Weird food: Vietnam
- January 8th, 2010
- Posted in Food . Travel . Weird Food
- By Nick Jensen
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This is my second blog post in my weird food series. This one takes us to Vietnam, in particular Hanoi where I spent about eight days, coming home just last week.
The most odd, and I’m sure to many, shocking weird food discovery was dog meat. Dog meat is relatively popular in Vietnam, Korea, the Philippines, East Timor and certain areas of China and Switzerland. I was expecting to find dog meat in Vietnam, and I did. I didn’t dare try it though; I’m a bit of a wuss!
There were many signs in restaurants which read “Thit Cho”, which is Vietnamese for dog food. We didn’t actually realise this until one of my last days in Vietnam, when a local guide we hired for the day told us.
The only time I actually saw dog meat in person was on my first full day in Hanoi, at a local food market called Hang Be.
The dogs are apparently farmed, and people’s pets are not stolen for the meat.
Obviously eating dog seems odd to westerners, and obviously it does to me or I wouldn’t have put it on here. We have to remember though, that eating cows (who are sacred, not just pets) to Hindu people must be greatly offensive, just as eating pork in front of a Jewish or Islamic person could be equally offensive. Each culture has their own taboos, and this series on my blog is basically on exposing some of those taboos! Anyway, enough of the lesson in cultural understanding, just remember this before casting stones.
Dog meat wasn’t the only weird food item at Hang Be market; both pigs tails and pig trotters were quite popular.
And even assorted parts floating in water.
The weird foods didn’t stop at mammals here in Hanoi, of course. There was a platter of some sort of bug, or grub, or silkworm larvae or something!
One thing I do have an ethical issue with is eating endangered species. Some species of turtle are endangered; I’m not sure what species these are however. Turtles are eaten in many places in the world, including lots of Asia and some coastal regions of and islands off of Africa. Either way, it is what I view as a very weird food!
The French also left their taste of frogs with the Vietnamese. The markets were full of large cages with none-too-appetising looking frogs.
Last up for the markets, there also were a couple of sacks with some poor unknown animal inside! I’m guessing that they were rabbits, but you be the judge!
The Vietnamese seem to believe that the more dangerous an animal that you can put in your rice wine, the stronger the wine will be. You see bottles mainly with snakes (mainly cobras), but also scorpions, and others!
I also had the opportunity to taste alligator for the first time. This was in a restaurant in Hanoi. The taste was somewhat reminiscent of crocodile, which I’m not a massive fan of.
In one restaurant, one of the options for the type of meat you wanted in your soup, alongside chicken, pork and beef, was swan meat!
This has been one of the more colourful travel destinations in regards to the variety of foods on offer!
See the full photo gallery of this trip to Hanoi: http://www.nickspics.net/v/Travel/Vietnam_2009/
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QUOTE/ ” The Vietnamese seem to believe that the more dangerous an animal that you can put in your rice wine, the stronger the wine will be. You see bottles mainly with snakes (mainly cobras), but also scorpions, and others! ”
I do not think so, inside of snakes, scorpion are some aliment that can be useful for the health.
they also take, tiger’s bones in rice wine, this can help them to own a solid bone form. And sometimes, gecko wine seems to be better than snakes or scorpion wine. And it is perfectly helpful, you should try .. cant be die
hihi maybe I was a Vietnam Vietnam genuine, I love Vietnam cuisine (except for some items), on the other dishes that you feel tremors in Vietnam but it is actually very nutritious food, because most people just choose their own foods and Vietnam useful too flipped dishes like duck eggs or pupae brought so many nutrients and you also try sip or the items that people see of course was Vietnam, then you also eat food is [not try I know ^ ^]
Hi, for Vietnamese people, all these things are normal. Chris is right,these kinds of rice wine are useful for the health (esp. for man :D)
hi, I’m vietnamese and just want to say that except all the food up there, Vietnam also has many delicious food, have you been there?
Hi pat, I agree wholeheartedly that these foods can be quite normal for Vietnamese people. I did try to explain that I’m seeing things as ‘weird’ from a westerner’s perspective, and that many things I eat, such as blue (mouldy) cheese and even beef, could be very weird to people from other cultures! Bon appétit! -Nick
Hi kua, thanks for the comment. I absolutely love most Vietnamese food. I actually just returned from a week in Hoi An and Hanoi today (second time in six months), and thoroughly enjoyed the cuisine. Granted, I haven’t had anything too “out there”, but definitely dishes such as pho, bun cha and nem rank very highly in my books.
I was wanting to check out a restaurant chain called “Highway 4″ which has a lot of food which normally I might be too scared to try (such as grasshopper or locust springrolls, and frogs etc), but unfortunately I ran out of time. Next time, I promise! -Nick
Hello! I’m a Vietnamese teenager. Your opinions about Vietnamese food is so funny! ^^ These foods are very delicious for us, but maybe weird for u. Your website now is very famous in my country, it’s een shown in many Vietnamese websites! I’m living oversea now, I really miss these foods!
Lol, Phuong Linh was right,please check out at this site :P
http://kenh14.vn/c44/t11/20100620063326466/mon-la-viet-nam-trong-mat-nguoi-nuoc-ngoai.chn
Sorry but seriously those pictures make me frighten, especially dog meat or pig tail…i think im not gonna eat anything for days after seeing them.
Its nice u had a good trip though,and would be awesome if SAigon is your next trip
Hello! I’m a Vietnamese girl, too. I love pork, specially pig tail and I hate dog meat, I love dog. Poor creature! Unfortunately my family love it, we make dog meat usually, even my dog …love it, too!!! Get back and talk about food, you have to know that every country or nation has their own food, to somebody, they’re weird, terrible; and normal, special to the other. When you travel to whole world, be like a normal native, you will see it clearly. And finally, did you that Philip Kotler (“father” of modern marketing) said Vietnam could become “The Kitchen of the World”?
Hello, I’m Vietnamese, I knew, you might be surprised about some dishes of our country, but the peace of mind that once you have an initial general exam will miss them when they return your country, because the dishes are really tasty
read the line when writing about the cuisine of our country, I feel very proud of our country when you introduced me vietnam s food world friends, thank you very much …
love you
Trang Nguyen
QUOTE/ ” The Vietnamese seem to believe that the more dangerous an animal that you can put in your rice wine, the stronger the wine will be. You see bottles mainly with snakes (mainly cobras), but also scorpions, and others! ”
respect
I think Vietnamese people use these kinds of wine as viagra more than just strong wine to get drunk
“The dogs are apparently farmed, and people’s pets are not stolen for the meat”
I really wish those dogs are farmed. But so sad that mostly they are stolen.
For more of your information, we also eat cats. I lost 2 cats already. Curse those ugly thieves :((
One advice for any foreigners want to raise dogs or cats in VN: Always have an eye on them and should not raise dogs or cats which look tasty. LOL
Finally, thank you very much for your post. I find it interesting reading foreigners’ thoughts about us.
Hi Nick,
I am from Kerala, South India.
Great pictures and beautiful frames telling good observations and curious eyes for food, culture and unusual situations around. I like your observations and notes. I had similar opportunities in cambodia, china, thailand and vietnam to take pictures. I will also post those. some of them are much similar to your taste.
Great work and keep posting.
Best luck!
Chris
@annalinh
hey im from costa rica and im in hanoi. and i want to eat strange food. can you help me, nobody here talks english
Hi Alonso,
Check out a restaurant/bar chain in Hanoi called “Highway 4” which serves some exotic Vietnamese food to foreigners.
Otherwise, if you’re game, check out the local markets, particularly Hang Be! Good luck, let me know how you go!
Dog meats are mainly served in the North. It’s still hard to see them served for so many Vietnamese. I’m a Vietnamese and I would never eat it.
hate dog meat
never return to vienam
Hey,
I love reading these articals there always so full of amazing recipes and facts…Oh by the way,what does dog taste like?