Vietnam: The Cookbook's 445 recipes give a true guide to Vietnamese cuisine

Vietnam: the Cookbook is an amalgamation of culinary expertise, vibrant history, and a forward-looking vision of how we understand and discuss Vietnam today.  Anaïs Ca Dao Van Menen presents 445 exciting recipes, underpinned by a deep understanding of Vietnam’s history and the rich regional diversity of its cuisine.  

Ca Dao Van Manen has worked in acclaimed European restaurants including Bones, Auberge de Chassignolles and Trullo. She later spent a year travelling the Vietnam, before opening her own restaurant in Ho Chi Minh. She also works in recipe and menu development for London street-food restaurant chain Bao.

The passion is unmistakable is this book, showing the historical context of how deeply entwined the country of Vietnam is with its food. Ca Dao Van Manen reaches as far back as the Neolithic Age, using food as a lens through which to explore the country’s history, showing how migration, agriculture, and geography shaped what people ate and how they lived.  

From the Funan and Khmer kingdoms to the Champa Empire, through colonisation and into the post-war modern day, the result is an absorbing, meticulously-researched book that deepens our understanding of Vietnamese food and stories behind it.

The chapters are arranged in a natural culinary progression, beginning with lighter fare such as snacks and starters, before moving into substantial dishes like noodles, hotpots, and grilled meats. Recipes range from globally loves iconic pieces like spring rolls, bánh mì, and phở to more adventurous less-known dishes such as chicken feet pickled in lemongrass, steamed pig’s brain, and papaya salad with golden ants.

The author is not afraid to reach into the depths of Vietnamese cuisine, such as with a salad made with fiddlehead ferns, which grow abundantly throughout Vietnam’s highlands, or the summer rolls which use herbs such as fish mint, perilla, Vietnamese basil and Vietnamese balm.

Ca Dao Van Manen notes that certain herbs may be tricky to source in the UK, but that’s what makes this an ideal book for chefs – it’s not dumbed down according to what ingredients may or may not be easy to locate, leaving you to decide how to interpret the dish. The book challenges readers to gain a wider understanding of what delicious can mean.

Vietnam: The Cookbook by Anaïs Ca Dao Van Menen, Phaison Press, £39.95