Authentic Recipes from Vietnam. Trieu Thi Choi

      A prime example of one of the many fancy new restaurants. Vietnam House, catering to tourists and returning Viet Kieu, or overseas Vietnamese.

      Food in Vietnam

       One of Asia's best kept culinary secrets—but not any more!

      Vietnam is a country on the rise. An almost palpable sense of optimism hangs in the balmy air. The Vietnam War (known here as the "American War") has not been forgotten. nor have the years of oppression and foreign rule, but the country is moving on. The effects of doi moi, the economic reform policy allowing small-scale private enterprise, introduced by the communist government in 1986, are becoming more and more evident The accumulation of personal wealth is now encouraged, joint ventures with overseas companies are welcomed, and many overseas Vietnamese are returning to their country to start businesses after years abroad.

      The fancy new restaurants that are restoring life to old colonial buildings, and the modern hotels steadily creeping into the skyline, are just two of the many signs signaling Vietnam's renaissance And one needn't go farther than a few steps onto any street to experience the thriving culinary scene that is so much a part of this new vitality.

      On the streets of Ho Chi Minh City or Hanoi in the early morning, food stalls appear on the sidewalks in front of old shop houses. Clusters of tiny chairs and tables surround a steaming hot cauldron of soup set on an open flame; soon the chairs will be filled with people huddled over their morning bowl of pho, a tasty beef broth served with rice noodles and fresh herbs. At another streetside restaurant, a team of female chefs is busy making open-faced omelets in blackened pans over small charcoal grills. Vendors with carts full of baguettes, cheese and sausages are making sandwiches and serving a refreshing beverage of young coconut Another vendor is wrapping sticky rice in a banana leaf, and handing it to a young schoolboy who is waiting impatiently with his mother.

      The markets are a hive of activity as well, literally overflowing with fresh goods trucked in from the nearby villages. the bountiful coastal waters, and the central highlands. Throughout the day. crowds of people fill their baskets from the rows of fresh vegetables and tropical fruits, live fish and game, pickled meats and vegetables, candied fruit, dried and packaged goods, rice and bottles of the pungent nuoc mam fish sauce.

      There is a renewed vitality in Vietnam that revolves around food. At night, a seemingly endless stream of vehicles parades through the streets. Handsome young men, elegantly dressed women, young couples, and entire families speed about on motorbikes, stopping only to have a beer, talk with friends or have a meal at the literally hundreds of streetside restaurants or at fancy cafes, then race back out to join the nightly procession.

      The Vietnamese landscape is noted for its fertility and dramatic changeabilty.

      A land of breathtaking contrasts.

      With lengths of unspoiled dramatic coastline, sheltered harbors. fertile and well-irrigated lowlands and vast upland forests, Vietnam is a remarkably beautiful and fertile land, rich in agricultural resources. It is rapidly becoming a major supplier of rice, fish, fresh fruit and vegetables to the rest of Southeast Asia.

      Vietnam's narrow curving "S" shape hugs the coast of Indochina for 1,000 miles north to south, and measures just over 30 miles across at its narrowest point. The country boasts a 1,600-mile coastline in addition to countless dikes, canals and waterways, which include the Red River, the Perfume River and the Mekong River—one of the longest rivers in Southeast Asia. It is certainly no surprise then, that seafood and aquatic life are such an integral part of the diet throughout the country The other essential component of the Vietnamese diet is rice The Red River Delta in the north and the Mekong Delta in the south are the two main rice-growing areas, although lush green rice paddies dotted with water buffaloes and rows of women with their distinctive conical hats can be seen throughout the country. The importance of rice to the economy is indicated by Vietnam's ranking as the third largest rice exporter in the world after Thailand and the United States, although the quality of its rice has not been regarded as highly as that of the other nations.

      The quiet putney home from the market.

      Sixty percent of arable land in Vietnam is given over to rice production, leaving little pasture for cattle farming. Hence beef, in particular, is a luxury for most Vietnamese, and the famous series of dishes, bo bay mon (literally, beef done seven ways) is highly regarded. In spite of urbanization and increasingly populated cities, roughly 80 percent of the population relies on rice for its livelihood.

      The applications of rice go well beyond simple steaming, occurring in a diverse range of dishes and not always recognizable as rice. In addition to being used in the production of wine and vinegar, rice grains are also converted into flour and used to make rice noodles; rice is transformed into flat rice paper sheets for wrapping goi cuon, the Vietnamese fresh spring rolls; glutinous rice cooked overnight, then wrapped into attractive banana leaf parcels, becomes breakfast-time