On one early morning, I proposed to my Vietnamese girlfriend. She said yes but she also said I have to try the top 7 food in her hometown, Vietnam. She will only marry to me if I am able to take all these food. Why not? What kind of food that is hard to put into our mouth? Without a single doubt, I said yes and we decided to fly to Hanoi. Now here are the food that my Vietnamese girlfriend asks me to eat before she become my wife.
1. Dog Meat
I was totally freaked out when I found out some Vietnamese actually consider dog as their dinner. Dog meat is almost available everywhere in Vietnam and they are as popular as Hainanese chicken rice available in China Town.
2. Fetal Duck Eggs (Trung Vit Lon)
You could never imagine that fertilized duck eggs and tiny fertilized quail eggs are one popular snack in Vietnam. As there is partially formed duck fetus inside the egg, I couldn’t find an English word to describe the smell.
3. Snake Meat
Snake is another kind of common meat you can taste in Vietnam. The price is very much depending on the type of snake. There are water snake and Cobra snake.
4. Grilled Frogs
Still need a dictionary to explain grilled frogs?
5. Pha Lau (Internal part of beef and pork)
I couldn’t even pronounce “Pha Lau” before I know how does it look like. Pha Lau is commonly added to noodles soups and they are mostly heart, stomach, kidney, lungs and intestines of pork or beer.
6. Scorpions
There are only big scorpions or small scorpions on the menu.
7. Different Kinds of Bugs
Photo credit: ucsb.edu
Just like some of the bizarre Thai food, Vietnamese do eat grasshoppers, crickets, silk worms, water beetles, bamboo worms, giant water bugs and similar bugs as snacks.
If you are traveling to Vietnam, make sure you walk into the right restaurant and make sure you know what they sell. Alternatively, please share this post to your Facebook, Twitter, Google+, LinkedIn, Pinterest, or your blog if you like it.
