What is Vietnamese Cuisine?

In simple terms, Vietnamese food is lighter and more refreshing than Thai food-using crisp, uncooked vegetables, subtle seasonings, raw herbs, and unique flavor combinations. Often described as textural, with fresh, sharp flavors, it is also more tropical and fragrant than Chinese food.

At the heart of Vietnamese cuisine, with its hearty kick and unique aroma, is the salty, pale brown fermented fish sauce known as nuoc mam. The cuisines of Cambodia, Thailand and Burma use a similar sauce, however the Vietnamese variety seems to have a more pungent flavor.

Mandatory in Vietnamese cooking, nuoc mam is made by layering fresh anchovies with salt in huge wooden barrels. This process takes about six months and involves pouring the liquid which drips from the barrel back over the layers of anchovies. The grading of nuoc mam is as sophisticated as the grading of fine olive oils. Arguably, the best nuoc mam comes from the island of Phu Quoc, close to the Cambodian border. A bowl of steaming rice topped with this fragrant sauce is a culinary treat in itself.

Nuoc mam in its purest form has a strong smell and incredibly salty flavor which renders it an acquired taste for non-Vietnamese. It is certainly stronger than Thai nam pia and is used in marinades and sauces, for dressing salads and in cooking. Vietnamese rarely expect a foreigner to enjoy the taste, but are delighted when one does. Easier on the unaccustomed palate is nuoc mam cham, which is the ubiquitous dip made of nuoc mam diluted with lime juice, vinegar, water, crushed garlic and fresh red chilies. Nuoc mam cham is used as a dipping sauce on the table, served with dishes like cha gio (spring rolls), or simply as a dip for pieces of fish or meat.

What also sets the cuisine apart from that of other Southeast Asian countries is the pervasive use of fresh leaves and herbs, which come in as many as a dozen different varieties. The use of dill in cha ea, Hanoi's famous fish dish served at the popular Cha Ca La Vong restaurant in the city's Old Quarter, and also in fish congee, is likely borrowed from the French, however the extensive use of a variety of raw
herbs nevertheless seems uniquely Vietnamese.

While Vietnamese restaurants in other regions of the world rarely manage to offer more than one kind of mint, basil or cilantro, markets throughout Vietnam sell a remarkable variety of herbs. Several varieties of the mint and basil family do not grow outside the country, and there are also some unusual, full-flavored leaves, like the deep-red spicy perils leaf, tia to, and the pungent saw-leaf herb or long coriander that are specific to the cuisine as well.

Every pho shop has a huge plate of raw herbs set on each table, and a large plate also appears with an array of dishes, from grilled, marinated beef to cha dum (a type of pate). But what do you do with the herbs? Sometimes, as in the case of pho, they are stirred into the steaming soup; with other dishes they are used as wrappers, together with rice papers or lettuces, and are featured in Vietnamese shrimp and chicken salads. The herbs are also served with ban xeo, a kind of crepe enclosing shrimp, pork, mung beans and bean sprouts. Certainly the use of these fresh herbs and leafy green vegetables is part of the appeal of Vietnamese food, providing fresh flavors, beautiful aromas and many interesting textural variations.

Other factors which contribute to the subtlety and unique- ness of Vietnamese food are the refined cooking techniques, the often unusual serving of varying dishes and the combination of flavors.