Staying in Vietnam also means enjoying its culinary delights!
The territory of Vietnam is divided into three regions - North, South and Central - and each region has its own culinary identity. These three regions are distinguished not only by their geographical characteristics but also by their cultural, ethnic and climatic peculiarities: it is these differences that have contributed to the diversity of Vietnamese cuisine.
Vegetables are ubiquitous in Vietnamese cuisine. Many dishes are based on vegetables rather than meat. They are cooked and served in different ways: raw, boiled or fried. The cooking water is used to dilute soups, especially sour soup.
The most common meats are pork, beef, chicken, goose and duck. Vietnamese cuisine also uses a wide range of fish and seafood like: shrimps, crabs, snails, mussels, clams, and oysters.
On special occasions, dishes are made with less common meats such as goat meat, turtle meat or, less often, dog and snake meat.
In Vietnamese culture a meal usually consists of various dishes served on a large round tray (to be eaten communally), and desserts are consumed in between meals rather than as the last course.
Northern cuisine is generally not spicy. Also, it is less oily and less sweet than that of other regions. A signature ingredient in Northern dishes is shrimp paste diluted in sauce. It's easy to stock up on fish in the north. Therefore, apart from some very popular meat dishes, most of the food is fish-based. Many people appreciate Hanoi for its typical Northern cuisine such as phở, bún thang, bún chả, and cốm.
The cuisine of Center Vietnam is inspired by both the Cham people and the imperial court. This cuisine is unique for its generous use of peppers making it hard to eat, even for the Vietnamese themselves!
Central Vietnam shows the greatest contrast in terms of wealth of the population. Thus, next to the imperial court and its refinements, lived a population composed mainly of fishermen, on poor and hardly arable soil. It has clearly contributed to the development of a cuisine full of contrasts.
Southern cuisine, heavily influenced by China, Cambodia and Thailand, is usually characterized by the addition of sugar and coconut milk. Southern cuisine is popular especially because most of Vietnamese emigrations stem from this region.
Many dishes are made from different dried fish such as colorful fish sauce, salted fish, fish three ways, etc. Southern cuisine tends to use more seafood and saltwater fish than Northern cuisine (which favors freshwater products).
