Vietnam's 1st Banh Mi festival: Event of impressions

Tuyet Nguyen – Linh Pham

May 18, 2023 / 10:53 AM

Vietnamese bread consistently satisfies even the pickiest diners, with regional variations in processing.

Vietnam’s First Banh mi (bread) Festival, aimed at celebrating the values of banh mi in Vietnamese cuisine, has left a great impression on visitors during the four-day event that ended today [April 2].

With 120 pavilions set up by bakeries, restaurants, and leading food suppliers, the festival held in the southern economic hub of Ho Chi Minh City drew a large crowd.

The festival showcases a variety of bread loads made in different shapes and flavors regardless of traditional and inventive ingredients with the goal of promoting the virtues of banh mi to foreigners.

Visitors can experience firsthand the steps involved in making bread and sample bread made with a variety of ingredients and flavors.

Some typical kinds at the festival are Banh mi thit nuong based Hanoi (bread filled with baked meat), Banh mi xiu mai based Dalat (bread filled with ground pork meatballs), Banh mi pha lau from Ho Chi Minh City (bread with braised pork meat and offal), Banh mi ep from Thua Thien-Hue (pressed bread), Banh mi que Haiphong (crispy and spicy breadstick), Banh mi cha ca in the central region (bread with grilled fish).

The prices vary from VND15,000 (US$0.65) to VND50,000 ($2.2)/loaf.

In Vietnam, a banh mi is usually consumed for breakfast or as a snack.

On March 24, 2011, the entry banh mi was added to Oxford Dictionary. It’s described as “a type of Vietnamese baguette sandwich filled with cold meats, pâté and vegetables”.

According to the Oxford Dictionary, the baguette was introduced in Vietnam in the mid-nineteenth century when Vietnam was under French colonial rule. The banh mi is believed to have been invented in Saigon much later in the 1950s, and it has since become one of Vietnam’s most iconic specialties.

On March 24, 2022, a Vietnamese banh mi loaf appeared on Google Doodle.

In September 2022, the term banh mi was added to the world’s leading dictionary Merriam-Webster. It appears to be “a usually spicy sandwich in Vietnamese cuisine consisting of a split baguette filled typically with meat (such as pork or chicken) and pickled vegetables (such as carrot and daikon) and garnished with cilantro and often cucumbers.”