Paddy rat fried in coconut milk.
Northern
style does not focus on any single flavor. Most of the food has moderate,
neutral taste.
The
typical Northern food specialties include Hà Nội rice noodles, Hà Nội
multi-flavor rice vermicelli, Hà Nội rice vermicelli with grilled pork, West
lake prawn cake, rice vermicelli with snail, curdled meat, Vòng steamed green
flake, spring rolls, glass vermicelli fried with crab, etc.
Huế rice vermicelli with beef.
Northern
food bears the signature of an age-old culture. As the capital of many
dynasties, Hà Nội is the culmination of the culinary art. Northern food, from
seasoning to presentation, is relatively simple, but actually it is deeply and
uniquely refined.
The
menu here is rich with all sorts of cakes, pickles, wrapped food, jams and
preserved fruits…not to fill the stomach but just to offer more choices. The
preparation processes defined by previous generations encompass carefully
calculated harmony between ying and yang.
Hà Nội rice noodle.
Mid-Vietnam
is the land of sun, wind, persevering people and hot food.
Typically,
Huế food is considered as representing the region. From common dishes to royal
delicacies, it all creates a taste that uniquely, unmistakably associates with
this thin strip of land. The common dips include egg-plant sauce and sour
pickled shrimp.
Rolls of steamed rice flour sheets from Thanh Trì.
Typical
Mid-Vietnamese dishes include Huế rice vermicelli with beef, bloating cake,
rice sheet wrap, smashed girdled cake sandwich and rice vermicelli with fish,
fried rolls with shrimp and pork.
Mid-Vietnam
is also rich with cakes and wraps but the preparation is much more complicated
than in the North, and the variations are more diverse. However, the taste can
be changed while eating, making it easy for these dishes to be spread into
other territories.
Mỹ Tho rice noodle (hu tieu)
The
Midsection of Vietnam is not blessed with fertile land and resources. So the
people value everything given by nature and turn it into wonderful pieces of
art that bond the tastes with crystal-clear memories about the land that
offered it.
Southern
food is a mixture of many food cultures such as Chinese, Cambodian, Thai, etc.
Multi-flavor rice vermicelli.
Hot pot with walking fish (Pseudapocryptes elongatus).
For
example, there are many variations of Chinese rice noodle (hu tieu).
Cambodian
and Thai influence can be felt in the taste and flavor of sugar and coconut
milk.
All
Southern dishes bear the character of the Southern landscape and people, wild
and generous. Just a few ingredients one can pick up anywhere in the nature are
enough to create the tastes and styles pertaining to this part of the country.
Multitudes of variations in seasoning, preparation and eating habits don’t
affect this peculiarity.
Huế sour pickled shrimp.
The
popular meats and fishes are often pickled or salted and dried to preserve as
materials waiting for use in future dishes. Wild animal meat can be made into
delicious dishes such as paddy rats fried in coconut milk, large flying fox
steamed with pickled soya curd, and monocle cobra in rice soup with green peas,
coconut lava bathed in fish sauce, etc.
By Vietnam Heritage