Red, Yellow, White and Black; five senses: Sight, Taste, Tactile, Smell, Hearing; five nutrients: Starch, Fat, Protein, Salt and Water.

Depending on each region, Vietnam Cuisine is divided into three main and popular cuisine , they are North Cuisine, Central Cuisine and South Cuisine.

North Cuisine is not too spicy, fat, sweet like other regions, mainly using fish sauce, shrimp sauce, many kinds of vegetables and types of freshwater fish such as: shirmp, crab, fish, clam, mussel,etc. It must be mentioned to dishes such as: pho, vermicelli and chicken soup, vermicelli and grilled chopped meat, green rice flakes, pho cuon, etc.

Central Cuisine has many dishes which are more spicy and salt than the North and the South with brilliant colors and more red, dark brown. The provinces such as Hue, Da Nang, Binh Dinh, they are very famous with sour shrimp sauce and tiny shrimp sauce. Specially, Hue Cuisine has been affected to style from Royal Cuisine so very picky in processing and presentation. On the other hand, the local doesn't have many products so each ingredient is processed very diverse with many different dishes. Some dishes: Bun bo Hue, rice with oyster, lotus porridge, etc.

South Cuisine is the place that has been affected to many cuisine from China, Cambodia, Thailand. South people often adds sugar and uses coconut juice. This cuisine also creates many dried sauce, uses many seafood. South Cuisine is so special in rustic dishes such as: field mouse with coconut juice, grilled snakehead, cobra with green bean porridge,etc.

There is Cuisine of Vietnam ethnic minorities. With 54 ethnics living in various geographical regions throughout the country, cuisine of each ethnic in the community of Vietnam ethnics has its own identify. Many dishes has become specialty in Vietnam such as: coong phu pie (Tay ethnic), thang co (H'Mong ethnic),  seven coloured steamed sticky rice (Nung Din ethnic),etc.

Now, you have had an overview about Vietnam Cuisine, let's discover Vietnam Cuisine in next posts. Enjoy.