Bến Thành Market

Ben Thanh Market was established by French colonial powers in the middle of the 19th Century. Originally called Les Halles Centrales, it started as a wet market at the hands of vendors who would gather to sell their daily catch reeled in from the nearby Saigon River. A fire damaged a good deal of the market in 1870, but the grounds were quickly rebuilt. In 1912, the market moved to its current location, took on the Ben Thanh moniker, and became one of the most bustling areas in Saigon's District 1. One hundred years later, there is no indication of a centennial, simply hundreds of vendors, merchants, and food stalls going about their daily business.

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Bành Mí and Clyde

French influence came to Vietnam in the middle of the 19th Century when France colonized the Indochina Peninsula. The ensuing 90 years of French rule in Vietnam left a lasting affect on the country's cuisine. Perhaps the most widely known example is Banh Mi, the sandwich rich with pate, crunchy with pickled vegetables, and fresh from cilantro leaves and stems, delivered on the famously French vehicle, the baguette. In Vietnam, the baguette often takes on a lighter, crispier profile with the addition of rice flour. When toasted, as all Banh Mi sandwiches should be, the light, airy bread takes on a delicate, cracker-like crunch. Banh Mi stands are everywhere in Vietnam and it's not uncommon to see brick-and-mortar locations devoted to the sandwich. We had our first from a cart on the corner of Where are we? and Who knows? for about $1.50.

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What's the Story, Morning Glory?

Morning glory, or water spinach, is a widely used ingredient in Southeast Asian cooking. The tops and leaves are typically boiled or stir-fried. In Vietnam, the stems are commonly found in canh (soup) and xà lách (salad). The versatile ingredient is prized for its culinary potential and has a subtle, earthy flavor. In order to make the slightly tough stems easier on the palate, they can be cut up by hand, but that's only if you don't have a dao chẻ rau muống. The name translates to "knife for splitting water spinach" and was designed for the sole purpose of preparing the vegetable. Here's a play by play of a dao chẻ rau muống in action.

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Back Alley Dinner

Taking a random turn or two off of Saigon's main roads is likely to put you in a labrynthine tangle of small, narrow streets. They're tucked away from the bustle and steady purr of motorbikes racing over the main roads. Like every other corner you turn in Saigon, there's incredible food to be found here, and a lot of times it's offered from the front room of someone's home. The place we chose served one dish: pho, the widely popular noodle dish in Vietnam served with beef or chicken. The biggest difference between southern (Saigon) and northern (Hanoi) variations is the inclusion of bean sprouts. They're left out of pho in Hanoi. The BAD (back alley dinner) we stumbled upon was one of the most humbling eating experiences so far.

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Lunchtime in Saigon

Saigon is a portable city. Inhabitants move ceaselessly about on motorbikes. The functional mobility of rickshaws and food carts is well-understood. Many pedestrians run one-man operations. For some, the money maker is a shoe-shine kit. For others, it's a rack of sunglasses or a tray of Zippos. This guy was selling fresh young coconuts, the tops of which he chopped off "to order," so to speak. He then stabbed the opening with a bright, plastic straw. We stopped and bought one on our way to get lunch from a yet to be determined place and drank the ice cold juice in a patch of shade.

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