Vietnamese Food and Food Culture: A Life-Changing Journey through the Street Foods, Regional Cooking Styles and Local Ingredients of Vietnam

**Short-listed 2025 Gourmand Cookbook Award — Street Food**

A portal to an authentic culinary experience. Spiced with proverbs, cultural insights, fascinating facts, and gorgeous photography, the book is as much a coffee table showpiece as a working cookbook […] Highly recommended. —Andrew X. Pham; Author of Catfish and Mandala and The Eaves of Heaven

Experience the vibrant street markets and bustling food stalls of Vietnam first-hand — and try over 60 authentic recipes from home!

In 2018 veteran restaurateur, author, foodie and all-around travel junkie Paul Kennedy embarked on a life-changing journey to Vietnam. His main goal was to explore the nation's rich cuisine and food culture, which had always fascinated him from afar, but which he could never quite understand fully.

This book is the result of five years spent traveling the length and breadth of the country, experiencing Vietnamese food up-close as no other food writer has before.

Through 60 recipes, 100 photographs and cultural notes, Kennedy shares his experiences with you with:

Engaging stories about tantalizing local foods and drinks—such as the unparalleled Nam Dinh City bahn mi and fresh bia hoi beer— and palate-challenging local delicacies—like bitter melon and the foul-smelling durian Intriguing myths, rituals and beliefs —such as the legendary sword-snatching golden turtle of Hoan Kiem Lake and the outlawed Coconut Religion Information on Vietnamese herbs, condiments and ingredients —from fish sauce to rice paper wrappers to fresh basil, green onions and sawtooth coriander Recipes for classic street food dishes like Rice Paper Pizza, Banh Mi Sandwiches and Steamed Coconut Rice Cakes with Toasted Shrimp Flakes Iconic restaurant and homestyle dishes like Spicy Lemongrass Chicken, Crispy Pan-Fried Trout and Baby Basket Clam Rice Unusual drinks and desserts like Egg Coffee, Mango Margaritas, Coconut Cream Martinis, Tofu Pudding and Vietnamese Layer Cake Plus many other unique flavors, recipes, food discoveries and dozens of cultural observations from the author while living in Vietnam