Vegetarian food in Việt Nam: what to eat and what to say

Việt Nam has an old vegetarian tradition, so eating meat-free here is easier than you might expect. The catch is the seasoning: fish sauce, shrimp paste and pork fat turn up in dishes that look like a plate of vegetables. Here is where to eat, what to order and what to say.

Cơm chay: the Buddhist kitchen

Vegetarian cooking in Việt Nam grew up around Buddhism, and it has its own word: chay. Look for signs saying cơm chay (vegetarian rice) or quán chay (vegetarian eatery), often near a pagoda. Everything on the menu is free of meat and fish.

Many Vietnamese eat vegetarian on the 1st and 15th of each lunar month, so chay is part of ordinary life, not a niche. These kitchens love to make “meat” from tofu, wheat gluten and mushrooms, so don’t panic when the menu says gà chay: that’s vegetarian “chicken”.

Huế, a city of pagodas, is especially known for its vegetarian food; our Huế food guide has the rest of the city’s table.

Where meat and fish hide

• Nước mắm: fish sauce, in dipping sauces, dressings, stir-fries and soups. Assume it is in anything savoury. More in our fish sauce guide.
• Mắm tôm: fermented shrimp paste, the purple-grey dip served with bún đậu and stirred into some noodle soups.
• Mỡ: lard. Street cooks often fry in pork fat, and mỡ hành, the spring onion oil spooned over many dishes, is often made with it.
• Broth: noodle soups are built on bones, beef, pork or chicken. A bowl with “no meat” still has meat in the broth.
• Dried shrimp (tôm khô): scattered over salads and rice cakes.

The good news: vegetarian fish sauce exists. It is called nước mắm chay, and vegetarian kitchens use it.

What to say

Vietnamese	English	Notes
Tôi ăn chay	I’m vegetarian	Say it first, and smile.
Không thịt, không cá	No meat, no fish	Add không tôm for no shrimp.
Không nước mắm	No fish sauce	The one people forget.
Không mắm tôm	No shrimp paste
Có món chay không?	Do you have vegetarian dishes?	At a stall that sells one dish, the answer may be a kind no: the broth is the dish.

More useful words are in our street food phrases.

Dishes that often come vegetarian

• Đậu phụ sốt cà chua: fried tofu in a tomato sauce, a home-cooking classic. In the south, tofu is đậu hũ.
• Rau muống xào tỏi: morning glory stir-fried with garlic. It is often seasoned with fish sauce or oyster sauce, so ask.
• Phở chay: phở with a vegetable broth, tofu and mushrooms, at vegetarian restaurants.
• Bánh mì chay: tofu or mock meat with the usual pickles, cucumber and herbs.
• Gỏi cuốn chay: fresh rice paper rolls with tofu, herbs and rice noodles. Check the dip: peanut sauce is usually fine, a fish sauce dip is not.

If you’re vegan

• Dairy is rare in savoury Vietnamese food. It hides in drinks: condensed milk goes into cà phê sữa and most fruit smoothies. Order cà phê đen, black coffee.
• Eggs turn up in fried rice, noodles and bánh mì, and in the mayonnaise. Say “không trứng”, no egg.
• Many kinds of chè, the sweet soups of beans and jellies, are made with coconut milk rather than dairy.
• “I’m vegan” is “Tôi ăn thuần chay”. Not everyone knows it, so add “không trứng, không sữa”: no egg, no milk.

Eating with lowstool

When you send us a request, write your dietary needs in the notes: vegetarian, vegan, no fish sauce, whatever you need. A person reads it and confirms within 24 hours.

In Huế, our Royal Recipes, Home Dinner is a seven-course family dinner in a garden house: dishes once made for the Nguyễn court, two of which you cook with the family. In Sài Gòn, our Market-to-Wok Cooking Class starts in Bến Thành’s back lanes with a market auntie, then you cook four southern dishes in her home kitchen and eat lunch together.