There are so many great things about Vietnamese food. The Vietnamese are masters of making food that will touch your senses.
Vietnamese food is delicious and is gaining in popularity—one of the reasons is that good Vietnamese food uses only fresh herbs and ingredients. Vietnamese food also touches all of our five senses. The Vietnamese are masters at using sweet and sour tastes for their food. There are many reasons why I love Vietnamese food. It is one of my favorite foods because of its great taste.
Table of Contents
My Top Reasons Why Vietnamese Food Is Delicious
Vietnamese food is one of the world’s most flavorful and delicious cuisines. Whether you prefer simple, succulent, or spicy dishes, there are plenty of options to satisfy everyone’s taste buds.
From a rich array of street foods to extravagant restaurant-style meals, it’s no surprise that Vietnamese cuisine has become popular with tourists and locals alike. I am sharing my top reasons why Vietnamese food is undeniably tasty and worth exploring!
Vietnamese Food – Uses Fresh Herbs
Vietnamese food uses fresh herbs such as cilantro, mint, and basil. They do not use the dried version of any of these, but they are fresh and usually cut from the plant the same day they eat these herbs.
In my house in Hanoi, we have these plants growing in pots on our rooftop. A few minutes before we use them in a Vietnamese dish, we will cut them off the plant to use them in our different Vietnamese recipes and foods.
Your herbs for Vietnamese food do not need to be so fresh, but the point is that Vietnamese will eat and use only fresh herbs. The freshness of the herbs they use adds to the exquisite taste of Vietnamese food.
Vietnamese Food – Uses Fresh Ingredients
Along with fresh herbs, Vietnamese food only uses very fresh ingredients. In Vietnam, we will usually buy the fruits, vegetables, and meat we want to eat that day. The food came fresh to the market earlier that morning.
Fresh Ingredients is key to high-quality Vietnamese food. It does not need to be as fresh as from the farmer to your table, but the vegetables, meat, and other ingredients you use should be fresh.
My kitchen has a can opener, but it will stand idle for months as our food is always fresh. Very little Vietnamese food comes out of cans.
Things like garlic would always be fresh. Today, you can buy a version of fresh garlic in a jar or even a tube, but Vietnamese food would not use this as they would only use fresh garlic due to the taste of ingredients like fresh garlic vs. those that have been more processed.
To make good Vietnamese food, you need to do the same – use only fresh ingredients.
Vietnamese Food Touches Our Five Senses
Vietnamese food incorporates the five elements of philosophy: wood, fire, earth, metal, and water. These five elements, such as sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch, will touch our senses. They also take into account the color and flavor combinations of Vietnamese food.
Vietnamese food is designed to touch all our five senses when eating. In Vietnamese cuisine, the taste for the five elements is vital. Many Vietnamese dishes use limes, fish sauce, salt, pepper, vinegar, and sugar. This is because these ingredients work together with the five taste elements.
To discover more about this, you can read our blog, The Philosophy of Vietnamese Cuisine, by clicking here. This blog post goes into more detail about the reasoning behind our five senses and Vietnamese cuisine.
When you understand this philosophy, you can see how much Vietnamese food will have soft and crunchy, sweet and salty, sweet and sour, and a mix of colors.
Vietnamese Food Has A Sweet and Sour Tastes
The Vietnamese are masters at the taste of sweet and sour or sweet and salty. You will find mango mixed with carrots and bean sprouts in many salads. Vietnamese food will expertly use this sweet and sour taste for its complex, full flavors.
Vietnamese sauces will use a lot of fish sauce, giving a salty taste. Fish sauce is a standard of Vietnamese cooking. To learn more about Fish Sauce, read Let’s Talk About Fish Sauce, All About Fish Sauce by clicking here.
You will find vinegar and fresh lime used in Vietnamese food and sugar for the sour taste. Vietnamese food does use sugar, and some people are surprised by how much sugar is used, but the good thing about cooking Vietnamese food is you can decide the amount of sugar you put in.
There are no hidden sugars in the sauces as in a lot of Western cooking, as the food is pretty straightforward in that it is fresh Ingredients with a sauce for taste. If I want my food to be sugar-free, I will use an alternative sugar, Monk Fruit Sugar to use for my food.
To learn more about Monk Fruit Sugar, you can read What is Monk Fruit Sugar? by clicking here.
Vietnamese Foods Cooks With Water
One complaint many people have about Chinese food is that it is too oily or uses too much oil. Vietnamese food uses oil but uses less and a lot of water in the cooking process.
The way the food is cooked is a healthier alternative and less oily than many other Asian foods where they may use a lot of oil in their cooking.
At A Bus On A Dusty Road, we talk about everything about travel, life, and ex-pat living. We are all about “Living Life As A Global Citizen.” We explore social, cultural, and economic issues and travel.
We would love to have you be part of our community. Sign up for our newsletter to keep up-to-date by clicking here. If you have any questions, you can contact me, Anita, by clicking here.
Listen to our Podcast called Dusty Roads. You can find it on all major podcast platforms. Try out listening to one of our podcasts by clicking here.
Subscribe to our A Bus On A Dusty Road YouTube Channel filled with great videos and information by clicking here.
Related Questions
What Is The Philosophy of Vietnamese Cuisine?
Vietnamese food uses the five elements of philosophy: wood, fire, earth, metal, and water. These five elements touch our senses of sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch. They also take into account the color and flavor combinations of Vietnamese food.
By clicking here, you can discover The Philosophy of Vietnamese Cuisine.
Let’s Talk About Fish Sauce, All About Fish Sauce
The Fish sauce condiment is produced by soaking small ocean fish in sea salt for about two years. The fermented fishy liquid is bottled into the condiment known as Fish Sauce. This fish sauce is a staple condiment for many parts of East and Southeast Asia parts.
You can learn more by reading Let’s Talk About Fish Sauce, All About Fish Sauce by clicking here.
