The art in using spices for dishes in the Northern Viet Nam

From long time ago, spices has become one of the ingredients that cannot be missed in cooking and using spices can be seen a key to have a delicious dish.

From special dish to simple one, tradition to modern cannot miss the accompanied spices. The ancient people used to have some folk songs to prove the important of spices in cooking. The art of using spice creates the feature in each area’s cuisine. The North people always proud of their talent in the art of cooking. 

It’s not absolutely to say that “Eat is the North, wear is the South”, it might be because “dining is the present of culture when it is tagged with the value of honesty – goodness – beauty”, this is worth to the North’s cuisine.

The North’s dish has pure taste, not passionate, not bitter, always respects the nature of food, not hot like the Middle, not too sour like the South’s soup. The spice processing of the North people is clever and selected, harmony and probably in quantity. The complicated garnish always concentrates in the dinner’s psychology “like eating by eyes”. Most of the dishes has the accompanied kind of vegetable express the high scientific tendency and healthy. Onion and basil is slice in big shape, put on top of the food to have the original green, not mix or cook with food like the Middle people. Carrot, tomato is usually trimmed to decorate the dishes.

Most of the North dishes have the reasonable taste, can be adjusted to taste, good to everyone. Their food doesn’t have much oil, not using strong spices, not multi sense of taste like the Middle so they are famous with some light elegant dishes like noodle, rice vermicelli. The broth is pure, elegant, if it is “pho bo” (beef noodle soup) the ingredients are absolutely beef, aitchbone which are cooked to get the broth with their key spices. The way North people use spices is familiar with the taste of European, American so they are always the first choice of tourists. Ha Noi ancient town, which has the abundant cuisine culture and elegant manner of the old Ha Noi people, this is also the destination of tourists from all over the world. The North people are good at learning and combine the goodness in cuisine of each area to have their own identity.

The North people also eat seasonally, they cook seasonal food, such as Ha Noi people usually use snail in winter and in the dinners. The cleverness is not only expressed in the deluxe parties during Tet days but also in daily meal. With the traditional dishes, nowadays there are many new dishes invented but all carry the elite culture of the Red river Delta people.


*Taro**