Vietnamese Vittles – March 2019

During our two month visit we ate a wide variety of delicious cuisine. This post includes pictures and descriptions of foods that are both unique to Vietnam and that we had during our stay.

Fruit– Many types of tropical fruit grow in Vietnam, which is great since we love eating mango, dragon fruit, pineapple, papaya, watermelon, and bananas.

Passion fruit
Vietnam oranges have a green peel.
Bananas in this country are small and sweet.
Dragon fruit

Breakfast– We did not eat pho, the traditional Vietnamese breakfast soup. But the typical breakfasts served at our accommodations were delicious pancakes (similar to crepes filled with chocolate, fruit, or sweet potato) or a delectable meal of eggs, tropical fruit, tomatoes, cucumbers, and bahn mi (individual-size baguette.)

Banana pancake
Top – mango pancake
Right – sweet potato pancake
Our friend Heidi is ready for breakfast.

Beverages– Coffee is made in a phin, which basically a single-serving French press. Often 1 or 2 T. of sweetened condensed milk is pour into the glass or cup before the phin is placed on top of the glass to make the morning coffee. Fruit juices and smoothies, rather than water and alcoholic beverages, are the typical beverages that accompany lunch and supper meals. We tried all types of juices and smoothies and some of our favorites were passion fruit and mango. As we travelled through Vietnam we used several types of straws such as paper, plastic, bamboo, and stainless.

Phong = traditional coffee maker
Filter inside coffee maker
Orange juice
Only one of the passion fruit smoothies is for Jerry.
Bamboo straws in kumquat juice with lemon grass (left) and mango juice (right)
Stainless steel straw in lime juice

Appetizers– We tried quite a few appetizers while in Vietnam. Our favorite was fresh vegetable spring rolls with a sweet chili sauce. While touring the Cu Chi Tunnel we watched a lady demonstrate how to make the very thin rice paper used to wrap the fresh or fried spring rolls.

Fried spring rolls
Fresh spring rolls with sweet chili sauce
Fried bread fruit
Rice paper drying in the sun
Woman spreading rice paper batter on griddle.

Salads – The delicious salads we ate in Vietnamese restaurants were fruit based such as shredded papaya or banana flower. Often the salads included finely chopped cabbage, shredded carrots, peanuts, and chilis.

Green mango and ambarella (like a plum) salad
Papaya salad and banana flower salad

Vegetable Dishes– Vegetables are a staple in this Asian cuisine. We tried several new vegetables during our time in Vietnam. Two of the most interesting new vegetables we ate were cassava and pumpkin greens.

Boiled cassava tastes like boiled potato.
Cassava root before it is removed from the plant.
Fried pumpkin leaves

Main Dishes– Most of the main dishes we ate included tofu or egg. At restaurants we looked for unusual vegetarian main dishes to try. One unique dish was Amaze Balls made from potato, mushroom, carrot, plus cheese and then deep fried. Below are pictures of some of our favorites Vietnamese main dishes.