Come to Vietnam to… eat?
Andre, a Filipino-American who owns a TikTok page with more than 10 million likes, posted a series of videos about his trip to Vietnam in the middle of this year, including a video that many people enjoyed with the title "I like Vietnam for the views". However, the content of the video surprised viewers with a "180-degree turn". The opening scene is of him standing and watching the romantic sunset in Ha Long, with rippling waves, in the distance peaceful boats next to limestone mountains and a rosy horizon. The scene continues with a white sand beach, then changes rapidly with a bowl of beef pho, fried bread, rib rice, egg coffee, banh xeo, bun bo Hue... "Those are exactly the most attractive "views" of Vietnam that made me come back to this country 3 times", Andre shared.
Just type a search on TikTok, you can easily find the trend of making travel videos with similar content to Andre, depending on each person's preferences or each locality, the results will be different dishes. In June, an American tourist couple with the account @theweberstravel posted videos about their exploration of Vietnam titled "I went to Vietnam for the incredible views", starting with beautiful scenery in Ninh Binh, Ba Na, Ha Long but also ending with pho, banh xeo, salad, rice, spring rolls, snail dishes and banh mi. In another video, the couple shared a clear message: "We came to Vietnam to eat banh mi", with an image of a guy eating banh mi everywhere, in all shops, no matter where, and asserting that he could eat banh mi all day. Many people commenting on the post also said that they ate banh mi day after day when traveling to Vietnam.
Food boats on Cai Rang floating market, Can Tho
Foreign tourists buy bread on a boat at Cai Rang floating market.
On a world-leading Q&A forum, a topic was posed: Which country has the best and worst food in Southeast Asia? The questioner asked respondents to name only one country for the best and worst. Surprisingly, a series of answers emphasized that Vietnamese food is the best. The common reasons given were: There is a wide variety of dishes, lots of green vegetables, attractive flavors and balanced nutrition.
But it's not just that simple, Vietnamese cuisine also attracts international tourists with its rich culture and history.
“Stuck” for delicious food
Late last year, travel journalist Vawn Himmelsbach (Canada) traveled to Vietnam and shared her feelings about Vietnamese cuisine in Bold magazine. Initially, she only planned to stop and stay one night in Hoi An on her cross-country trip from Ho Chi Minh City to Hanoi, but somehow a week had passed and she still found herself in the old town. She believes that it is a place where you can be captivated by the ancient architecture, cobblestone streets, canals and impeccable cuisine. The nights of eating helped her discover that there are many delicious Vietnamese dishes besides pho.
“Thanks to its history as a Southeast Asian trading post, Hoi An offers a global twist on Vietnamese cuisine that you won’t find anywhere else,” writes Vawn Himmelsbach on Bold . “There’s a lot you can learn about a place from its food.” Similarly, Neville Dean, founder of The Original Taste of Hoi An tours, notes that central Vietnamese cuisine, closely linked to the Nguyen Dynasty emperors, is often complex and opulent in flavor, texture, and appearance. From the 7th to the 10th centuries, Hoi An was the center of the Cham spice trade. Then, from the 15th to the 19th centuries, it became a trading port for the Chinese, Japanese, Indians, and Dutch. It seems that some of these merchants also stuck around, many of whom settled in Hoi An and influenced the cuisine.
Saigon broken rice dish at a restaurant listed in Michelin Selected
Grilled meat sandwich
“Hoi An’s multicultural population and access to food and ingredients from around the world have helped develop unique dishes,” said Elizabeth Rudd, founder of Compass & Fork and author of the culinary book Asian Cooking Essentials . “Many of the dishes in Hoi An are unique to Hoi An.” Some of the must-try dishes here include cao lau, banh vac, or white rose cake, mi quang, and more. Banh mi, a Vietnamese specialty made with pork, pate, pickled carrots, and greens, is a true blend of French and Vietnamese cuisine and is said to be best eaten in Hoi An.
While Hoi An is the crown jewel, Vietnam has other foodie havens, most notably Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi. Ho Chi Minh City has plenty of high-end restaurants, but the best place to experience Vietnamese cuisine is on the streets. Head to Ben Thanh Market, which has become a night market with many food stalls, or Binh Tay Market in Cho Lon (District 5)… Hanoi has a completely different atmosphere. With a thousand years of history, Hanoi offers a unique cuisine. In the Old Quarter, the best way to sit on a plastic chair and sample the many local specialties or enjoy the famous egg coffee.
There are many special travelers who come to Vietnam to do special things. For example, Rose, a British woman, has spent her whole life traveling alone through many countries since 2018 and stayed in Vietnam for 3 months to find the “best banh mi”. Finding the best banh mi in Vietnam requires a lot of research, wandering, countless conversations and consuming a large amount of banh mi. But she did it. In Hanoi, she chose the 3 best banh mi shops including Maison de Lien, Tram banh mi, Nguyen Sinh banh mi. In Hoi An, she chose Madam Khanh banh mi, Phi banh mi, Phuong banh mi. In Ho Chi Minh City, she ate Huynh Hoa banh mi. After all, she affirmed that Madam Khanh is the place with the best banh mi in Vietnam.
Pho is probably Vietnam's most famous dish in the world.
Food tours in major cities in Vietnam are also extremely diverse. Some programs even made it into the top 9 food tours in the world voted by Forbes magazine. Unlike most other food tours in Vietnam, in Ho Chi Minh City, XO Tours does not take tourists to eat popular dishes such as pho, banh xeo, banh mi and cha gio but enjoy unique dishes that still have a strong Vietnamese culinary flavor. “XO tours introduce tourists to street food from all over Vietnam, from stalls serving local people, and take them around many districts in Ho Chi Minh City, not just the touristy ones, on the back of a motorbike driven by a woman,” Forbes commented.
Where does Vietnam stand on the world culinary map?
In the reviews of delicious dishes or rankings of the world's top cuisines by prestigious newspapers, the name of Vietnam is never absent... The list of the world's top 100 cuisines by Taste Atlas ranks Vietnam 22nd in the world. The top dishes are beef noodle soup, bun cha, fried dough sticks, banh hoi, fried spring rolls, banh xeo, bun bo Hue, and beef stew. In addition, Taste Atlas also lists the 100 most attractive culinary cities in the world, representing Vietnam in the list are Hue and Ho Chi Minh City with outstanding dishes: bun bo Hue, banh beo, nem lui, cha gio, che, pho, banh mi... The list of the world's 100 best dishes also includes Vietnamese meatloaf and pho.
Banh xeo, a dish loved by foreign tourists
Previously, in 2022, the travel website The Travel (Canada) announced a list of 10 countries with the most attractive cuisines in the world, Vietnam ranked 5th from readers' votes. The newspaper commented that seafood is one of the most popular food sources because Vietnam has a coastline of thousands of kilometers and many fishing villages. However, Vietnamese cuisine is not only special because of seafood. The diversity and deliciousness of local dishes will surely satisfy all diners. The remaining cuisines in the top 10 include: America, Germany, Philippines, India, Spain, Mexico, Greece, Thailand and Italy.
Recently, during the prime time news broadcast on February 7, the oldest and largest French television channel - TF1, published a report exploring the success of "world cuisine" in France over the past 10 years and honored Vietnamese cuisine as one of the three most favorite cuisines of the French.
For many travelers, the most exciting part of any trip is the food. “A good or bad meal can make or break a trip – it’s often one of the things we remember most,” Time Out ’s Grace Beard told CNN.
In Time Out ’s recently released list of the 20 best food cities in the world, Naples, Italy – arguably the birthplace of pizza – tops the list; followed by Johannesburg, South Africa; Lima, Peru; and Ho Chi Minh City, which is ranked fourth with pho, ahead of Beijing, China, and Bangkok, Thailand. “Sweet, spicy, aromatic – however you describe it, Vietnamese cuisine never compromises on flavour, and you can sample the best of it in Ho Chi Minh City. Alongside the street stalls and bustling markets selling banh mi, snails, and broken rice, there are a host of Bib Gourmand and Michelin-starred restaurants serving up creative takes on classic dishes. But by far the most talked-about dish in our survey was pho. Southern pho is often colourful with basil, coriander, chilli and hoisin sauce, which is ubiquitous across the city,” Time Out commented.
La Maison 1888, 1 Michelin star restaurant in Da Nang
La Maison 1888, 1 Michelin star restaurant in Da Nang
The magazine also notes that Ho Chi Minh City has emerged as one of Vietnam’s most exciting culinary destinations. In District 1, there’s Anna Saigon, a Vietnamese restaurant by chef Peter Cuong Franklin that won the city’s only Michelin star last year. Not far away is Huynh Hoa, a 30-year-old street food establishment. Across the river, the old District 2 is home to a growing number of modern restaurants, including places that offer a variety of Vietnamese dishes but with Western culinary techniques.
It is no exaggeration when Philip Kotler, the marketing legend, once suggested: “If China is the world’s factory, India is the world’s office, then Vietnam should be the world’s kitchen”. That is gradually taking shape, when Michelin officially appeared in Vietnam, bringing a new breeze to the country’s cuisine that is recognized worldwide, with dishes that have gone beyond the scope of a country, most notably pho and banh mi. Because for a long time, globally, Michelin stars have been considered a guarantee for a classy cuisine.
Cuisine is oriented to become a brand when mentioning Vietnam and if it can do that, it will have a huge impact on many economic sectors, especially tourism.
The Michelin Guide will be a huge turning point for all restaurants in Vietnam, creating a brand to welcome tourists, especially international visitors. Based on the Michelin Guide list, the National Tourism Administration will plan promotions, roadshows, international fairs, and specialized programs to promote Vietnamese culinary culture. In particular, Michelin restaurants will be introduced in target markets for tourists to know and come to enjoy and experience.
Mr. Nguyen Trung Khanh , Director of Vietnam National Administration of Tourism
Michelin Stars in Vietnam
In 2023, Vietnam had 4 restaurants (1 in Hanoi and 3 in Ho Chi Minh City) awarded Michelin stars, entering the Michelin Guide - the world's leading culinary guide founded in 1900. In 2024, the number of Michelin-starred restaurants increased to
No. 7. In addition to the 7 starred restaurants, Vietnam this time also has 157 more dining establishments and 58 restaurants awarded Bid Gourmand for "good quality food, affordable prices" and 99 restaurants selected by Michelin (Michelin Selected).
Thanhnien.vn
Source: https://thanhnien.vn/mot-vong-am-thuc-viet-nam-qua-lang-kinh-du-khach-nuoc-ngoai-185241010233812255.htm
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