Hi from Vietnam
I loved the simple food - very little meat compared with the vegetables and with subtle Asian flavours of lemongrass with chilli allowing the essence of the produce to shine through.
Also loved the traditional spicy side dishes, which can transform an ordinary dish such as an omelette at breakfast into the sublime.
I've dug up my Womens Weekly Vietnamese cookbook from the past and am revisiting some amazing tastes. Clara
Despite the varied landscape of Vietnam, all of the cuisine contains this brilliant balance of aromatics, heat, sweetness, sourness, and fish-sauciness. As with other Asian cuisines, it's all about the yin and yang; the sweet and the salty, the cooling and the warming, the fresh and the fermented.
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 flavour-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 savoury dishes, and those popular taffy-like coconut candies made with coconut cream. A basic introduction to Vietnamese food by Erin Zimmer
Local Saigon prawns -
a delicacy when pickled and bottled. Coconut sweets and wine etc
I loved the simple food - very little meat compared with the vegetables and with subtle Asian flavours of lemongrass with chilli allowing the essence of the produce to shine through.
Also loved the traditional spicy side dishes, which can transform an ordinary dish such as an omelette at breakfast into the sublime.
I've dug up my Womens Weekly Vietnamese cookbook from the past and am revisiting some amazing tastes. Clara
Despite the varied landscape of Vietnam, all of the cuisine contains this brilliant balance of aromatics, heat, sweetness, sourness, and fish-sauciness. As with other Asian cuisines, it's all about the yin and yang; the sweet and the salty, the cooling and the warming, the fresh and the fermented.
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 flavour-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 savoury dishes, and those popular taffy-like coconut candies made with coconut cream. A basic introduction to Vietnamese food by Erin Zimmer
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| Ha Long Bay overnight stay on a junk |
Working up an appetite for breakfast and lunch
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| First of many amazing spring rolls made on the boat. Wonderful presentation. |
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| Street food tour in Hanoi - pork with crackle - seriously good! |
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| Hunting and gathering |
a delicacy when pickled and bottled. Coconut sweets and wine etc
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| Snake wine, bravely tasted by me. Tasted like Grappa and would be good for cleaning the silver. |
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| Ok with snake around my neck until it MOVED!!! |
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| Safe food and good Australian wine also available!! Lovely holiday thanks. |
