Food Culture Between Vietnam and America

     Vietnam has a very rich and cultural diverse background dating all the way back to 1066 when William the Conqueror invaded and paved the way for English colonization.

When visiting different countries, it is easy to see the differences between the cultures of each place. When visiting Greece, something that stood out to me was the food and the process that it took to get it. Greeks ate at different times than Americans and finding a place to eat was a completely different process than in America. The service, food, and payment at Greek restaurants also had contrasting styles than what I was used to in the United States. Greeks and Americans both contain people who share a love for food, but the process of getting food in each country is slightly different from each other depending on the time, place, and service.

Vietnam is a country in Southeast Asia. During 1887, France took control of Vietnam for its valuable resources, specifically rice and rubber. Laos and Cambodia, two countries neighboring Vietnam were also conquered by France. These three countries all formed a single colony known as "French Indochina". Vietnamese people didn't appreciate being colonized, many farmers lost their land and became poor while the French colonists grew rich.

After doing all my research on the Vietnamese food, I now want to travel there and try it all!! In the 1800’s, during the Nguyën Dynasty, the French established a colony in Vietnam and they brought along their own food, which shortly became a huge influence on the Vietnamese cuisine. Foods like carrots, potatoes, lettuce, and others are all a few of the ingredients the French introduced to the Vietnamese that they now use on a daily basis in their cuisines. Coffee and baguettes are two of the mostly influences foods introduced by the French, along with several others (Wiens, Mark, 2013).

The emergence of the Vietnamese people can be traced to the fifth or sixth millennium B.C. The Vietnamese or Kinh ethnic group was formed in a region that is now northern Vietnam and southern China, which is the main ethnic group in the country, accounting for about eighty six percent of the Vietnamese population. Modern day Vietnam was established through French colonialism which led to an outburst of problems between the French and Vietnam. When the French left Vietnam in 1954, numerous Vietnamese people migrated to France. North Vietnam began a policy to forcefully reconcile the country with South Vietnam. However, conflict arose which introduced America to fight against Vietnam in the 1960s. As a result of the division between North and South Vietnam, nearly

The traditional view the Vietnamese have on their social duties dervies on more a folklore explaining the origin of Vietnam. “The mountain-meet-ocean geographical characteristic of Vietnam is significant to the cultural identity of Vietnamese women, because the culture associates mountains with fatherhood and the ocean with motherhood…Vietnamese associate their myth of origin with the reconciled conflict of a divorce, where Mother, whose nature was that of water, took the form of a bird and flew to the mountains, and Father, whose nature was that of the mountains, took the

As America was fighting a war for freedom in another country, unruly teens were fighting their own at home. Cultural change, the explosion of free love, youthful rebellion, and a new liberal mindset all seemed to have one underlying device in common; drug use. The late 1960’s into the early and mid-70’s found the perfect environment for recreational drug use. Music and arts celebrated this lifestyle, as well as free thinkers and their idiotic philosophies about spiritual elation through mind altering narcotics. Lack of family structure with so many homes transformed by the Vietnam War also left young teens without guidance, and an economy with little to offer to the up and coming generation. As the next few years passed and the free love generation began to grasp the concept of working for a living, showering on a regular basis, love with commitment (or antibiotics), and cultural change through policy, they brought to the workforce a new dynamic not previously prevalent. Recreational drug use had become part of society. Vietnam War veterans also brought their own demons home with their return, opiate addictions were a common occurrence (Carson 2012).

Three quarters of Vietnam is made up of mountains and hills, and densely forested highlands, with level land covering no more than 20 percent of the area.(Vietnam) Vietnam is an “S” shaped country stretching over 1,000 miles. It is divided into four geographic regions the highlands and the Red River Delta in the north, the Truong Son Mountains form the Central Highlands running almost the full length of Vietnam along its borders with Laos and Cambodia, the coastal lowlands, and the Mekong River Delta in the south.(Vietnam) The geographical aspects of Vietnam allowed for physical and mental exhaustion, fear of location, and fear of safety in the The Things They Carried .

America and Vietnam are two opposite countries with many differences. These countries are on completely different continents so of course they both will be completely different from each other. Their differences are what shows how America is a better country to live in. But on the other hand, Vietnam may not be a good country to live it, it is a lovely place to visit on a vacation. There are several similarities and differences between both America and Vietnam to show why America is the better place to live in.

Whereas Vietnamese people prefer complicated homemade foods, Americans would rather grab and go. Fast food restaurants are growing on every corner with plenty choices like Arby’s, McDonald, Chick-fil-A, Checkers, Burger King etc. It is very convenient for people with a busy

The Vietnam War began in the year 1954, after the ascension to power of Ho Chi Minh, who was a communist leader in North Vietnam. The leader was spreading communism, and because the United States wanted to stop the spread, it sent military troops to aid South Vietnamese to stop this vice. The war saw about 3million people die with the inclusion of 58,000 American soldiers. About 150,000 people were wounded during the war. In 1975, South Vietnamese government surrendered the war after the communist forces forced them to surrender. Vietnam unified communism and became a Socialist Republic. Although decades have passed since the occurrence of the Vietnam war, the American culture, which was partly born as a result of this war, is celebrated

The first noticeable difference are the kinds of foods. Some of american foods are, burgers, hotdogs, and more others. Then the most popular cambodian foods are, pho, spring rolls, and rice with different flavored soups. A normal american breakfast would be something like, pancakes, and eggs with bacon. Traditional cambodian breakfasts are, pho and a liquid rice soup with dry fish called, babawl. Most americans eat steak, burgers, and rice with chicken for dinner. While cambodians eat curry in banana leaves called amok, and the most popular food kuy tieu, which is a noodle soup which meats and vegetables. Now my favorite, the desserts. There’s the american desserts like, ice cream, cake, and cookies. But cambodian desserts are much different. There’s this sweet juice with noodles that are similar to spaghetti, there’s taro ice cream, then my personal favorite is the mochi ice creams. They are shaped in a circle, with dough wrapped around the ice cream.

On one hand, Vietnamese gastronomy is not just about Vietnamese food; the gastronomes can try Chinese, Thailand, French food and many other dishes from different countries in the world right here in the Vietnamese restaurants. It is really a paradise of food bringing tourists to Vietnam. On the other hand, many Vietnamese restaurants located abroad contribute to present the image of Vietnamese gastronomy to the world. Misses Wendy Chan, an expert from Definity Marketing assumes that Vietnamese food is the most fashionable choice for the Americans.

Vietnamese cuisine can be very diverse due its geography and climate. There is no accurate average temperature for the whole country. The Vietnamese national culture emerged from a concrete living environment: a tropical country with many rivers and the confluence of great cultures (Vietnam Country). Vietnam is a long, narrow country in Southeast of Asia that borders south China, east of Laos and Cambodia. Vietnam is practically the size of Italy and Japan put together; and is divided into three regions: north, central, and south.

For many people in Thailand today, food has become a very important aspect of any holiday celebration and special occasions. In the American western cuisine today, a regular restaurant quality meal consists of appetizers, followed by the main course, and ends with a serving of dessert, where each person would order his or her own food. In Thailand it’s the complete opposite to the American cuisine where they would never have any structure in their meals like beginning with appetizers and ending with dessert. In Thai cuisine the number of dishes is based on the number of people there are around the table, so for example if there are ten people, then ten dishes would be order. One interesting aspect about Thai cuisine is that everyone sitting around the table would equally share their food, so that no one would get stuck with eating the same plate of food, everyone gets the opportunity to enjoy the unique flavors of all the different dishes. The main reason that the Thais share their food is because they believe that it is bad luck for them to eat alone and they see that each meal is a big celebration of social and friendly interactions.