Bánh mì – Vietnamese baguette
One of the most popular Vietnamese food all over the world – bánh mì has been introduced into the Oxford English Dictionary in 2011. But what is the special thing about this dish that makes people love it so much? Let’s find out!
What is “bánh mì”?
“Bánh” refers to many kinds of food with flour in it, and “mì” means flour. So, “bánh mì” is literally “(baguette) bread from flour”, talking about the bread alone.
But generally, the word “bánh mì” is often used to call the well-known food with the baguette as the main ingredients, together with many other fillings like eggs and pâté, or side dishes like vegetables and sauces to taste, etc.
Where to find it
You can catch sight of bánh mì in restaurants. However, the most common places to get it are stalls on the street, or local bánh mì chains like Bami Bread. The price is also relatively cheap, ranging from about VND 12,000 (US$ 0.5) to VND 100.000 (US$ 4.19) for 1 bánh mì, depending on the place and ingredients.
The origin
As many of you know, the baguette is the national bread of France. They followed in the footsteps of the French to Vietnam during the colonization of Indochina. But back then, baguettes with French ingredients like pâté, ham, or cheese only appeared in expensive restaurants and coffee shops to serve the French.
Gradually, Vietnamese people learned how to make the bread, adapt it, and replace the above ingredients with something more native like pork, egg, and pickled vegetables. That’s when bánh mì became fully Vietnamese. Around the 1950s, bánh mì can be seen at many food stalls in big cities. And after 1975, it followed the Vietnamese to the US and slowly got its reputation.
The charm
The fillings
Compare to its French counterpart, the bánh mì bread is more hollow, soft, and airy inside, with a thinner outside crust. That’s what makes it unique.
But the real charm lies in the fillings. You can choose from dozens of them to put in your bánh mì – from the traditional ones like Vietnamese pâté, eggs, chả lụa (pork sausage), or char siu, to the more modern ones like sausage, gà xào nấm (stir-fried chicken with mushroom) or bò kho (beef stew).
For the vegetable side dishes, the most popular ones are cucumbers, pickled carrot & daikon, and coriander. You can opt them out, but they are excellent refreshers to go with the main fillings to keep your mouth from being dry. And for the sauces, there are ketchup, chili sauce, and mayonnaise to name a few. Some vendors even make their own special sauces as well.
The greatest thing is that most of the time, you can choose more than one filling. You can also customize the bánh mì to your appetite by adding or opting out of vegetables or sauces. That’s what makes bánh mì even more attractive.
How to serve
To sell bánh mì to hundreds of people each day, the seller has to cook or prepare all of the ingredients in advance.
When serving, first, the seller needs to cut open the bread – but not fully open to keep the fillings from spilling out. Then comes the prepared butter and/or sauces, the vegetables, and finally, the main dishes. The small bread will be amaze you at how it can hold that much filling inside.
After stuffing, people will put the bread in a griller to make it crispy. Then, it’s all for you to enjoy!
Other than that, there’s also a kind of bánh mì serving style called “bánh mì chảo” (bánh mì in the pan), where the fillings are served separately from the bánh mì in a pan. You cut the bánh mì into small pieces and eat it with the fillings to your liking.
The taste
Bánh mì is often eaten during breakfast. It’s served lukewarm, so you can eat it right away.
Just have a bite and feel the crunchy bread outside. Then you will feel the perfect balance of soft meat and vegetables, bound by the creamy sauces inside. Sour, spicy, salty, sweet, bánh mì has it all. It’s like you can see the whole Vietnamese cuisine in it.
And what is more, each region will have its signature fillings and styles to put in bánh mì. That’s one more reason to try many bánh mì from different parts of Vietnam.
If you are eager to taste bánh mì right away, click here to book a Hanoi street food tour with us! We will take you to eat the best bánh mì in town!