With Vietnamese people, traditional meals (or family meals) are always very important. It’s not merely meals but also family meals, where and when the family members gather together. Therefore, the family meals in Vietnam are usually very cozy, and many Western tourists want to experience them with a family when visit Vietnam.
However, the differences in eating cultures are very big. So you need to know what you should do and what you should not do in our family meals.
The dishes in Vietnam’s meals are divided into 4 types: salt dish(es) – the dishes are rich in protein, bland dish(es) – vegetables and soups, fruits – be ate in end of the meals, and rice – the most important dish in any Vietnamese meal. We use small bowls to store rice, big bowls to store soups and plates for others. And to eat them, we use only 1 tool – chopsticks.
I think the chopsticks are biggest difference in the meals of Western and Eastern. I saw the tablewares of Western, including knifes, spoons and forks. I also heard, with different dishes, they use different tablewares. With us, it’s too difficult to use, because, we use only 1 chopsticks to eat all of dishes.
In Vietnam, only kids (less than 4 years old) use spoon, fork is only used to eat fruits and knife is never used in the meals. From about 4 years old, kids have to learn using the chopsticks, which includes 2 circular bars made from wood, bamboo or metal. To use them, you need to hold the bars properly, open them and sandwich the food between 2 bars and cleverly lift it up.
