Vietnam: Cooking Class and Market Tour

I had hoped to go to an island called Monkey Island while in Vietnam. I read about the island before I left Taiwan and thought it would be cool to go to an island overrun by moneys. Unfortunately for me, the tour to the island was only on Wednesdays. I was warned by my tour guide buddy not to go on it anyway. Those monkeys are ruthless, he warned, they’ll steal your cameras and phones, not just your food.

So maybe it was a good thing I couldn’t go…

Instead, I decided to take a cooking class. I’d say it all worked out in the end!

The cooking class included an optional tour of the market. Of course, I went for the tour.

I’ve been to many of these types of markets but it was good to have a tour so I could actually have things explained and pointed out. Usually I just wander around. There were lots of interesting things…

Beautiful and delicious fruit

These are called Milk Apples and are supposed to taste like breast milk. I didn't get a chance to try...

The mangosteen is by far my favorite 

A section with imported fruit like these pomegranate and grapes from the US

Then we headed outside to the interesting stuff. Lots of innards!

Some interesting seafood

Salmon

Shrimp

Just pick the fish you want and they chop it right up for you

Tiny shrimp

Humongous shrimp

And finally a bunch of veggies

All chopped up and ready

Coconut water and spices

Baby eggplant

This guy chopped up the lemongrass all day

And, of course, some larva!

Then it was time for the cooking class! The building was a large old fashioned one with a beautiful view. 

Once the rest of our class arrived, and began with a quick lesson of making a flower garnish out of a pepper. 

Then it was time to move to our work stations and start cooking! 

First Course: Lotus Stem Salad with Pork and Shrimp

The Main Course: Ga ram gung (sauted chicken with ginger) and steamed rice with pandan leaves

It was delicious!

I even got a nice little handbook and certificate for finishing the class!

In Vietnam, everywhere you go it seems there is someone passing out flyers for a spa. So, I got a manicure, pedicure, and facial which all came to the grand total of $10 US. Not a bad deal.

After the spa visit I walked around looking for a place to get banh xeo, which turned out to be probably my favorite food while I was in Vietnam. It’s a crispy pancake with shrimp, pork, bean sprouts, and onions. You’re also served a place of fresh lettuce, mint, and basil. To eat, you cut a piece of the banh xeo and wrap it in the lettuce along with a piece of the mint and basil like a mini burrito, and dip it in a sauce. It was fantastic.

The restaurant I went to was so cute. The young waitress was very interested in America and my travels and asked me many questions. She also showed me how to eat the banh xeo! There was also another young waiter who came up and asked me, truly concerned, what the US government shutdown meant to the people of the country. He was really worried about the American people after hearing the government had shut down and did not understand how the regular people were able to go about live with this.

My trip to Vietnam was absolutely amazing. The country is beautiful and the people were all amazing.  Many of the people in Vietnam have so little but they are so still so happy. They went out of their way to help me many times, and for that I am truly grateful.

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