One of Asia’s best kept culinary secrets – but not for long!
Vietnam is a country on the rise. An almost palpable sense of optimism hangs in the balmy air. The Vietnam War (known here as the “American War”) has not been forgotten, nor have the years of oppression and foreign rule, but the country is moving on. The effects of Đổi Mới, economic reform policy allowing small-scale private enterprise. Introduce by the communist government in 1986, are becoming more and more evident. The accumulation of personal wealth is now encouraged, joint ventures with overseas companies are welcomed, and many Vietnamese are returning to their country to start businesses after years abroad.
The fancy new restaurants that are restoring life to old colonial buildings, and the modern hotels steadily creeping into the skyline, are just two of the many signs signaling Vietnam’s renaissance. And one needn’t go farther than a few steps onto any street to experience the thriving culinary scene that is so much a part of this new vitality.
On the streets of Ho Chi Minh City or Hanoi in the early morning, food stalls appear on the side walks in front of old shop houses. Clusters of tiny chairs and tables surround a steaming hot cauldron of soup set on an open flame; soon the chairs will be filled with people huddled over their morning bowl of Phở, a tasty beef broth served with rice noodles and fresh herbs. At another street side restaurant, a team of female chefs is busy making open-faced omelets in blackened pans over small charcoal grills. Vendors with carts full of baguettes, cheese and sausages are making sandwiches and serving a refreshing beverage of young coconut. Another vendor is wrapping sticky rice in a banana leaf, and handling it to a young schoolboy who is waiting impatiently with his mother.
The markets are a hive of activity as well, literally overflowing with fresh goods trucked in from the nearby villages, the bountiful coastal waters, and the central highlands. Throughout the day, crowds of people fill their baskets from the rows of fresh vegetables and tropical fruits, live fish and game, pickled meats and vegetables, candied fruit, dried and packaged goods, rice and bottles of the pungent “Nước Mắm” or fish sauce.
There is a renewed vitality in Vietnam which revolves around food. At night, a seemingly endless stream of vehicles parades through the streets. Handsome young men, elegantly dressed women, young couples, and entire families speed about on motorbikes, stopping only to have a beer, talk with friends or have a meal at the literally hundreds of street side restaurants or at fancy cafes, then race back out to join the nightly procession.
Source: The Food of Vietnam
Hue, situated on the banks of the tranquil Perfume River, is the third most visited Vietnamese city after Saigon and Hanoi. Once an important seat of learning and culture, as well as the imperial seat for nearly 150 years, it is slowly being rediscovered. This rather sleepy place is also the city which once inspired the creation of the most sophisticated Vietnamese cuisine and took vegetarian cuisine to even greater heights than those reached by masterful Chinese chefs.
