I first went to Vietnam in 2001. I was teaching Asian cookery at the Culinary Institute of America, and I felt that first hand experience of the culture of this cuisine would help me truly get my head around it, and enable me to teach it better. I also wanted to see how different it was from the culinary cultures of Malaysia, Singapore, and Thailand. A twenty-four hour journey can seem daunting to even the most seasoned traveler, but one day seemed like a small price to pay for culinary paradise Foods of Vietnam are generally subtler than neighboring cuisines, with less reliance on... more can be found within the pages of the Southeast Asian Flavors book.
The Imperial Central Region
Move down south to the central region and make sure to stop in the culinary Mecca of Huế. The former imperial city is home to a superlative gastronomic experiences. Inject yourself into the street life by hailing a cyclo (pedicab). An afternoon can quickly escape your grasp as your are carted from the moat encased Citadel, along the Perfume River into the depths of the Đông Ba market. The once-quaint town of Hội-An is a must-see, even though tour groups now mob the streets. Nowadays, I keep my head down and stay connected with the locals. Like Huế, Hội-An unravels slowly, revealing its... more can be found within the pages of the Southeast Asian Flavors book.
Vietnamese Streets
Survival Tip: Trust others. Walk across these streets at a consistent speed and traffic will flow around you.
Vietnamese Culinary Identity™
To truly understand a region’s culinary arts, consider all the factors that contribute to its cuisine. Geography, history, ethnic diversity, culinary etiquette, prevailing flavors all converge to become the building blocks of its authentic food world.
Photo Gallery
Ever wanted to take a culinary tour through Vietnam...this gives you a taste!
Kevlar Cooking…wow,they are resourceful folks!
Resourceful Vietnamese utilize remnants of the Vietnam war. Spent Army jeep wheels are used as foundations for signs. Discarded bulletproof vests are taken apart and re-sewn into Kevlar bags that are filled with ice blocks and pounded to make crushed ice for drinks and snacks (these bulletproof ice crushers are so effective that locals now sell newly fashioned bags from new material for this purpose. I brought back both a genuine recycled vest, and a modern Kevlar crush bag, and use them for ice at home and while on the road teaching cooking
