local food | Go Go Chlo

Continuing my journey South from my previous days in North and Central Vietnam, I explored Hoi An, the Meekong Delta and Ho Chi Minh City.

Hoi An

A shopping mecca, this city is well known for its markets, historic trading houses, and modern day fashion boutique stores. The best value shopping you can do is on tailor made clothing.

There are many tailors offering good prices on any design you would like made with a huge selection of fabrics and can make it in under 24 hours! Very impressive. They will also keep your measurements in file for three years in case you want more made and shipped home.

I could not resist the chance to purchase a new formal ball gown, and the price was a bargain. I gave them a photo of what l wanted and came back the next afternoon to find it all done, and looking beautiful.

On another day in Hoi An, I secured my bike helmet once again and headed onto a ferry to two main islands for a cycle tour. I had the chance to visit three local families and see how they made their living from the land around them.

One family showed us how they spent from 4am to 9pm using dried and dyed reeds from the garden to make floor, bed and table mats. I had a try at it and it was not as easy as it looked!

Another family invited us to sing together after showing us their in home process of making rice wine to sell to the people in their community. This was very impressive in its sustainability. For example the man (who was a one legged veteran – making it more impressive) kept pigs and he used the ‘pigshit gas’ as its locally known to fuel the fires that are used to run his operation!

Lastly, we got a chance to hand make our own rice noodles and enjoy a delicious lunch full of local ingredients.

The best thing was, in all of this, I never fell off the bike! Even when I thought I could pass out from the heat!

Ho Chi Minh City / Saigon

In the early hours of the morning we took a short flight with Vietnam Airlines to Ho Chi Minh City. The city is referred to by many as Saigon, as this is its former name. Since the end of the Vietnam War, the city was renamed after its victorious communist leader, Ho Chi Minh. There are many monuments and images of him throughout Vietnam, as his party still stands in place today.

In HCM City you can visit only a few attractions like the Independence Palace, former state home of the president, and the War Remnants Museum, which is an impressive and informative space to learn about the war history in Vietnam. It is really complex as many other countries have been involved in commanding the country and has left a lot of wounds behind.

I found the museum to be a little one sided but this makes sense as it will have been censored by the government, before publishing. The most striking elements of the museum was the information about the ‘agent orange’ chemical that had been used. It is now considered a war crime and has left many generations of people, severely deformed. I could see this on the street when some people may be passing or begging, and I suspected that they were victims of this.

Aside from these visitor attractions, HCM offers plenty of places to eat and shop, but it is very modern and definitely, for me, not the highlight of the trip.

In about two hours drive from the city you can visit the Meekong Delta. The most South I went, this wetland area offers plenty of boat rides to different islands where you can see different markets, temples and localised farming.

I spent the day visiting a few different islands by boat, and had the opportunity to see local coconuts being shredded up into coconut milk and turned into sweets and wrapped by hand. I did actually get carried away and bought 6 packets for the price of 5! I think I got a bit silly.

I also visited some local people’s garden and tried some of their homegrown fruits, including a Vietnamese Kiwi, that is a local delicacy, and tastes nothing like Kiwi from home! I also had a chance to play a monostring instrument that is traditional there, and much harder to do well then it looks! To finish off, I had a chance to enjoy a traditional wooden row boat ride through the bush before heading back to the city.

Overall, Vietnam was a great chance to dip my toe into Asia. The people have been super friendly; I always felt safe, and appreciated. The holiday was great value and I would happily revisit. In the Meekong Delta you can even take a boat cruise out there onto Cambodia, Laos and Thailand. This could be a lot of fun!

During my time in Vietnam I had many opportunities to sample the local dishes and have been potentially converted to this refreshing diet.

From Garden to Plate

If I could describe the food in Vietnam in one word, it would be ‘fresh’! Vegetables are grown in the small farms and gardens of the local people around the country. It’s also a normal scene to see chickens and even pigs kept at the back of someone’s house outside of the large cities.

People then cook from their own supply or these products are taken every morning to the wet markets that seem to be in each large village and town. These markets are a shock to the more delicate western senses. The smells are strong…

Every trader rents a space and generally lay out close to or straight on the floor. Some traders are selling vegetables, some are selling dried goods, but the most fresh is the meat and fish. Tin baths full of fish still swimming, and if you order one it will be pulled out of the water and laid out to suffocate, and sold whole. With meat, it is a little less miserable, the chickens running around just have their necks snapped straight away. More straightforward. What was most sad was when i saw the tiny, fluffy ducklings for sale. They were being sold to grow up into big ducks to eat.

It was actually useful to see this as I think in the UK we have become too far removed from the food on our plate. When we buy a frozen chicken it does not look much like a bird. When you buy one in Vietnam it still has its head, neck and claws.

By the time I left, I understood that when you see a motorbike with a cage full of live chickens on the back (quite strange to see), you can bet they are heading to the market to sell them.

At one point whilst shopping in town, I saw a small cage full of beautiful puppies, I hope they were for petting not eating though. Apparently cats and dogs are still eaten there but it is now unusual and you have to seek out specialist locations to get some ‘hotdog’.

Rice

I felt rice deserved its own paragraph as its so important to the Vietnamese way of life. The people of Vietnam rely on the growing of rice for their local economy, as a staple for most of their recipes, as a fuel for fire, and even as a key ingredient in their liquor. The effort that goes into production of rice is massive, and Vietnam is one of the world’s biggest suppliers.

The Flavours

The flavours of the Vietnam diet are really exciting. I always felt like I was filling up on light, fresh and interesting recipes. Herbs are used frequently in dishes, especially coriander and garlic. Some of my favourites!

Nuts are used quite a lot, especially peanuts. I don’t normally like peanuts but the way that they used them in meals was really complimenting the food. I started thinking that maybe I had been using them wrong this whole time…

Fruit is also used abundantly, which is not a suprise when it is grown so easily and with such a great variety. Traditionally the vietnamese don’t eat sweet desserts, just fruits. They also use fruits with their mains, the best example I had of this was sliced pork marinated in passionfruit. Actually so suprisingly delicious!

The Dining Experience

There were different ways you could enjoy food in Vietnam. Especially in the main cities.

Street food is probably the most famous and you could buy this to take away or to sit on the street. In the tiny gaps on the pavement between the hundreds of motorbikes parked up over the pedestrian space, you would find someone with a little fire pit on the ground and groups of people sitting on little plastic stools. I felt certain that I would snap these chairs in half if I tried to sit on them as well as not feeling confident in the hygiene of the food. Even my guide said to be weary of the street food because the kitchen space is far from the cooking and eating area.

Good quality restaurants are plentiful and much more comfortable. I much preferred this, and the food is still extremely cheap. I spent on average about £6 for a 2 course meal and drink.

When choosing from the menu, choosing local dishes is always going to serve you well as these are the dishes they make regularly and do well. Don’t expect the local vietnamese small time chef to make an awesome italian pizza, it is just unrealistic as well as a waste.

I think my favourite choice of dining had to be eating in the homes of local families. If you get the chance, it is well worth it. You can have good conversation, see inside a local home and get fresh food that you are likely to see cooked and learn to eat the ‘right way’.

Overall, dining in Vietnam has opened my taste buds to some new dishes that I would not have considered before, and reminded me the importance of fresh herbs!