Some interesting similarities between Taiwanese and Vietnamese street food

It’s been 1 month and 4 days since I set my feet on Taiwan. By far I haven’t had to face with any big difficulties except for the barrier of different languages. My friend, Cuong once told me he found Taiwan so familiar to Vietnam so he just felt like home here. I couldn’t agree more. On this entry, I would like to show you guys some similarities between Taiwanese and Vietnamese street food, which I take the most interest in. Oh yummy~ I feel hungry by now. Oops, back to the main topic then (_ _”)

1.   Mantou

Taiwan and Vietnam both have mantou. In Vietnam, we’ve 2 most common types of mantou including: “banh bao chay” (mantou with nothing inside) anhd “banh bao nhan thit” (mantou with an egg, mushroom, pork inside). I can easily find the same version of “banh bao chay” in Taiwan but in different shape while Taiwanese “banh bao nhan thit” is a little bit different with only pork inside despite the same shape as Vietnamese one. I’m sorry if I make you guys feel headache because of talking in both English and Vietnamese

Vietnamese and Taiwanese "meat-free mantou"

Vietnamese mantou with pork and egg inside. Taiwanese one doesn't have egg

      2.   Noodles

Normally we have noodles with chicken or beef but I think pork is used much more often here. We also share the same shapes and sizes of noodles: big and flat noodles (we call “pho” in Vietnamese”), round and small noodles (we call it “bun” in Vietnamese), yellow round small noodles (“my” in Vietnamese”). Now let’s have a look!

Big and flat noodles

Round and small noodles

Yellow round small noodles

And this is how these different types of noodles mix with other ingredients! 

Warning: People feeling hungry right now would better come back and have a look later! ^^

             Vietnamese                    -                    Taiwanese

                               Vietnamese                -                Taiwanese

                                  Vietnamese               -                   Taiwanese

I was amazed when I saw this in Taiwan too. We call it "moc" in Vietnamese, which is an "edible ball" made of pork. There are 2 more types in Taiwan namely fish ball and beef ball. How fun! ^^

3.  Dumplings

             Taiwanese dumplings       Vietnamese dumplings (banh bot loc)

Vietnamese people use fungus, mushroom and shrimp to make dumplings while dumplings made in    

Taiwan include green onion and pork.

I think I better end this entry here because I can’t help myself thinking about food now. Office time anyway! We’ll have further discussion about Taiwanese and Vietnamese food very soon. Stay hungry for the next posts haha. Thanks! Bye!

                                                                                    By Chi Creamie ^^