Vietnamese cuisine

[1] Traditional Vietnamese cooking has often been characterised as using fresh ingredients, not using much dairy or oil, having interesting textures, and making use of herbs and vegetables.

The French also introduced Vietnam to onions, potatoes, broccoli, tomatoes, cauliflower, lettuce, tarragon, carrot, artichoke, asparagus, and coffee.

French-influenced dishes are numerous and not limited to: sa lát (salad), pâté, patê sô (a Brittany pasty called "pâté chaud"), bánh sừng trâu/bánh sừng bò (croissant), bánh flan, ya ua (yogurt), rôti (rotisserie), bơ (butter), vịt nấu cam (duck à l'orange), ốp lết (omelette), ốp la (œufs au plat), phá xí (farcies), bít tết (beefsteak), sốt vang (cooking with wine), dăm bông (jambon), and xúc xích (saucisse).

Chicken curry is an indispensable dish in many social gathering events, such as weddings, funerals, graduations, and the yearly death anniversary of a loved one.

Owing to contact with previous communist countries from Eastern Europe, the Vietnamese adopted dishes such as stuffed cabbage soup, sa lát Nga (Olivier salad) and bia Tiệp (Czech beer).

Once the capital of the last dynasty of Vietnam, Huế's culinary tradition features highly decorative and colorful food, reflecting the influence of ancient Vietnamese royal cuisine.

The warm weather and fertile soil of southern Vietnam create an ideal condition for growing a wide variety of fruits, vegetables, and livestock.

[9][10] The Mekong Delta cuisine relies heavily on fresh products which is abundant in the new land with heavy use of palm sugar, fermented fishes, seafoods and wild herbs and flowers.

The cuisine of the Northern and Central Highlands regions is influenced by tribal traditions, with items such as thắng cố (Hmong horse stew), dried meats, cơm lam and rượu cần.

The principle of yin and yang (Vietnamese: Âm dương) is applied in composing a meal in a way that provides a balance that is beneficial for the body.

Going through long phases of war and political conflict, as well as cultural shifts, the vast majority of the Vietnamese people have been living in poverty.

The same goes for vegetables like scallions: the leafy part is diced into small bits which are used to add flavor to the food while the crunchy stalk and roots are replanted.

Vietnamese cuisines are not known for ingredients with top quality, but rather for the very inexpensive and simple scraps that are creatively mixed to create dishes with bold flavor.

[15] Despite being a small country in Southeast Asia, the foods from each region in Vietnam carry their distinctive and unique characteristics that reflect the geographical and living conditions of the people there.

A typical meal for the average Vietnamese family would include:[16] Except individual bowls of rice, all dishes are communal and are to be shared in the middle of the table.

A basic feast (cỗ một tầng) consists of 10 dishes: five in bowls (năm bát): bóng (dried and fried pork skin), miến (cellophane noodles), măng (bamboo shoot), mọc (meatball), chim or gà tần (bird or chicken stew dishes) and five on plates (năm đĩa): giò (Vietnamese sausage), chả, gà or vịt luộc (boiled chicken or duck), nộm (Vietnamese salad) and xào (stir-fried dishes).

Other dishes included shark fin (vi cá), abalone (bào ngư), deer's tendon (gân nai), bears' hands (tay gấu), and rhinoceros' skin (da tê giác).

Water had to come from the Hàm Long well, the Báo Quốc pagoda, the Cam Lồ well (near the base of Thúy Vân mountain), or from the source of the Hương River.

Vietnamese cuisine is also popular in Japan, Korea, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Germany, United Kingdom, Poland, Philippines and Russia, and in areas with dense Asian populations.

It's a country filled with proud cooks—and passionate eaters.Gordon Ramsay visited Vietnam in his reality show Gordon's Great Escape – S02E02 (2011) and fell in love with the taste of the culinary here.

Especially the dish called Hủ tiếu Mì by Mrs. Dì Hai, prepped and served on a small boat in Cái Răng floating market, Cần Thơ.

Additionally, as a legacy of French colonial rule and influence, bûche de Noël is a popular dessert served during the Christmas season.

Nem chua, a Vietnamese fermented meat served as is or fried, is made from pork meat, coated by fried rice (thính gạo), mixed with pork skin and then wrapped in country gooseberry leaves (lá chùm ruột) or Erythrina orientalis leaves (lá vông nem).

Other soybean products range from soy sauce (nước tương; usually light soy sauce), fermented bean paste (tương), and fermented bean curd (đậu phụ nhự or chao) to douhua (soft tofu sweet soup; tàu hũ nước đường or tào phớ).

[citation needed] A common and inexpensive breakfast dish that can be found in any wet market, balut (hột vịt lộn) is a fertilized duck egg with a nearly developed embryo inside, which is boiled and eaten in the shell.

It is typically served with fresh herbs: rau răm, salt, and black pepper; lime juice is another popular additive, when available.

Three-striped crab (ba khía) is popular in several southern provinces, including Cà Mau, Sóc Trăng and Bạc Liêu; it is eaten fermented, stir-fried or steamed.

[56] Paddy mouse meat—barbecued, braised, stir- or deep-fried—is a delicacy dish that can be found in Southern Vietnamese rural areas or even high-end city restaurants.

Organs, including lungs, livers, hearts, intestines and bladders of pigs, cattle, and chickens are sold at even higher prices than their meat.

Also in the northern part of Vietnam, different kinds of animal blood can be made into a dish called 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 peanuts and chopped herbs such as Vietnamese coriander, mint, etc.