French Heritage in Vietnam: Bánh mì

When I first look at the bánh mì, I never knew that this cuisine has some connection with the history of Vietnam.

The crust of this bánh mì has a similarity of the baguette like I commonly ate everywhere. This cuisine is simple – can eat with pork, fish, salad, etc. But, the interesting that I could find behind this bánh mì is – why this baguette is able to exist as part of cuisine for Vietnamese?

When I browse and searched info behind the bánh mì, I found this baguette has a connection during the French colonization in Vietnam 1860s. Bánh patê sô or pâté chaud (hot pastry pie in French language) was also introduced during that time.

I won’t talk more about the history behind but I want to highlight that the culture is able to adapt to the local people in many ways. Including via cuisine. At the first place, I just can’t imagine if the baguette that I ate when I was in Ho Chin Minh City, it had a connection with French culture in the past.

Just imagine, Vietnam also has been colonized by a few powerful empires previously including the United States and Japan. Due to the French being the longest period invaded Vietnam, there was a significant heritage belongs to Vietnam, today.