Vietnamese Lunar New Year

Tet Nguyen Dan, or Tet for short, is considered the biggest and most popular festival of the year in Vietnam. Celebrated on the first day of the first month in lunar calendar. Tet’s celebration is the longest holiday which may last up to seven days.

Tet is the occasion for Vietnamese to express their respect and remembrance for their ancestors as well as welcoming the New Year with their beloved family members.

Vietnamese believe that the color of red and yellow will bring good fortune, which may explain why these colors can be seen everywhere in Lunar New Year.

Here you can see Sway presentation

Vietnamese food you must try !

Kids in Vietnam suggest some foods we can not miss if we visit Vietnam.

1/ Pho

What list of Vietnamese cuisine would be started without pho?  This simple staple consisting of a salty broth, fresh rice noodles, a sprinkling of herbs and chicken or beef, features predominately in the local diet — and understandably so. It’s cheap, tasty, and widely available at all hours.

Pho has shown its position not only in Vietnamese cuisine but also world cuisine. Pho can be seen everywhere from street stalls to high-end restaurants. Some is served with chicken and some with beef.  Each type of meat entails a variety of sub-dishes, from beef tenderloin to beef brisket, chicken wing to chicken thigh. Fresh herbs, clear stock and soft noodles are 3 important factors to making an outstanding Pho.

2/ Com tam – Broken rice

This simple meal, is one of the most popular dishes from South Vietnam at any time of the day, but particular in the morning. It is usually served grilled marinated pork chops, plus a mixture of thinly shredded pork and pork skin over broken rice. On top of the meat, there are several customary ingredients such as: finely sliced cucumber, tomato and pickled vegetables, along with prawn paste cake also known as steamed pork and egg custard or pork meatloaf with egg, fried egg, and grilled prawns.

As a dry dish, it would normally be served with a small bowl of fish sauces on the side.

3/Banh xeo – Sizzling cake

Banh Xeo are giant savory pancakes that literally translate to sizzling cake because of the noise they make when they are being cooked. A good sizzling cake is a crispy crepe bulging with pork, shrimp, and bean sprouts, plus the garnish of fresh herbs that are characteristic of most authentic Vietnamese dishes.

To enjoy one like a local, cut it into manageable slices, roll it up in rice paper or lettuce leaves and dunk it in whatever special sauce the chef has mixed up for you.

Xoi – Sticky Rice

“Xoi”, or “glutinous rice”, “sticky rice” in English, can be found in many South East Asia food stalls or luxurious local restaurant. In Vietnam, Sticky rice is commonly popular breakfast item and give you a boost of added energy.

The glutinous rice comes with any number of mix-ins (from slithers of chicken, or pork to fried or preserved eggs), but almost always with a scattering of dried shallots on top. The most common combination is included chicken meat, sausage and scallion oil.

5/ Banh mi – Vietnamese baguette Sandwich

Commonly well-known along with Pho, Vietnamese baguette sandwiches, called Banh Mi, have attracted a growing fan base around the word. The uniqueness of Banh mi not only lies within the light and crispy baguette, but also the variation of flavors Vietnam fillings bring out the most amazing flavor.

This baguette sandwich filled with greens and a choice of fillings, including pâté and freshly made omelet, is so delicious that it’s been imitated around the world. In the north chefs stick to the basic elements of carbohydrate, fat and protein—bread, margarine and pate—but head south and your banh mi may contain a more colorful combination of cheese, cold cuts, pickled vegetables, sausage, fried egg, fresh cilantro and chili sauce.

Be prepared for long waiting lines of this popular Banh Mi store for both locals and tourists

6/Banh Cuon – Steamed Rice Cake

Taste the French influence in this famous and delicious recipe made of wheat, egg and dairy products. Vietnamese especially from the North, take pride in their steamed crepe made from rice flour and water. Ground pork, wood-ear, onion and seasoning are stuffed inside this savory meal. Most of the chefs make it right at the entrance door using the steaming method.  Banh cuon is served with a mixture of fish sauce including sugar and lime

7/ Cha gio – Fried Spring Rolls

Vietnam’s bite-sized crunchy spring rolls might not enjoy the same popularity as their healthier fresh equivalent, but they deserve a special mention.

The crispy shell with a soft veggie and meat filling dunked in a tangy sauce gets the gastronomic juices flowing before a main course. In the north these parcels go by the name Nem ran while southerners call them Cha Gio. They are most commonly stuffed with minced pork and diced vegetables, though some places use crab, tofu, or even mashed jicama or taro root.

8/ Bun Bo Hue

If you are a soup lover then you will be pleased to learn that Bun Bo Hue is another classic Vietnamese dish. Whether North, South or Central, “Bun” also creates unique and specific dishes in each region. However, in Hue, they like “bun” rather than other one because of style of “bun Hue”. Hue style not only is the elegant, sophisticated, precise dishes but also feel the spirit of the processor. Coming to Hue, either morning or afternoon, walking along the small streets, people can find easily “bun bo Hue”. This thick slippery rice noodle can be found countrywide.

9/ Bun Cha

Bun Cha is one of the oldest favorites of Northern Vietnam cuisine. This dish is top choice of Vietnamese lunchtime food. Grilled chopped meat or normal grilled meat on charcoal stove is prepared with rice noodles and herbs. all together is dipped in syrup-thick fish sauce.Outside Hanoi, across all region of Vietnam, there is familiar dish called Bun Thit Nuong which alternatively served.

You will not miss the chance to explore the dish that Mr President Obama choose in his first night at Vietnam.

10/ Goi cuon (Spring Roll)

Salad roll ranks among Vietnam’s most famous foods and is very agreeable to the taste. Each translucent spring rolls packed with greens, coriander and various combinations of minced pork, shrimp or crab. In some places they’re served with a bowl of lettuce and/or mint. A southern variation has barbecued strips of pork wrapped up with green banana and star fruit, and then dunked in a rich peanut sauce – every bit as tasty as it sounds.

Mr Nam Thanh´s class in Vietnam

 

This is the map of Vietnam, here we can see Vietnam and some of the neighbouring countries. Vietnam shares a land border with China to the north, Cambodia and Laos to the west.

Do you know the name of the capital city ? Have you heard of the Vietnamese Dragon?

Do some research with your teacher about this country and we will ask your questions to the kids in Mr Nam´s class!

Here you have them!

“Hi everyone, we are grade 5 students at Vietnam Australia International School, Vietnam. We are really happy to be a part of this amazing project. There are 19 students in my class, includes 15 boys and only 4 girls. Mr. Nam is my class teacher. We love him much because his lessons are always interesting. Although we are not really good at cooking but we love sharing some traditional Vietnamese  foods to all of you around the global.”

Kids say: “To really understand the flavors of Vietnam, it’s helpful to look at a map first. Shaped like an elongated S, the skinny country is about the size of Italy, with China to the north, Laos and Cambodia to the west, and the South China Sea to the east. The 3,000-kilometer coastline snakes down, marked by Hanoi in the north, the rugged central highlands, the sprawling Ho Chi Minh City (aka Saigon) in the south, and the fertile Mekong delta (“the rice bowl of the country”) at the bottom hook.”