Spring Break
Tasty Vietnamese food worth a try
Joe Amaral
Daily Staff Writer
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Daily Staff Writer Beyond being a healthy alternative to greasy fast food fare, Vietnamese cuisine is rich in cultural traditions and history, according to some members of the community.
Chanh Phan, an assistant professor of comparative religious studies, said some Vietnamese foods are used specifically for certain festivals.
Phan said that "banh trung thu," or moon cake, is used just for the "Tet Trung Thu," or Moon Festival, which is a celebration for children.
Phan said the moon cake is made of crust, flour, egg yolk and nuts.
The two most important ingredients in moon cake are the nuts and the yolk of the egg.
Phan said there are three types of moon cakes. The first cake is made of just sweet rice flour, the second has different types of nuts and the third cake has nuts and the yolk of the chicken egg.
Moon cake is also eaten with tea, Phan said.
Phan said another celebration the Vietnamese have is Tet, which is a celebration of the new year that may happen in late January or early February. Phan said the most symbolic meaning to the Vietnamese Tet celebration is a pair of cakes called "banh chung" and "banh day," which mean square cake and round cake. The square cake symbolizes the earth and mother, and the round cake symbolizes heaven and father, Phan said.
Both cakes mark unity between heaven and earth and are made from sticky rice called "nep."
Phan then talked about the history of the two cakes used for the Tet celebration
According to Phan and the Tet Vietnamese New Year Celebration Web site, when an ancient king of Vietnam, King Huong Vuong VI, was going to choose a successor, he asked someone to make a special cake with meaning for the succession contest. A prince, Lang Lieu, made a pair of cakes, one was round and one was square, Phan said.
Lieu gave the cake to King Vuong and Vuong enjoyed it, Phan said. King Vuong told Lieu that he should make the cake with meaning and give it to the Vietnamese people to enjoy.
Tina Thuy-Hang Pham, the Vietnamese Student Association president, said students should give Vietnamese food a try. She said the food is good for people on diets because it's made of raw vegetables, uses less oil and has rich vitamins.
Pham said prices are very reasonable for students, ranging from about $1 to $3. She also said the prices are different depending on the restaurant.
Pham said Vietnamese food, compared to Chinese, is cooked with less oil and salt, it has more fresh vegetables and it is easier to cook. She also said other differences would be who is cooking the food, the time to eat, the environment and with whom the meal is enjoyed.
Vietnamese food uses more fresh vegetables, said Pham. To keep some vegetables green, like "rau muong," a Vietnamese spinach, Pham said to put it in boiling water, add a little salt, boil again, take it out of the water, put it on the dish and eat it with cooked rice, soy sauce and fried soybean.
Pham said foods that students should try would be the "pho," beef noodle soup, "bun cha gio," egg rolls with vermicelli, "banh xeo," Vietnamese pancakes, "banh cuon," steamed rice paper with pork, "com tam," broken rice served with grilled pork ribs, fried eggs and sweet and sour fish sauce and "bun bo hue," vermicelli served in a spicy soup with sliced well-cooked beef.
Vina Nguyen, an employee at Clay Pot Restaurant, located at 19 N. Market St. in San Jose, said Vietnamese food is different than other cultural foods, such as Chinese.
"Vietnamese food does not have too much oil," Nguyen said. "We try not to make a lot of oils, we know that Americans do not like it that much," Nguyen said.
One delicious dish that Clay Pot offers is the "mi kho," which is a noodle dish made from garlic noodles, tofu, carrots, eggplant, baby corn, mushrooms, chicken and oriental sauce. Other people who ate Vietnamese food had different views.
"To me, its all the same," said Sydney Tran, an employee at Crystal Lights Billiards in San Jose. "I can't really distinguish the differences," Tran said, adding that there is not much difference between Vietnamese and Chinese food.
Tran said a lot of people are openminded today because they like Asian food in general.
"Nowadays I think a lot of people like Asian foods, it has been there for so long, so it's not like a new thing to people anymore," Tran said.
Vina Nguyen said Vietnamese cuisine is well worth a try.
"I heard a lot of customers say they like the noodles," Nguyen said.
Nguyen said eating Vietnamese food out of a clay pot gives people a better experience.
"The reason why we use the clay pot to cook our food is because when you cook it in the clay pot, it's going to be better," Vina Nguyen said. "It's not over cooked, the pot is made from clay and will keep the food better," Vina Nguyen said.
Dat Nguyen, an executive director for the Vietnamese American Council, said one sauce that is common with Vietnamese food is "nuoc mam." He said the "nuoc mam" could be enjoyed with any type of Vietnamese food.
Pham said Vietnamese food has not impacted American culture yet, but predicts it will in the next 10 to 20 years. She added that Vietnamese food contributes a different taste to the United States just like cuisines from China, Japan, Mexico and other countries.
Pham said she hopes that Vietnamese
food will become a part of American culture,
like pizza from Italians.
