Some typical Vietnamese cuisines

Like so much else in Vietnam, the cuisine reflects long years of cultural exchange with China, Cambodia and, more recently, France

As elsewhere in Southeast Asia, rice is the main staple, though bread--especially baguettes introduced by the French-is ubiquitous and usually very good. Dishes are generally served at the same time rather than by course, and eaten with long-grain rice, nuoc mam or fish sauce, and a wide range of fresh herbs and vegetables. Meals are generally eaten with chopsticks or, if European food, with knife and fork.

Some of the more popular Vietnamese dishes include Cha gio (known as nem Saigon in the north): small--spring rolls' of minced pork, prawn, crabmeat, framushrooms and vegetables wrapped in thin rice paper and then deep fried. Cha gio is rolled in a lettuce leaf with fresh mint and other herbs, then dipped in a sweet sauce. Chao tom is a northern delicacy: Ground up shrimp is baked on a stick of sugar cane, then eaten with lettuce, cucumber, coriander (cilantro) and mint, and dipped in fish sauce.

Another dish eaten in a similar fashion is cuon diep, or shrimp, noodles, mint, coriander and pork wrapped in lettuce leaves. Hue, a city associated with Buddhism, is famous for its vegetarian cuisine and for its banh khoai, or 'Hue pancake'. A batter of rice flour and corn is fried with egg to make a pancake, then wrapped around pork or shrimp, onion, bean sprouts and mushrooms. Another Hue speciality is bun bo, or fried beef and noodles served with coriander, onion, garlic, cucumber, chilli peppers and tomato paste.

Soups are popular, and generally served with almost every meal. Mien ga is a noodle soup, most popular in the south, blending chicken, coriander, fish sauce and scallions. Hu tieu is chicken, beef, pork and shrimp served with a broth over rice noodles mixed with crabmeat, peanuts, onion and garlic. Canh chua, a sour soup served with shrimp or fish head, is a frablend of tomato, pineapple, star fruit, bean sprouts, fried onion, bamboo shoots, coriander and cinnamon. Perhaps the best known of all Vietnamese soup dishes, often eaten for breakfast or as a late night snack, is pho, a broth of rice noodles topped with beef or chicken, fresh herbs and onion. Egg yolk is often added, as may be lime juice, chilli peppers or vinegar. Pho is generally served with quay-a fried piece of flour dough.