Vietnamese Food, Mapped

Added: 2026-05-15

[00:00:00]To most, Vietnam doesn't look large enough of a country to really have much diversity. And compared to many of the other nations we've looked at so far, it's actually one of the smallest in terms of size. Regardless, Vietnamese food has become one of the most recognizable and accessible cuisines across the world. But for every banmi and fur, there's another dish most haven't heard of. It's generally agreed that this country has three major cultural regions, the north, center, and south. And what Vietnam lacks in in amount of land, it makes up for with surprising diversity. So this time, let's map the food of Vietnam, see how history and geography has shaped some iconic dishes, and hopefully give you a better idea of this very singular cuisine.

[00:01:00]As always, let's break down this cuisine by region. Moving from north to south, of course, that means beginning in northern Vietnam.

[00:01:13]This place is not only the seat of the government. It's generally the homeland of the Vietnamese people and their culture. This is where the indigenous cultures of Vietnam collected influence from nearby China. Most people congregated along here in the Red River Delta, low-lying lands that were prone to flooding. It was a great place to cultivate rice and seafood, and many modern dishes here emulate that, such as Buddhai braised fish, a local tradition in the town of Dai Huang, made with fish, lime, ginger, and shallots, all stewed in a clay pot. This dish is incredibly important to the many people who live in the north as it's a staple for the Lunar New Year holiday or as the Vietnamese call it t. It's become so popular many people even eat it nearby in Hanoi, the nation's capital. Hanoi is actually where we'll see the birth of Vietnam's most famous dishes. There's banmi bani if I'm pronouncing it correctly.

[00:02:14]Bani. Yeah, I still haven't learned how to pronounce anything in Vietnamese, right? I'm just going to let my friend new take it off. New, can you just say all the Vietnamese words?

[00:02:27]>> This is one of the most common forms of banani, which ultimately just means a short baguette. Ban in general is a term covering all wheat pastries as of course Vietnam has heavy influence from France.

[00:02:40]A coffee or >> cafe >> is another major tradition from Hanoi that comes from French influence which I go more into detail on in a whole other video. But overall it's one of the most unique and best tasting coffees in the world is a more visually clear example of a Vietnamese dish that's inspired by French food. The dish is essentially a Vietnamese version of a portafu or beef bergen using beef, carrots, and tomatoes. Ingredients that essentially were either rare or didn't really exist in the country before European trade.

[00:03:19]Also, a major landmark on French influence on the food here is fur. Its current iteration dates back to the 19th century in the city of Namin.

[00:03:29]>> Namin. Wow, that's how you pronounce it.

[00:03:33]All right, thanks. New during French rule, beef demand was at an all-time high in this region. With that, an excess of beef bones were available and used by the Vietnamese here. Rice noodle soup dishes had already existed in this region beforehand, taking influence from China and Thailand. But in Namen, they merged these Asian traditions with the French traditions of making consume using beef bones to flavor the broth.

[00:04:00]Fur has since become this symbolic dish of Vietnam. And across the country, the flavors and styles of fur differ drastically. For example, up in the northern border region, you can find a sour fur made with peanuts, pickles, and pink rice noodles. And back in Hanoi, they even have a version of fur that is essentially sort of like a spring roll. French cuisine is one major influence on Vietnamese food, but of course another is Chinese, and you can find a lot of Chinese influence, particularly in the north. Hanoi is home to many of them, including >> a dish originating from one of Vietnam's ancient royal families centuries ago.

[00:04:44]The dish was created to show the versatility of rice by creating thin rice crepes. It's a tradition that's seen across the region, like in southern China and Thailand. But in Vietnam, the rice crepe is so much thinner and the flavors are much lighter, as well as often being crispy in texture. On the note of thin rice rolls, you can also find a Vietnamese spring roll, also derived from southern Chinese influence. Some believe it began as a royal dish during the Muan Dynasty, but others say it was created as an easy way for people to transport food in the past. Either way, these fresh tasting spring rolls are now a major part of the cuisine.

[00:05:28]>> It's another Vietnamese dish with Chinese influence believed to have come from rural parts of the country. The noodle dish is made with snails, fried tofu, green bananas, and vinegar. Not my favorite thing personally, but many love it. Hanoi is also home to my favorite Vietnamese dish, puncha. It's also a dish with French influence where beef is minced into a patty and served with rice noodles and fish sauce. It's super good.

[00:05:57]To finish off the north, let's look at some dishes in Sapa. Here you can find soapa. It's a dish by the ethnic Thai minority in Sapa where five distinctive types of sticky rice are collected together. The five colors each represent one of the five elements in Asian culture. Oh yeah, the five elements play a big role in traditional Vietnamese food which I explained in my other video about Vietnam. The M are another ethnic group in Sapa and they have their own famous dish.

[00:06:32]>> It's essentially a black chicken dish that's marinated in galangal, honey, sesame, and fish sauce. Lastly, there's >> it's an important dish to the ethnic Thai group that lives in northwest Vietnam. These ethnically Thai people immigrated to Vietnam via southern China centuries ago. And this dish where steamed fish is grilled with ginger and lemongrass is a major source of pride for this minority community in Vietnam.

[00:07:00]Okay, let's move down to central Vietnam, which is actually my favorite portion of the country because it has the awesome city of Daang.

[00:07:14]Speaking of Daang, it has some of its own regional dishes. There's the a soup noodle dish topped with fish cakes. And >> a traditional dish here that has shredded papaya, roast pork skin, and fermented fish sauce. This region actually has some of the country's most beautiful cities and towns. Near the Nang is Hoan, which maybe you might recognize. Here they have a dish called >> Gao. It's a town's signature noodle dish made with chasu. While the origins of the dish are mostly unknown, it's believed to have come from a blend of Chinese and Japanese flavors in the 17th century for merchants that visited this town. This part of central Vietnam is also known for >> one of the region's most famous dishes from the province of Quang Nam. It's known for being eaten during Tet, but is also popular across the country any time of the year. This province is also famous for >> ch >> a Vietnamese style of dessert that originates from here. It's basically any type of soup, pudding, or drink made with coconut milk and a variety of nuts and fruits. Over time, its flavors have changed from influence coming in from China and Thailand again. And it's not something I personally like, but I feel like a lot of people would riot if I didn't include it.

[00:08:40]Now, we can't talk about central Vietnamese food without talking about Hi and the last dynasty of Vietnam. Hi is an old imperial city that was home to the last generations of the royal family in the country. Hu served as the home for the Muan dynasty of Vietnam for over 140 years up until 1945 when the country was liberated from Japanese control. And the food of central Vietnam is heavily tied to the imperial traditions of Wei, where the five elements play a huge role in colors and flavors. There's boon, a popular noodle dish that's linked to the royal courts. It's made with a rich broth from pork bones, scented with lemongrass, and spiced with chili peppers. Another H specialty is >> bangai, >> which is like an early version of the banjao. It's basically a Vietnamese pancake that's filled with herbs, meat, and vegetables and kind of looks a bit like a taco. While the dish is mainly famous in the south, it likely originates from the central region of Rhee. Some other imperial dishes include a royal dish that's essentially a salad made from figs, shrimp paste, and some variation of meat. Again, it's a very festive dish eaten during holidays like Ten.

[00:09:58]This is another iconic dish of Wei.

[00:10:01]However, it doesn't come from royal kitchens, but from poor peasants back in the day. It includes peanuts, starf fruit, chili, and the main star of the dish, small clams, all mixed with rice.

[00:10:13]Another famous dish here is >> name Louie, >> which is basically a minced pork skewer wrapped over a lemongrass stick made popular in the city. One really interesting looking dish here is >> which is a dumpling made with tapioca wrappers. It's a super interesting ingredient and is another dish associated with royal cooking in Hi. But beyond Hi and Daang, you can find some other unique dishes across central Vietnam. Up in Tan Hoa, there is >> name Ju, >> a fermented sour pork sausage that's generally eaten raw. Next door to Tanua, you have Oh my god, I don't even know how to pronounce the name of this place.

[00:10:56]>> Thank you. Here you can find >> it's an eel porridge that has centuries of history tied to the fishing villages of the province.

[00:11:07]Down towards the south, you can find Nanjang, which I personally think is just a tourist trap. But this city is home to another unique dish, >> or jellyfish noodles. As the name suggests, it's made with local jellyfish caught off the coast of the country and made into a chewy and crunchy texture.

[00:11:27]It feels and looks super alien.

[00:11:33]All right, let's move down to our final region, southern Vietnam. Down here, there is generally a preference for sweeter flavors, and much of the cuisine of the region has been largely influenced by the Mechong River Delta, giving access to palm sugar, coconut milk, and as usual, seafood. With that, you can see dishes like >> Mang, >> which is sundried squid and is a big dish in Pantette. There's also >> where fish is caramelized with sugar and coconut water in a clay pot. Keeping on the sugar trend >> or Vietnamese dry noodles is another dish that uses sugar along with quail eggs, garlic, and white radish.

[00:12:18]Rice is another huge part of the food here, but in the south they're famous for gum, >> or broken rice. It's essentially rice made from grains that weren't able to be sold due to them being broken or imperfect. While most places would throw them out, people here use them to create this dish where broken rice is served with meat and vegetables. It's said to have a different texture and flavor from regular white rice. Personally, I don't see or taste any difference. It just tastes like rice to me, but everyone tells me I'm wrong, so that's fair. I lose my Asian card.

[00:12:55]Now, it's impossible for us to talk about southern Vietnam without mentioning Ho Chi Min City, or also known as Saigon.

[00:13:07]This city is home to some of the region's most famous dishes, being the center of Chinese, Kamur, and French influence, mixing into Vietnamese culture. One of the dishes that best represents this is fellow where organs are marinated in soy sauce, coconut, and turned into a brothesque dish. Some of the flavors come from Chinese influence, but the inclusion of bond to the dish comes from the French. Overall, it's a great and underrated dish. On the note of French influence, this region is home to another personal favorite of mine, >> Bonnet. It's probably the least looking Vietnamese dish where beef steak is seared next to pate, eggs, and a baguette. But I love this dish. It's absolutely amazing. France and China aren't the only countries to influence Vietnamese food, though. You can also find >> which is a Vietnamese version of Indian chicken curry. The dish likely came from Tamil immigrants from the French Indian colonies of Pondicherry and Karika. The result is a unique Indian and Vietnamese fusion. Another similar Indian influenced Vietnamese dish is balo. It's a tradition that likely came from a Frenchman born in India who immigrated to southern Vietnam in the 1930s. He likely brought with him Indian cooking traditions and merged them with Vietnamese cuisine to create this dish where beef is wrapped in betto leaves.

[00:14:33]There's also Cambodian influence on some of the flavors here too, like in dishes such as >> where tapioca noodles are cooked into a broth made from pork bones, dried shrimp, and squid. Nearby, you can find >> it's almost like a mini version of a banana or a Vietnamese takoyaki. It's believed to have come from poor farmers who made pancakes completely out of rice flour and without filling. But over time, it's evolved into this awesome dish. Further down, we reach the Mechong River Delta, a super important geographic region for Vietnamese food.

[00:15:10]After all, it's the mouth of one of the most important rivers in Southeast Asia.

[00:15:14]And it looks pretty cool from above.

[00:15:18]Here you'll see dishes like >> a fermented fish soup that's made with eggplants, chilies, and okra. It also brings us to a related dish, which is pretty much a Vietnamese hot pot where the broth is made with fermented fish, giving it a unique sour flavor that doesn't exist in most other hot pots across Asia. On the note of sour food, can >> is another popular soup that's sweet and sour, filled with seafood and local flavors to produce a tangy flavor. It's often made with ingredients that are local to the Mechong River Delta.

[00:15:54]There's also the which is a savory shrimp muffin that's dipped into a sweet and sour fish sauce.

[00:16:02]As you can see, seafood is a major ingredient across the dishes here. That continues into dishes like grilled snake head fish and deep fried elephant ear fish. These fish have interesting names.

[00:16:17]Closer to the coast, there is a dish with a crazy long name.

[00:16:23]It's very visually unique where noodles and baby clams are cooked into a coconut milk broth. All of the ingredients usually come from the Kochen River, so it's a very local dish. Finally, let's look at our last spot, the island of Fukok. It's Vietnam's largest island and a beach paradise. The island has been exchanged between the hands of the Cambodians, Thai, and now Vietnamese.

[00:16:51]So, the flavors here are influenced by all of them. One dish with Cambodian influence is >> it's a noodle soup dish using kamur flavors that have been adapted by the Vietnamese. But the most unique dish here is probably this one.

[00:17:08]>> It's a raw herring salad that's seasoned with dry coconuts, onions, and coriander. However, the island is most famous for >> a noodle dish that's made with fresh seafood, usually caught on the same day and boiled to cook as it's served, giving it a very fresh flavor.

[00:17:29]So, there you have it. A very introductory guide to the regional cuisines of Vietnam.

[00:17:36]I think this cuisine has a very distinctive approach to the appearance of its dishes, abiding by colors and flavors that follow the five elements in Asia. I honestly can't really think of many other cuisines that are really coded this way by colors and flavors.

[00:17:50]Maybe the only other one I can think of is Italian food, but I hope this video gives you a better idea of what's available in Vietnam and where to get it. As always, if you like this video and what this channel does, please consider subscribing, commenting, liking, whatever you do helps the channel. And if you want to support us even further, you can consider subscribing to our Patreon where occasionally some bonus content gets put up on there. And if you've noticed, I am in a different room. I've basically moved apartments last month, so my upload time, I think, is probably going to be slower. So, this video you're watching now is probably later than usual, but I'm sort of figuring out camera setups at the moment, and hopefully I can figure something out. If you guys like this setup though, let me know in the comments, and then I'll just keep making videos this way. Otherwise, I'll see you in the next video.