Saigon Bread - 100 years of sublimation

"Saigon bread, especially delicious" - the advertising sound is so familiar that it has become an unforgettable tune in the minds of Saigonese people for over 100 years.

In the memories of the elderly, from the 1940s to 1950s, when Saigon did not have too many streets, the population was small, there were people selling bread every morning. Someone who used to eat French bread said that the bread made by Vietnamese people had a different taste with crunchier crust and softer crumb. People who have never eaten French bread are very happy when they have a little money but can eat the long, large, similar cakes which are similar to Westerners used in the restaurant, even if it's just bread, no sausages, ham, pâté.

The way to put the bread in a burlap sack and put it in a bamboo basket is that the Saigon people think up to keep the bread hot and crisp for a long time, and the last buyer can still eat the bread warm enough and not soft. So, in the morning, the seller loaded the bread in the car through each street and alley, saying: "Hot crispy bread!" waking everyone up happily, before washing their faces, rushed to buy bread as if afraid to lose their part.

Eating sandwiches Western style are keeping the bread, ham, eggs, pâté or cheese separately. In the 50s of the twentieth century, bread with stuffing (also called burgers) began coming to Vietnamese diners, this way of eating from Saigon, like the new trend of bread, was most enthusiastic reception by far.

The loaf of bread is sliced vertically, the stuffing (sandwiched) is cold meats, pâté, eggs. The southerners often like something with a little vegetables, so the loaf of bread gets a few slices of fresh cucumber, a few coriander stalks for the aroma, a little sour food to stimulate deliciousness and add soy sauce or fish sauce for more delicious. If you are tired of meat, you can stuff canned fish, fried eggs, grilled pork, and squid, skin, etc. as you like.Saigon bread (Source Internet)

 “Put the ham and pâté on a separate plate with bread, as Westerners eat, it must be a well-off person to eat and not mind. And people who have tight money could not order half a plate, it's strange. Receiving all of the bread, just enough for the food, while keeping the face for the person with little money, he can accept a little meat and eggs to pay and still have delicious bread like anyone”.

Whether it is a bakery for more than half a century, a bread cart on a street corner of several decades, or a new store of ten years lighting by signs, decoration, service in a modern style, the vendors Bread in Saigon still held such sentiment, kept its own brand, which for introducing to foreigners about Saigon bread, Vietnamese bread - a unique street food, nowhere can get!

Cuisine is born from life, created from need. The Saigonese people have made bread to become one of the typical dishes in urban cuisine of Vietnam, which is seen as a specialty of Saigon - Ho Chi Minh City. This is confirmed as more and more "Saigon bread" shops of Vietnamese expatriates continue to make an impression in many countries. The Guardian's travel site (UK) has voted Saigon bread among the 10 most delicious and attractive street food in the world.