What Vietnamese people eat every day?

Working as a local guide over 10 years there are common questions to ask about Vietnamese food includes typical Vietnamese dishes, what do they eat everyday and explain how healthy the food is.

Is Vietnamese food healthy?

Is it safe to eat on the street?

How may meals does a Vietnamese person eat everyday?

What is a typical meal of a Vietnamese food?

What is Vietnamese specialities ?

This article provides you with everything you need to know about Vietnamese food

Table of Contents

1. What do Vietnamese people eat daily – A typical Vietnamese meal?

Rice is served almost every meal, even breakfast, in some rural areas. Because there are tons of rivers across the country, so we also eat fish. There are two types of fish: freshwater and ocean.

On the other hand, we also eat lots of meats such as geese, ducks, chickens, and pork, along with eels and eggs, which provide additional protein. Beef and seafood are only used on special occasions, such as at weddings or festivals.

Nuoc Nam is a dish that won’t be missed in every meal of Vietnamese, a liquid sauce made from fermented fish, which has a strong smell

2. Typical Vietnamese meal

Typical Vietnamese meal

The typical Vietnamese meal consists of a bowl of rice, and vegetables and the main dish is meat or fish.. Vegetables are often grown in the front garden of the house and include soybeans, sweet potatoes, corn, greens of various kinds, onions, and other root crops. Fruit includes bananas, grapefruit, dragon fruits, mangos,and pineapple.

Vietnamese rice noodle soup is a signature dish of Vietnam, either with beef or chicken. Eating in Vietnam is such a big thing to learn about. We applied the theory of Yin Yang balance when cooking food. For example, Balut is considered as a cold food, often served with ginger and knotgrass (hot element); chicken (cold element) is stir fried with red chilly (hot element) and so on.

Vietnamese drink green tea all day long, from the morning until the evening. During the traditional New Year of Vietnam “Tet”, we also serve rice liquor, soft drink, and beer for the guests.

In Vietnam, breakfast isn’t considered as a main meal, so it is short. We eat Pho soup either with beef or chicken, Banh Cuon (steam rice wrapped with mince pork and mushroom), Banh mi sandwich and Xoi (sticky rice) in the North, Bun Bo Hue (savory beef noodle soup with pork feet and fresh herbs), My Quang (flat yellow rice noodle with pork belly,roasted peanuts, sesame rice crackers, shrimp, and hard-boiled quail eggs.

In the South, they eat Vietnamese sandwich (Banhmi), Com Tam Suon (Vietnamese grilled pork chop with broken rice), Banh Canh (Vietnamese thick rice noodle soup)

The big meal is lunch and dinner. Lunch is usually Com Bui (buffet rice meal). Dinner is the most important meal when all family members are back from school and work; enjoy it together.

We eat with chopsticks and sit on a mat on the floor in the old days. But lots of families eat on chairs and tables like Westerners.

But when many guests are coming for a meal without having enough chairs, they will sit on a mat. Vietnamese eat loudly, slurping, sucking, and chomping. Such table noises are not considered bad manners; they are evidence that people enjoy their food.

3. How many meals does a Vietnamese person eat?

We eat three main meals per day : breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Breakfast is from 6 am to 8 am. Lunch is from 11.30 am to 1pm and dinner is from 6pm to 8 pm.

For students, they will have some kind of snack like Chao (congee) after afternoon school which is about 4.30 pm. Because lots of them take extra class until the evening like 7.30 pm to 8 pm so that they will have late dinner.

4. Is Vietnamese food healthy?

In my opinion, Vietnamese food is one of the most healthy and tasty ones all in the world. Vietnamese cuisine with its ingredients with lots of vegetables, vitamins, protein, lipids, and so on because there is a variety of food and vegetables in this tropical country, especially in Northern Vietnam, with four distinct season.

5. Some of the typical Vietnamese food

Pho Thin – A well-known Pho in Hanoi for years

Pho soup (Pho bo – Rice noodle soup with beef, Pho ga – rice noodle soup with chicken)
Nem Ran in Northern Vietnam or Cha Gio in Southern Vietnam – Deep fried spring roll with pork
Bun Cha (Grilled Vietnamese meatballs with fresh herbs and rice noodles)
Cha Ca (Grilled fish with turmeric and dill )
Banh Canh (Vietnamese thick rice noodle soup)
My Quang (flat yellow rice noodle with pork belly,roasted peanuts, sesame rice crackers, shrimp, and hard-boiled quail eggs)
Banh Mi sandwich
Com Tam Suon (Vietnamese grilled pork chop with broken rice)