6 Top Foods in Vietnam That Freak Many Foreigners Out

[Helen Tran]

alvxyx/flickr



Vietnam is a paradise of cuisine, especially as well as street food. More and more tourists visit Vietnam to not only explore the incredible landscapes but also enjoy unique and delicious Vietnamese street food such as “pho”, “bun cha”, “banh cuon”, etc. However there are many Vietnamese street food make foreign tourists feel scary or creepy for the first time they see it or some tourists are even “scared to death”.

Allow us at Vietnam Eco Travel to introduce you top weirdest and creepiest food in Vietnam in foreign visitors' eyes.


Thit Cho (Dog Meat) and Thit Meo (Cat Meat)

Dog meat and cat meat are the scariest meats in foreigner’s eyes. With Vietnamese people, especially Vietnamese men, dog meat and cat meat are must- have dishes to drink with beer or rice wine.
However foreigners think that dog meat and cat meat are really creepy because dog and cat are considered as members in their family. Therefore eating dog or cat are unacceptable.

Thit Chuot (Rat Meat)

Many people are disgusted by and even scared of rats, which after all in cities commonly live in dirty places and can spread a lot of diseases. However in Vietnam, rat meat is special and expensive, from rats which live in rice fields and the mountains. There are quite a few dishes which made from rat meat, such as steamed rat with lime leaves; stir-fried rat with garlic and onions, roasted rat with salt, etc.

Tiet Canh (Blood Pudding)

Fresh blood pudding from duck, pig, goose, goat, etc is a daily food of Vietnamese people, and though many Europeans, too, have this in their cuisines, others are turned off by the idea. Here it's served mixed with peanut, herbs, pork, and lime. It's true, though, that it's a dish prone to carrying viruses, and is less common in Vietnam these days. 

Animal Innards

Vietnamese people use animal heart, brain, feet, tail, neck, head, kidneys, intestines, etc to make a variety of dishes such as chau long (pork innards rice porridge), 

Trung Vit Lon (Duck Embryo)

Duck fetus is considered by foreigners to be one of the creepiest food in Vietnam (it's also popular in Cambodia and the Philippines)  Not only a favorite food of Vietnamese people but also with a special place in Vietnamese cuisine, duck embryo is usually boiled and served with ginger and Vietnamese cilantro. 

Insects

Cicadas, stinkbugs, silkworm pupa, larva of bees, belostomatids, grasshoppers, crickets, and other creepy crawlies are favorite foods of Vietnamese people - especially men, because they are great to combine with beer or rice wine.