Here’s the thing: Vietnamese food is not my favorite just because it looks great or tastes great.
Above all that, I love how it has maintained the traditional philosophies of the cuisine over time.
Any Vietnamese dishes include five fundamental taste senses, what are called ngũ vị:
- spicy (metal)
- sour (wood)
- bitter (fire)
- salty (water)
- sweet (earth)
This is corresponding to five organs (ngũ tạng) through five types of nutrients (ngũ chất) and the Vietnamese cooks even try to have five colours (ngũ sắc): white (metal), green (wood), yellow (earth), red (fire) and black (water) in their dishes. And the Dishes in Vietnam appeal to gastronomes via the five senses (năm giác quan).
This comes from the concept of the Five Elements & Mahabhut which are of Chinese & Indian origins.
(They called it Indochina for a reason)
However, Vietnamese cuisine with it’s special characteristics like use of herbs, minimal frying or oils, is one of the healthiest cuisines in the world. Very unlike the Persian (now popularised as Indian) Naans and Samomas.
Did the Indian cuisine lose our five senses and Mahabhut and cultural ayurvedic cooking to the Persians?
P.S. Cost of this meal in the picture below is $1
