By Mai
Vietnamese cuisine is divided into three main regions and each region has its own unique flavor.
The North
Northern cuisine is characterized with a salty taste, rich, often not as spicy, fatty, sweet as other regions, mainly using diluted fish sauce, shrimp sauce. Use many easy-to-find vegetables and freshwater aquatic products such as shrimp, crabs, fish, mussels, mussels … and generally, due to the ancient tradition with poor agriculture, the northern cuisine popular dishes with main ingredients are meat and fish. Many people appreciate Hanoi cuisine for a while, arguing that it represents the most representative of the quintessence of Northern Vietnam cuisine with Pho, Bun Cha, Frozen meat…
When it comes to Vietnamese cuisine, almost everyone knows Pho – a special type of noodles.The broth is generally made from beef bone stew, the meat used for pho is beef or chicken and spices including cinnamon, anise, ginger, cardamom, clove, coriander, … “Pho noodles”, according to the tradition, made from rice flour anThe broth is generally made from beef bone stew, the meat used for pho is beef or chicken and spices including cinnamon, anise, ginger, cardamom, clove, coriander, … “Pho noodles”, according to the tradition, made from rice flour. The broth is generally made from beef bone stew, the meat used for pho is beef or chicken and spices including cinnamon, anise, ginger, cardamom, clove, coriander, …
When we taste Pho, it has to be hot to ensure the taste and eat with the auxiliary component called herbs such as onions, bean sprouts and coriander leaves, basil, in which coriander leaves are typical leaves of pho.
Bun cha is a dish with noodles, grilled pork rolls on charcoal and a bowl of sweet and sour fish sauce. The dish originated from Northern Vietnam
The Central
Central food is known for its pungent and slightly saltier taste than Northern and Southern. Central dishes are influenced by royal cuisine, especially in Hue, so it is very sophisticated in processing, presenting and named the dishes. The central region is located along the coast, so the food has a lot of seafood dishes and due to the harsh nature, the Central region does not have many sources of raw materials. Because of Royal cuisine often requires a large number of dishes, and in order to do this, people here can use one material to make a variety of different dishes. This has created a very unique feature for the food here.
Bun Bo Hue is a speciality of Hue and Central cuisine, the special flavor of this dish is mainly in the pungent, lemongrass flavor typical of broth. In addition, in the broth of Bun Bo Hue, Hue people often season with a little fish sauce ( Mam Ruoc) , contributing to the very unique flavor of the Bun Bo Hue.
Quang noodle was born from the cultural cross between Vietnamese and Chinese. A delicious noodle bowl must be colorful with ingredients of shrimp, meat, eggs. There are also soups, 9-flavored raw vegetables including basil, cinnamon, fresh lettuce, young mustard buds, bean sprouts, coriander, laksa leaves with finely chopped onions and extra banana flower cut, plus roasted peanuts, sesame rice paper and dipping sauce, lemon and chili seasoning. The rich flavor and the characteristic spicy hot chili flavor make it a delicious dish. Quang noodles must be eaten with 9 raw vegetables to create a characteristic passionate flavor.
The South
When people refer to the South, people often think of the phrase “there are fish in the river, there are vegetables on the shore”. This is a fertile land by the system of rivers and canals. The South has always been blessed with a lot of diverse and abundant products. Southern cuisine is liberal and wild by the abundant and generous nature of the southern river region.
Southern cuisine, with a tendency to taste sweet and sour, this is a place heavily influenced by Chinese, Cambodian and Thai cuisine, characterized by the often added sugar and the use of coconut milk.
Along with the abundance of ingredients combined with the folklore of South people have created a new culture for food.
Banh Xeo has the crust is thin, crunchy, slightly chewy in the middle, extremely fragrant by coconut milk. Filling with bacon, shrimp, green beans, cassava, bean sprouts and green beans. How to enjoy “Banh Xeo” of the South is quite meticulous, they eat with forest vegetables and sweet and sour sauce. When eating, diners roll it with vegetables together then dip with fish sauce and enjoy. Usually, they will use rice paper to roll it easier to eat.
People in the South pour the Banh Xeo to be 3-4 times bigger than elsewhere because they are accustomed to their generous, comfortable lifestyle. This is a typical feature of the food here.
This is one of the most favourite breakfast dishes of the South. Com Tam is made from broken rice. Com Tam can be eaten with many things, but the most are grilled ribs, chả trứng (Vietnamese-style steamed omelette with pork) and omelettes. Eat Com Tam must have sweet fish sauce, as well as the taste of the South, the type of fish sauce must be sweet, salty and sour.
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