A Basic Introduction to Vietnamese Food

Vietnam, a small country in South East Asia, shaped like an elongated S, the skinny country is about the size of Italy, with China to the north, Laos and Cambodia to the west, and the South China Sea to the east.

The food of the north is heavily influenced by China with its stir-fries and noodle-based soups. As you move south, there's more flavor-blending with nearby Thailand and Cambodia. The tropical climate down south also sustains more rice paddies, coconut groves, jackfruit trees, and herb gardens. The food in southern Vietnam is typically sweeter: sweeter broths for Pho, more palm sugar used in savory dishes, and those popular taffy-like coconut candies made with coconut cream

1. French influence



Most obvious might be the banh mi, where the foundation is a crusty French baguette and the insides are often slathered with meat paste, aka pâté. But the Vietnamese have taken this sandwich and made it entirely their own with grilled pork fillings, fish patties, sardines, cilantro, chili-spiked pickled carrots and daikon.

2. HERBS AND AROMATICS



Vietnamese food makes extensive use of fresh herbs, spices, and aromatics. Sometimes they go into a steamy pot of pho, sometimes wrapped up with spring rolls, sometimes enclosed with a banh xeo pancake

Here's a quick primer:
Cilantro: In salads, soups, spring rolls, and beyond. Widely used as the finishing touch garnish. Depending on your genetics, might taste soapy.
Mint: Several varieties grow in Vietnam. Some are fuzzy, some taste lemony, some spearminty, others are spicy...
Fish Mint or Fish Leaf: Ever tried fish mint? Wow, it's really fishy. Appropriately named, this leafy herb has an awfully pungent smell and taste. You'll think you wrapped actual fish into your spring roll, but really it's just this sneaky leaf.
Basil: More popular in Thailand but still makes an appearance in pho and on herb plates.
Lime Leaf: Bright green and shiny. Somewhat bitter oils.
Lemongrass: Tastes and smells, not surprisingly, like lemon. Used in both sweet and savory dishes.
Green Onions and Scallions
Garlic Chives: Flat leaves with a delicate onion and garlic flavor.
Perilla Leaf: Green on top, purplish on the underside with a complex flavor that combines licorice, mint, and lemon all in one leaf.
Dill: Hardly associated with Southeast Asian cuisine but used in a famous Vietnamese fish dish called Cha Ca, where it's treated more like a veggie than an herb.
Turmeric: Sometimes called poor man's saffron, it adds a vivid goldenness to fried foods and some peppery flavor.
Ginger and Galangal: Both knobby rhizomes, both pervasive in Vietnamese cooking.
Saigon Cinnamon: There are different species of cinnamon in the world, and this one is indigenous to Vietnam. Woody, earthy flavor and aroma. Important in pho.
Tamarind Pulp: Maybe this doesn't belong on this list, but it needed to go somewhere. The sweet-sour pulp is used in noodle soups and curries.
3. FRUIT: AS VEGETABLES AND DESSERT

Unripe fruits are considered more like vegetables. Crispity and crunchy, a green papaya and mango or banana flower becomes the base for salads instead of leafy greens. The unripe fruit-meat is usually a bit sour, pairing nicely with fish sauce, chili, garlic, dried shrimp, and finely chopped peanuts.
Ripe fruit, on the other hand, is sweet and wondrous. Instead of cakes or cookies for dessert, usually a meal ends with a hot teapot and big platter of indigenous tropical fruits. Slices of banana, mango, pineapple, watermelon (the redder the insides, the more good luck awarded to you!), dragonfruit, papaya, rambutans, and lychees.

Sources: seriouseat.com