As I explained in my previous Phlog, food is culturally dealt with differently in Vietnam than in Thailand and Laos and probably other countries in Southeast Asia as well.
What I find with food delivery services is mostly very quickly made food and instant food, similar to what is served in US fast food restaurants. I’ve been a little bit discouraged by the lack of variety.
Department stores in Thailand and Laos tend to have extensive food courts but I haven’t seen that in Vietnam and I don’t see many people sitting around for a long period of time in restaurants. On the other hand they do seem to enjoy going to coffee houses for sitting and relaxing. Products served are drinks such as coffee, tea, fruit juice or other sweet drinks.
One thing to be attentive to is the amount of sugar used in any kind of drink as well as food. Very few restaurants I’ve been to serve food without sugar infused. It seems to be everywhere and in everything. Coffee is not excluded from sugary additives. While you can find Coffeemate or milk for coffee available in Thailand and Laos the only milky type additive I’ve been able to find in any place that serves coffee is condensed milk which contains a lot of sugar. so be prepared to eat a lot of sugar unless you bring your own additive. I carry extra coffeemate with me when I can because it is available nowhere in Vietnam, except in large quantities in some grocery stores.
Small restaurants tend to serve one very narrow offering of some thing with rice or something with noodles so be prepared to walk around and ask and see what different kind of foods are a available. Language will be a major barrier if you don’t speak Vietnamese as it has been with me, but I use Google translate extensively and people seem to be helpful when some sort of translation software is used.
One thing I commented on earlier was the proliferation of coffee shops. It seems there are more coffee shops than restaurants, and sometimes, such as today, I’m able to see two or three coffee shops right next to each other competing for business. While they tout Vietnamese coffee it could very well be the beans are from some other place as I have indicated before. The arabica might be from Laos, but they will still call it Vietnamese coffee.
There doesn’t seem to be much spicy food but they do have some sauces on the table, especially a chili sauce that, from the outside looks like tomato ketchup but is really pretty spicy and of course contains sugar.
In general, the food tends to be more sugary, oily and much less tasty then Thai or Lao food so be prepared to walk around and find some thing that fits your taste.
Warning! The photo below may be disturbing!
There are “rumors” that Vietnamese eat dogs; some joke about where some stray dog went when it disappeared. This photo I took walking on the street on Phu Quoc island shows a man preparing a dog for the bbq spit. A dog nearby incessantly barked. My Lao friend says a dog will continue to bark at people who eat dog meat as well, the smell being evident. I don’t intend to confirm that scientifically.
