There is admirably a great balance between vegetable and meats, as well as a selectiveuse of spices to reach a fine taste. Vietnamese food can be considered one ofthe healthiest cuisines worldwide.
Traditional Vietnamese cooking is appreciated for the fresh ness of the ingredients and for the minimum use of oil which makes this cuisine very healthy. Hardly do families use processed food for daily meals.
Vietnamese recipes make use of arange of herbs, including lemongrass, mint, Vietnamese mint, long coriander and Thai basil leaves. Interestingly each dish is accompanied by a kind of herb.
Vietnamese cuisine is all about four distinct flavors, which arefish sauce, rice vinegar, salt, and sugar. Hardly do families in the country side use pepper although Vietnam export of pepper ranks the second in the World.
Vietnamese cooks use almost all parts of an animal for food, including meat, bone,internal organs and skin.
Decoration is essential in any dishes, ranging from simple herbs to complex flowers madefrom veggie, sauce, pastes, etc. In the North, decoration is most complex in Vietnam.
Rice isthe key and most important dish throughout the day. Vietnamese cuisine dependsheavily on rice grown in water paddies through out the country, with dishes varying from simple everyday meals to most complex dishes designed for Kings.
There is no preferred meat in Vietnam. Instead, all beef, pork, chicken, fish and various kinds of seafood are used in most dishes.
The most favorite dish for family events is Spring Rolls. Vietnamese spring rolls are made with rice flour, meat,veggie, eggs, pepper and seasoning and are very light on the palate.
The most well-known Vietnamese dish worldwide is in fact not Spring rolls, which ranks the second, but Pho. Almost all visitors to Vietnam have ever tasted Pho. Almost all of them like the dish.
The most terrifying dish for foreign visitors is Blood soup, made from blood and internal organs of pigs, ducks, goats and even dogs! It is however considered delicious and nutritious by both men and women in Vietnam.
The ugliest flavor for foreign visitors is shrimp paste, a liquid paste made from shrimp and used for various dishes including Bun Dau Mam Tom, dog meat.
The most tempting dish for male visitors is snake wine, which is considered very helpful for your bone system. It is one of the most popular traditional wines across the country (read Phu Quoc sim wine big hit with tourists). However rarely can you see young men drink this type of wine as it is believed not good for sexual ability.
The most popular Vietnam drink is tea. There are hundreds of tea brands but the most favorite one is Thai Nguyen tea. Interestingly only few women drink tea in a day, as tea is not good for their sleep.
Vietnamese use different ingredients to cook different dishes during different months of the year. During summer, the food is lighter and a lot of vegetables are used in dishes, while in winter pork and beef are used a lot.
In Vietnam, there is sweet dessert soup that is usually prepared with beans or sago and served with diced seasonal fresh fruits.
Vietnamese cooks use lotus. Every part of the lotus is used to prepare different dishesand root plants are used a lot in different dishes.
The most traditional recipe to curea cold is not medicine but a hot rice soup containing lots of onion and folium perilla.
Goi Cuon and Pho are among the top 50 best dishes in the world voted by CNN Travel. Goi Cuon is as attracting and popular to foreign visitors as Pho. The dish is made from beef, lettuce, herbs, and noodle and rolled into a rice paper, then used with a special sauce.
Vietnam street food is among the most delicious in the world, ranging from simple to complex dishes.
Hot pot is the most popular family meal during weekends in the winter. Interestingly itis not the original Vietnamese dish but is copied from Korea and China.
“Bia hơi” or cheap street beer is the most favourite drink in the summer. “Hanoi bia hơi” is the most popular in Vietnam.
Source: Vietnamnet.vn
