No need for fancy restaurants, the best Vietnamese dishes are cheap and can be found anywhere on the street. One of the most famous, you may have heard of it, is Banh mi – the best sandwich in the world. The Vietnamese are proud of their Banh mi and they eat banh mi as their favorite breakfast.

What makes banh mi the best sandwich in the world?

Banh mi in Vietnamese means “wheat bread” or just “bread” but it’s not that simple. Basically, it is a kind of sandwich with the combination of meats, vegetables and other ingredients in a loaf of French bread. There are many choices, but the most famous are banh mi thit nguoi (French bread with hams and vegetable); banh mi trung (French bread with eggs and vegetable); banh mi xiu mai (French bread with Vietnamese meatballs and vegetable);….

Back to the history, banh mi had its debut in 17^th century when France began its expansion of French Indochina and the upper class ate banh mi to show that they were like the Westerner. Those days, the French found a way to keep their Europeans diets with things like coffee, milk, bread and deli meats but it was not easy to get them from France so they used the local ones. But wheat bread was something so luxury that only the French could afford because the wheat could not be grown there and it had to be imported.

The French influence on Vietnamese culture is very strong and even now, you can see that many southern cities in Vietnam, especially Ho Chi Minh city, still retain the look of fainted Western-style. Banh mi has a long history in Vietnam. It was originally very simple, just consist of a loaf of French bread, a bit of butter, ham, or pate. After the French left in 1954, Vietnam then could control its course and made big changes in many fields from education to finance and of course, cuisines were not forgotten.

The Vietnamese used the recipes from the French but modified with their own local ingredients. Since then, banh mi has made its way to the top and become one of the best and most popular dishes with cheap price and convenience. People use butter instead of mayonnaise, fresh vegetables and special pickles to lessen the meat. Those small changes make today banh mi the best sandwich not only to the local ones but also to visitors from all over the world!