Asia Master Tour

How much you know about Vietnam? If you have ever been there, you may think that you know Vietnam because you experienced Vietnamese lifestyle, traffic, nightlife, street foods,… But all you know is through the lenses of travelers not an insider. Have you ever tried Vietnam travel season? It’s when you visit Vietnam in different season of a year. The weather is different and the landscape changes too. But one thing I love about Vietnam travel season is Vietnamese food. Do you think that locals eat the same food all year round? It’s wrong. Vietnamese cuisine changes too, so today I want to show you Vietnamese cuisine in 4 seasons.

1. Vietnam travel season – what to eat in spring?

People will take a long New Year holiday in spring. This time is the season for traditional dishes. If you are lucky to have Vietnamese friends here, you can join Tet holiday with them like a local. Then, you will have chance to enjoy the most traditional Vietnamese dishes. So take a look at what locals eat this time

Banh Chung

If you go for Vietnam travel season, you will find that each season has its own dish like a symbol. Banh Chung is the symbol for spring. This is a rice cake made from sticky rice, pork and mung beans and wrapped in banana leaves. It takes one night to boil this cake and you can keep it at least 2 months on fridge. This dish present in every meal during Tet holiday.

 

Sticky rice

Actually you can eat this dish all year round but like Banh Chung, sticky rice is always in meals on Tet holiday. The main ingredient is of course, sticky rice, but people always add topping or change the color of the rice. They can add fried onion, salted shredded meat, peanut,…

Sometimes, coconut milk or chicken broth is added to sticky rice while being steamed to enhance the flavor. And if you find colorful sticky rice, it’s not artificial color. Vietnamese use natural color from vegetable and fruit to make the dish more attractive. For instance, the red color of Xoi Gac is made from baby jackfruit or the orange is from carrot,…

 

Spring roll

This dish is very popular in Vietnam. You can enjoy spring roll anytime of the year, but only with Vietnam travel season in spring you can taste the original spring roll. It is made from pork, shrimp, mushroom, wood ear, onions, eggs, salt, pepper,… All ingredients are chopped and mixed together before being wrapped in rice papers. The best spring roll must be crispy and intact, I mean the rice papers wrapping outside aren’t broken. The ingredients of spring roll can be modified depending on the taste of each people.

 

Pickle onion

Come along with all of fatty food above, Vietnamese have pickle onions to balance the flavor of the meal. Moreover, this dish also helps your digestion after consuming lots of carbohydrate and fat. People tend not to eat this dish on normal day so it´s easy for you to enjoy it with Vietnam travel season in spring. It has the basic flavor of pickle like sweetness, sourness, spiciness,…

2. Vietnam travel season – what is the typical dish for summer?

If spring is a party with main dishes, summer is the time for dessert. You can find thousands of sweet dessert here. Locals really enjoy them especially in summer because it helps to reduce the heat and to recharge the energy.

White Jelly Cubes Sweet Porridge

This summer dish isn’t traditional one. It has appeared recently in Vietnam and become popular because of its taste. This dish is really simple. Some cool and fragrant white jelly cubes made from milk and lychee are submerged by the mixture of sugar water and grapefruit flowers. It helps to cool down the heat a lot, so if you have Vietnam travel season, you should try it.

 

Douhua

Douhua soy milk is very popular and most traditional dessert in Vietnam. The simplest version is Douhua with sugar water and back jelly, or you can replace sugar water by soy milk. There are lots of modifications of this dish, such as: matcha jelly, soy milk chocolate,… It’s very cheap and popular among locals from all classes.

 

Sweet Sticky Glutinous Balls

Vietnamese name of this dish is Banh Troi. And it has origin from China. There is also a Vietnamese poem about this cake. Especially, locals eat it in the Cold Food Festival every year. If you go for Vietnam travel season, you will see a limitless line of people waiting to buy this dish in this occasion.

 

Mixed fruits

Summer is the season of fruits. In northern Vietnam, you can indulge yourself with various flavors of fruits from sweet to sour. But locals want to enhance these flavors, so they mix fruits with sugar, salt, chilly powder,… And you will love it even more than the original version. The common fruits made in this way are mango, pineapple, plum. You can find this attractive fruits in any market. I highly recommend it for your Vietnam travel season.

 

Papaya salad with dried beef

It’s kind of Vietnamese snack than a dessert. Normally, there are 2 types of dried beef. One is be teared into long and thin fibers. The other is sliced into thin and flat pieces. Then they are mixed with papaya, carrots, herbs and peanuts. This is one of the most popular street food in Hanoi, you can find it in the area near Hoan Kiem lake. Don’t forget to fill you Vietnam travel season experiences by this delicious dish.

 

Sugarcane juice

Cooling down by a fresh sugarcane juice is a really local way. If you go for Vietnam travel season and try this juice once, you will understand why people say that there is nothing better than a cup of sugarcane juice in summer. Sugarcane is pressed by a machine to take out all the juice then a little drop of kumquat juice and crashed ice are added. Vendors tend to sell it in a small nilon bag or a box so that the customers can take it away.

 

3. Vietnam travel season – Beautiful autumn

Autumn in Hanoi is the season of Com (young sticky rice flakes). It can be eat alone with the smell of lotus leaves and very slight sweet. Or being enjoyed with other dishes or even mixed with different ingredients to form a specific dish.

Green rice sausage

Green rice sausage is mixed with lean pork and pork paste. No garlic or onion is permitted to keep the original flavor of Com. Then, it’s divided into small pieces and steamed for 15 to 20 minutes. The last step is frying them both sides until it’s getting light brown. The best green rice sausage has scrip skin, soft Com inside.

You only can try this dish with Vietnam travel season I autumn because the Com season only last 3 months. Of course, they can store prepared Green rice sausage in fridge but the fresher the better. You can find it in Hanoi Old Quarter with various famous restaurants.

 

Green rice cake

This cake is very traditional and the process of making one is meticulous. Most of tourists to Hanoi enjoy this cake a lot. And you only can taste the most delicious cake in traditional stores in Hanoi Old Quarter. Making and selling this cake are kind of family tradition with secret recipe. If you come to Hanoi in your Vietnam travel season in autumn, you definitely should try it.

 

4. Vietnam travel season – what to eat in winter?

The main key for great dish of winter in Hanoi is keeping you warm. You can eat those dishes anytime of the day from early morning to late night. I’m sure that it’s worth trying these dishes in cold winter of Vietnam. These are perfect dishes for Vietnam travel season in winter.

Pho

I guess you know that you can eat this dish all year round. But I want to tell you that the moment that you can eat the best Pho in your life is in winter with freezing winds and drizzle. If you go for Vietnam travel season in winter you will know how freezing cold the winter is. And with a smoky bowl of Pho, your body will be warmed up and you will feel more energetic.

 

Congee with pork or mussel and deep-fried rice stick

This rice soup is very popular in winter. Locals will have it for breakfast, lunch or even dinner. Rice is grinded finely and cooked with pork broth. This dish is good for your stomach and helps to keep your body from the coldness.

 

 

There are more delicious dishes for each season in Vietnam, but I can’t tell you all because I will have to write a novel. I just want to show you that Vietnam travel season will be an excellent choice for specific destinations and specific food. You don’t have to think too much about all of them and you don’t have to force yourself to visit all Vietnam. Pick one moment for your Vietnam travel season then you will know where to go and what to eat.