(Version française plus bas)

The Vietnamese eat rice in so many different forms, it truly is amazing: fried rice, steamed rice, rice noodles, rice vermicelli, rice paper, fried rice flour, sticky rice, rice cakes, rice soup, rice pancakes, rice doughnuts… I’ve even found a place that makes young rice ice-cream!

Consequently, they cook rice in different ways. One method consists of spreading rice that’s already been cooked on a newspaper and let it dry outside on a roof or on the ground, under the sunlight.

Drying rice on the roofs.

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There’s not much I love more in this world than rice. I’m totally serious. I frigging adore the stuff – jasmine, basmati, wild, brown, sticky – you name it, I’ll eat it, and with pleasure. At home, I have been known in my lazier moments to simply dump some soya sauce on some cooked rice and eat it all by itself. As you can imagine, I’ve hit the jackpot in Vietnam.

It’s difficult to order a meal that doesn’t include rice (in Vietnamese, it’s called “com”). It’s widely debated how many varieties there actually are out there – the numbers range from 4,000-120,000 different types. This staple has been cultivated in Asia for over 10,000 years, and there’s no sign of stopping any time soon! And that thought makes me so, so happy.

First, there’s phở, which is Vietnam’s most popular dish, eaten at least once a day by the majority of locals (usually for breakfast). It’s made from rice noodles and meat (beef is standard) and the customer gets to add basil, lime, bean spouts and chilis as they see fit. Man, do I love this soup!

And then there’s everything else in between. There are rice stands everywhere, where you point to your choice of meat or seafood and they load it on top of steamed veggies and rice. The Vietnamese also make awesome spring rolls, where the ingredients inside are rolled in a paper made of – you guessed it! – rice! We recently found a lunch buffet that specializes in these little gems:

I suppose I’ll have to find some extra room in the backpack when the time comes to leave. There will certainly be a serious withdrawal period, but luckily I love a food that’s is found pretty much anywhere.