Vietnamese cuisine doesn't win any points for complexity. Many of the most popular dishes can be made just as well on the side of the road as in a top-end restaurant.
Vietnamese cuisine encompasses the foods and beverages of Vietnam. Meals feature a combination of five fundamental tastes (ngũ vị): sweet, salty, bitter, sour, and spicy. The distinctive nature of each dish reflects one or more elements (nutrients, colors, et cetera), which are also based around a five-pronged philosophy. Vietnamese recipes use ingredients like lemongrass, ginger, mint, Vietnamese mint, long coriandetional Vietnamese cooking has often been characterised as using cinnamon, bird's eye chili, lime, and basil leaves. Tradiresh ingredients, not using much dairy nor oil, having interesting textures, and making use of herbs and vegetables. The cuisine is also low in sugar and is almost always naturally gluten-free, as many of the dishes are rice-based instead of wheat-based, made with rice noodles, papers and flour. Vietnamese cuisine is strongly influenced not only by the cuisines of neighboring China, Cambodia and Laos, but also by French cuisine due to Vietnam’s French colonial history.
