So, if you know me, I am a big foodie. What is a foodie, you ask? It is a person who goes on crazy food adventures and loves trying new things. For my first week in Vietnam, I tried a different food stall every day. I love Vietnamese food, and because I am in Ho Chi Minh City, I am in luck to try food from all regions of Vietnam. The highlight of this week is being able to eat this fruit known as “du sua” – the literal English translation is “boobies’ milk”.
When I was little, this was my absolute favorite fruit and it brings back so much nostalgia. Aside from eating Vietnamese food, I also got the chance to eat Japanese grill meat and hotpot. The meat is very thinly cut and it is very tender and juicy. As for the hotpot, the base is miso and there is an addition of kimchi. I was pleasantly surprised by the flavor.
Breakfast in Vietnam is very different than in America. In America, my daily breakfast consists of a bagel and either milk or juice, and sometimes I would resort to McDonald’s McGriddle (my guilty pleasure) or a Chick-Fil-A famous chicken biscuit, but in Vietnam, it is a completely different meal. In Ho Chi Minh City, the day begins around 5 o’clock. You hear the motorbikes hustling around the street and food stalls would have an automated voice saying “banh mi day, banh mi ngon nhon day” meaning “here are some fresh and hot baguettes”. The main ingredients in a Vietnamese breakfast is hu tieu, mi, banh pho, banh canh, and banh mi. The first four are different types of rice noodles and the last one is baguette. Each noodle soup has the main soup based made from various types of slow cooked broth, usually beef or pork, and then the noodle with a generous side of vegetables and meat. The noodle soup can come as it is or dry, meaning that the soup will come separately from everything else. My absolute favorite breakfast dish is mi wonton va xa xiu (dry). I love the flavoring of the meet and warm wonton. The noodles are very flavorful and I have not tasted anything similar in America.
Last, but not least, are the green tea drinks in Vietnam. In America, I am always on a hunt to find the best green tea drinks but I always resort to the green tea frappe at Starbucks. In Vietnam, I love trying the green tea drinks here as well and what I have noticed that they all share one flavor. Even though it is all green tea, the one in Vietnam has a bitter taste to it. It is a good bitter, an authentic feel.
