With its modest flavor but perfect harmony of ingredients, Vietnamese cuisine has captivated not only foreign tourists but also world famous chefs, and some of them even said that Vietnam is a "gastronomic paradise of Southeast Asia".
The Vietnamese people is familiar with imagines of foreign visitors sitting in the streets, using sticks to taste a bowl of Pho (soup made of beef or chicken stock with rice noodles) or Bun oc (rice noodles with snail).
Pho, the most iconic food of Vietnamese cuisine. Photo from Internet.
Even the former president of United States Barack Obama, during the last year of his tenure, visited Vietnam and had a bowl of Bun cha (rice noodles with grilled meat) at a street-side restaurant in the capital of Hanoi. He was accompanied by chef Anthony Bourdain at that time and the photos of them sitting in plastics stools having one of the most famous foods of Hanoi went viral on social media.
Photo credits to Anthony Bourdain
In an interview with CNN, Bourdain said: "Going to Vietnam the first time was life-changing for sure; maybe because it was all so new and different to my life before and the world I grew up in. The food, culture, landscape and smell; they’re all inseparable. It just seemed like another planet; a delicious one that sort of sucked me in and never let go".
More and more well-known chefs are coming to Vietnam for their love for the Indochina country's cuisine, including the French chef Didier Corlou of the Sofitel Metropole Hanoi Hotel, who published a cookbook in which he presents recipes for dishes with use of Vietnamese herbs and condiments.
Meanwhile, the British chef Jamie Oliver has shown his interest in Vietnamese food by presenting on his website and YouTube channel the recipes of Ca kho (braised fish), Bun cha and Pho.
In preparation of Ca kho
It will be a mistake not to mention the Scottish celebrity chef and restaurateur Gordon Ramsay, who described Hu tieu (rice noodle soup with slow-cooking pork) from Vietnam as one of the most delicious dishes he has ever eaten.
Also, you can not forget the American-Vietnamese Christine Ha, winner of Masterchef US's third season. She won her victory thanks to the most typical dishes of Vietnam such as Ca kho and Mien xao (sautéed vermicelli). She was then invited to be a jury of the Vietnamese version of MasterChef.
Not only Vietnamese food are presented in programs and reality shows, but also in some dictionaries. Pho and Banh mi (sandwich with meat, vegetables and special sauce) appear in Oxford, the first also appears in Le Petit Larousse and Merriam-Webster thanks to its popularity, while Nem (spring roll) and Nuoc mam (fish sauce), in Le Petit Larousse.
Spring rolls with sweet and sour sauce
Vietnamese dishes are also on the lists of the world's best known foods, such as the World Record Union, Telegraph and CNN Travel, as well as several travel websites.
If Vietnam does not have the advantages of becoming a shopping or entertainment paradise like the neighboring nations, why not make Vietnam an ideal destination for gastronomic tourism?
Philip Kotler, so-called father of modern marketing, during his visit to Vietnam suggested that the country should become "the kitchen of the world", since the culinary is one of the biggest attractions for tourists and almost of all the Vietnamese localities have a variety of gastronomic specialties.
In the era of social networks, it is easier for a person in any part of the world, through several clicks, to know about a noodle store or streetside restaurant in Vietnam, and thus visit the Indochina nation also in such a simple way.
I stayed in Vietnam for 6 months. I can attest that the country has some of the best food I have ever eaten. The only downside is I couldn't control my weight. hahaha. My favorite is bun ca. I can finish 2 bowls in one sitting.
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