Food and Drink Atlas

How The World Eats
Cuisines

Vietnamese Cuisine

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Vietnamese cuisine builds meals around rice, fresh herbs added at the table rather than cooked in, and a cultivated balance of salty, sour, sweet, bitter and spicy flavors. A millennium of Chinese rule left its mark in the north through techniques such as stir frying and ingredients such as soy sauce, while nearly a century of French colonization added the baguette, pate and coffee culture, most visibly in banh mi and ca phe sua da. Meals are typically shared family style, and cooking varies meaningfully between the north, center and south of the country.

Facts
Signature Technique
Balancing five flavor elements in a single dish and finishing it at the table with a plate of fresh herbs, bean sprouts and citrus that the diner adds rather than the cook. 1
Origin Region
Vietnam, mainland Southeast Asia, from the Red River Delta in the north to the Mekong Delta in the south. 1
Cross-Tradition Connections

Associated With

Chinese Cuisine, Cuisines

A millennium of Chinese rule over northern Vietnam, traditionally dated from 111 BCE to the 10th century CE, left techniques, ingredients and, in the case of pho, a contested etymological layer on Vietnamese cooking.

French Cuisine, Cuisines

Nearly a century of French colonial rule introduced the baguette, pate and coffee culture into Vietnamese cooking, most visibly in banh mi and ca phe sua da.

Street Food Culture, Food Traditions

Vietnamese cuisine is documented as substantially defined by its street food register, from broths to spiced snacks sold at stalls.

Features Dish

Uses Ingredient

In the Other Atlases
Sources
1. A Taste of Vietnam, from Hearty Sour Broths to Fragrantly Spiced Street Food (National Geographic)
Thuy Diem Pham, National Geographic, 2023View the Source
Vietnamese Cuisine (Wikipedia)
WikipediaRegional cuisines
Quote, Regional cuisines
In northern Vietnam, a colder climate limits the production and availability of spices.
View the Source
Pho (Language Log, University of Pennsylvania)
Victor Mair, Language Log, University of Pennsylvania, 2023Associated With: Chinese CuisineView the Source
What Pho Can Teach Us About the History of Vietnam (National Geographic)
Ryley Graham, National Geographic, 2025Features Dish: PhoView the Source

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