41 Fun Facts About Vietnamese Food

Potatoes are called khoai tây in Vietnamese, a name that literally means what?

Western yam: foods the French brought often took a native name plus tây, 'western', so asparagus became măng tây, 'western bamboo shoot'.

Phở is thought to have been born in which province southeast of Hanoi?

Nam Định: vendors from its village of Vân Cù peddled phở in Hanoi, and families from that village went on to run many of the capital's phở shops.

Cơm tấm, a southern Vietnamese favourite, is made with what kind of rice?

Broken rice: these leftover grains from milling were once hard to sell because of their imperfections, yet became one of the south's signature street dishes.

Why was beef historically uncommon in Vietnamese cooking before the colonial period?

Water buffalo were needed for farm work, so beef only caught on under French rule, the era when phở, a beef soup, was born.

One theory traces the word phở to which French dish?

Pot-au-feu shares its 'feu' sound, though a rival theory points to the Chinese beef noodles ngưu nhục phấn, whose last syllable also sounds like phở.

How is rượu cần, the rice wine of Vietnam's hill peoples, traditionally drunk?

Through long straws from a shared jar: as the drinkers sip, the host keeps topping up the jar with water.

Why was subsidy-era phở from North Vietnam's state shops nicknamed 'pilotless phở'?

It came with no meat: with food rationed under the state subsidy system, shops simply ladled broth over the noodles.

Which accompaniments mark out southern-style phở from the northern original?

Bean sprouts and hoisin sauce: phở reached the south with northern migrants after the 1954 partition and picked up the region's love of extra garnishes.

Along with cloves and black cardamom, which spice is a hallmark of the phở broth spice bag?

Star anise: before the long simmer, cooks also char whole onion and ginger over an open flame and add them to the pot.

What does the name bánh mì literally mean?

Wheat bread: bánh covers cakes and breads and mì means wheat, so the popular story that the name comes from French pain de mie is false.

The shredded pickles (đồ chua) in a classic bánh mì are made from which two vegetables?

Carrot and daikon: the tangy pickles are there to balance the richness of the pâté and mayonnaise.

Where did Lee's Sandwiches, credited with popularising bánh mì among Americans, begin?

Northern California: the Lê family began by selling bánh mì from a food truck, and their catering business came to supply more than 500 trucks before Lee's Sandwiches grew into a chain.

What is waiting in the cup when the coffee drips through in a classic Vietnamese iced coffee?

Sweetened condensed milk: fresh milk was scarce and spoiled quickly in the heat, so the tinned kind, which needs no refrigeration, became standard.

What is the small metal drip filter used to brew Vietnamese coffee called?

Phin: cafés often set the glass in front of you with the filter still dripping, and you wait for the coffee to finish brewing.

Which coffee species, dark-roasted, is the standard for Vietnamese coffee?

Robusta: with about twice the caffeine of arabica it tastes harsher, which is why Vietnamese cafés so often serve it with milk.

Egg coffee (cà phê trứng) was created in Hanoi in 1946 in response to what?

Wartime dairy shortages: bartender Nguyễn Văn Giảng whisked egg yolk in place of milk, and the drink proved so popular he left his hotel to open his own café.

Salt coffee (cà phê muối), said to have begun in Huế, tops the drink with what?

Salted cream foam: the salt is said to tame the coffee's bitterness while bringing out the sweetness of the milk beneath.

Bạc xỉu, mostly milk with a splash of coffee, originated in the 1950s among which Chợ Lớn community?

Cantonese-Vietnamese café owners cut the coffee and added more milk, making a drink for people who found coffee too strong.

Which Hanoi dish did Barack Obama eat with Anthony Bourdain in May 2016?

Bún Chả Hương Liên still sells a 'combo Obama' and has photos of the visit on its walls.

Hủ tiếu Nam Vang, a noodle soup popular in southern Vietnam, is named after which city?

Phnom Penh: Nam Vang is the Vietnamese name for the Cambodian capital, and the soup grew out of that city's rice noodle soup, kuyteav.

What does the name bánh xèo refer to?

The sizzle of batter in the pan: diners tear off pieces, wrap them in lettuce and herbs, and dip them in sauce before eating.

What are Vietnamese gỏi cuốn rolls wrapped in?

Rice paper (bánh tráng): the brittle sheet is dipped in water to soften, then rolled around pork, prawns, herbs and rice noodles.

Vietnamese fish sauce (nước mắm) is made mainly from which fish?

Anchovies: packed with salt into big barrels, they ferment for months, and the liquid drained off becomes the sauce.

Which two places are Vietnam's most famous fish-sauce producers?

The latter has a fish sauce museum and is regarded as the birthplace of the Vietnamese product.

The quality grade printed on a bottle of Vietnamese fish sauce measures what?

Nitrogen per litre: it tracks the protein drawn from the fish, which gives good sauce its sweet aftertaste behind the salt.

Which two flavours dominate the beef noodle soup bún bò Huế?

Lemongrass and shrimp paste: in Huế itself the soup is simply called bún bò, and only elsewhere is the city's name added.

How do the noodles in bún bò Huế differ from those in phở?

Thicker and rounder: noodles from a Huế village of noodle-makers are credited with helping make the soup famous.

Cao lầu, a chewy pork-and-noodle dish, is a specialty of which town?

Hội An: local legend says the noodles need water from one ancient town well, which is why the dish is rarely made anywhere else.

What gives cao lầu noodles their springy texture and greyish-yellow colour?

Rice soaked in lye water: cooks also cut some of the raw noodles into squares and fry them crisp to scatter on top.

Phở tái tops the noodles with which kind of beef?

Rare slices: phở began as boiled beef, noodles and broth, and inventive cooks later added the raw-beef version.

In the founding legend, prince Lang Liêu's square bánh chưng symbolises what?

The earth: its round partner bánh giầy stood for the sky, and with the pair the poorest prince won his father's throne.

Along with glutinous rice and mung beans, what is the required filling of bánh chưng?

Fatty pork: cooks favour it because the fat's rich flavour suits the glutinous rice and mung beans.

Bánh chưng is traditionally wrapped in what, which dyes the outer layer of rice green?

Dong leaves (lá dong): cooks lay the leaves' darker side against the rice, which is where the green colour comes from.

Bánh chưng is an essential dish on the family altar at which festival?

Tết, the Lunar New Year: families gather to wrap the cakes together and take turns watching over the pot as they boil.

The breakfast snack hột vịt lộn, known abroad as balut, is what?

A fertilised duck egg: it is boiled with the nearly formed duckling inside, then cracked open and eaten straight from the shell.

Ô mai mơ, the most famous Vietnamese candied fruit, is made from which fruit?

Apricots: mơ is the Asian apricot, also sold as Chinese plum, and ô mai was a traditional medicine before it became a popular snack.

Rau muống, a Vietnamese leafy green, is known in English as water spinach or what?

Morning glory: grown as a vegetable across Asia, it is listed in the US as a federal noxious weed.

Which TV chef called a hủ tiếu at Cần Thơ's floating market 'the greatest dish I have ever eaten'?

He liked it enough to set it as an elimination challenge for the finalists of MasterChef US.

Bánh phu thê, the 'husband and wife cake', is served at which occasion?

Weddings: the cakes go to the bride's family among the betrothal gifts and turn up again at the wedding feast.

Cơm chiên Dương Châu is the Vietnamese name for which Chinese dish?

Yangzhou fried rice: a Hong Kong menu staple for years, it was said to be unobtainable in Yangzhou itself.

Đuông dừa, the grubs eaten live in fish sauce in Trà Vinh, are the larvae of which insect?

The palm weevil: its grubs sell as a pricey delicacy, yet Bến Tre banned raising them at home because escaped weevils can wreck palm groves.