Vietnamese food culture

Street food stall, Hanoi.

You are probably thinking: Isn’t the Vietnamese food culture extremely meat-heavy and don’t they put fish sauce in almost everything they cook? Well, yes and yes. 

But, aside from that, Vietnamese food is also incredibly healthy. Most of the diet of the Vietnamese people consists of white rice, vegetables, broths, fish, and a certain amount of meat. 

White rice is not deemed healthy, as it is stripped of its nutritional value (fibers, minerals,…) through the preservation process but, in Vietnam, this is balanced out completely by the other ingredients that the locals include in almost every dish. 

A plethora of fruits and vegetables provide the necessary fiber, vitamins, and minerals and fish, seafood, and tofu are great sources of proteins. Furthermore, nuts and coconut-derived products supply fats. 

Also typical for Vietnamese cuisine is the abundant use of fresh herbs like basil, coriander, and mint while the most common spices are ginger, garlic, pepper, lime, and chili. 

Compared to Thai food, Vietnamese dishes are pretty mild in taste and are more suitable for Western travelers who don’t like their food to be too spicy. 

Typical dishes in Vietnam include noodle soups like Pho for breakfast, Bun Cha for lunch, and hot pots for dinner.

Is Vietnam vegan-friendly?

Yes, Vietnam is incredibly vegan-friendly. Much more than Western countries. But you do have to know what to look out for! When you travel to Vietnam, you will most likely see many options on Vietnamese menus that seem vegan at first glance.

But a fact is that Vietnamese tend to add fish sauce to almost every dish they cook. It is really important to make clear at every restaurant that you eating that you are a vegan and that this also excludes fish sauce. 

On another note, a large part of the Vietnamese population lives according to Buddhist philosophies. This means that Vietnamese locals sometimes refrain from eating certain ingredients like meat and fish on specific days. This mostly happens on the 1st and the 15th day of the lunar calendar. 

Because of their Buddhist traditions, the Vietnamese are familiar with the concept of plant-based eating and they express this by saying that food is “an chay”. 

If you see a restaurant that has “an chay” in its name, then this means that it’s a plant-based restaurant. It is however still possible that they use eggs so make sure you ask about this while ordering!

How to order vegan in Vietnam

Street food stall, Vietnam

It is useful and actually quite necessary to learn some key lingo when it comes to traveling as a vegan to Vietnam. 

However, the Vietnamese language is hard to pronounce and it is very likely that you will try to say something that actually means something completely different. For example, if you pronounce “chay” in the wrong way, it actually means “run” instead of “plant-based”. 

We had locals who spoke English well laugh at us for this, trying to teach us the right pronunciation but we failed to say it well most of the time.

The best thing to do to make sure that you order food that is 100% vegan is to have a few pre-written sentences on your phone that describe what you don’t want to eat. 

After putting a lot of elaborate sentences in Google Translate about my food preferences at the start of my trip I often got confused looks at what was written. I found out that the shorter the sentences are that you punt into Google Translate, the better they translate into Vietnamese. 

To make it easy for you, Here is what I used to order at restaurants and food stalls where little English was spoken. 

“I am a vegetarian. I don’t eat meat, fish, pork, or chicken. I also don’t eat milk, butter, eggs, cheese, fish sauce, and honey.” 

Put it in Google Translate and you will be good to go! It will look like this:

“Tôi là người ăn chay. Tôi không ăn thịt, cá, thịt lợn hoặc thịt gà. Tôi cũng không ăn sữa, bơ, trứng, phô mai, nước mắm và mật long.”

Alternatively, you can also just screenshot this sentence here from the blog. That way, you don’t have to open Google Translate all the time!

Is vegan food expensive in Vietnam?

Vegan food in Vietnam can be as cheap or expensive as you want it to be. In most cities, you will find cheap street stalls at which you can buy vegan noodle soup for less than a dollar.

But, you will also be able to find gastronomic vegan restaurants in big cities like, for example, The Shamballa in Ho Chi Minh, where you will pay five to ten times more. 

In general, at local restaurants that are not only geared toward tourists, you should be able to find tasty vegan Vietnamese dishes for around VND 50.000 ($ 2). At restaurants that are geared toward tourists, expect to pay a little more. 

How much you spend is really up to you and up to the fact if you are traveling on a budget or not. My favorite places in Vietnam were all-you-can-eat buffets where you pay around three dollars for as much delicious vegan food as you want. You can find a lot of these vegan restaurants in Hanoi.

As I mentioned before, Veggie Castle in Vietnam’s capital is a great place for a vegan Vietnamese buffet!

→ Also read: A complete guide to Cat Ba National Park

Vegan Vietnamese food

There are a lot of dishes in Vietnam that are vegan or can be veganized easily. Below, I will compile a list of all the naturally vegan food I discovered while traveling through Vietnam as well as dishes that can be made vegan upon request.

Do note that this is a comprehensive but non-exhaustive list. It’s quite impossible to describe all the vegan dishes that are present in Vietnamese cuisine, let alone taste them during a period of seven weeks. 

I will start this list with some vegan Vietnamese breakfast options. Afterward, I will continue with the vegan lunch and dinner dishes I encountered before ending with a few street food options and drinks. Here we go!

Vegan Vietnamese breakfast

Vegan food Vietnam: vegan pho

Vegan Pho

Vegan pho or ‘pho chay’ is a clear noodle soup that is accompanied by vegetables and some protein. Originally made with meat broth, this national Vietnamese dish is offered at almost every street corner in Vietnam.

It is very easy to find plant-based versions of pho in restaurants and you can also buy this delicious soup from street vendors in bigger cities. Vegan versions are often accompanied by tofu instead of meat and contain a vegetable broth instead of one with meat. 

Pho can be eaten for breakfast, lunch, or dinner although the Vietnamese mostly consider this a breakfast dish. You can find this popular dish nationwide but there is a distinct difference in taste, herbs, and noodle width between the northern and the southern part of Vietnam. 

Vegan Banh Mi

Vegan Vietnamese food: vegan Banh Mi

Banh Mi is another traditional Vietnamese staple food that you can find on every corner of the street. Banh Mi is not originally vegan since it’s made with thin slices of pork meat and often contains paté and mayonnaise but there are several street stalls and Banh Mi restaurants that cater to vegans.

Aside from the meat, paté, and mayonnaise, a Banh Mi baguette is filled with coriander, pickled carrot, daikon, cucumber, and chili sauce.

For vegans, the meat inside the sandwich gets replaced with mushroom floss or braised tofu, and sauces are replaced with egg-free alternatives. Prices are very cheap and range from VND 20.000 to VND 35.0000.

Dedicated Banh Mi Chay restaurants also offer Banh Mi with mock meats for example Banh Mi vegan in Hanoi. 

DIY vegan breakfast

I enjoyed Banh Mi most of the time for breakfast as a vegan in Vietnam but it’s also quite easy to prepare a DIY breakfast in this lovely country.

Fresh fruits are abundant in Vietnam and can easily be found for a cheap price at the local markets. A fruit salad with nuts and seeds is a great way to start the day.

Moreover, in larger cities with supermarkets that cater to Western tourists, you can also find granola, oatmeal, plant-based milk and vegan yogurts. 

→ Also read: Hang Mua Viewpoint + Mua Caves: Is It Worth It?

Vegan Vietnamese lunch and dinner

There is no shortage of tasty Vietnamese dishes for lunch or dinner to try as a vegan traveler. While you can find an abundant amount of vegan options in big cities and regions that cater to tourists, the best vegan local food is mostly found in rural areas. 

Homestays, for example, provide a great occasion to get a taste of traditional Vietnamese cuisine. Get together with other travelers around a big table, let the homestay family know about your food preferences, and eat whatever gets put on the table. It will surely be delicious!

I had the best experience in Vietnam at Little Mai Chau Homestay. Check them out if you plan to visit the north of Vietnam!