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 unique 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.
Northern cuisine is generally not spicy. It is also less oily and less sweet than that of other regions. A signature ingredient in most 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; it is a cuisine almost apart that is characterized by significant use of peppers, making it hard to eat even for Vietnamese!
Central Vietnam is the region that offers 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 is heavily influenced by China, Cambodia and Thailand, and is usually characterized by the addition of sugar and coconut milk. It is also the most famous cuisine, due to how Vietnamese emigration stems mostly 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 seawater fish than Northern cuisine, which favors freshwater products.
