![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.danamladin.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/street-vendor-vietnam_19.jpg\")
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nAnd even if you didn\u2019t want to buy fruit here, you couldn\u2019t escape it: the streets are full of fruit stalls at every corner. Street vendors beautifully arrange their goods on improvised stands or modified carts, on large trays balanced on their shoulders, or on \u201cstalls\u201d built on their own bicycles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And they roam through the city, cross your path, stop from time to time, so wherever you go, you run into them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Vietnamese have a very wide variety of fruits, at very low prices, because they grow them locally. From pineapple, pomelo, mango, and passion fruit to mangosteen, rambutan, dragon fruit, and others with names I had to spell out just to be sure I could Google them later\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n In two weeks of vacation, I ate enough fruit for 20 holidays!<\/p>\n\n\n\n I tried to taste as many as possible, mainly out of curiosity. And I still missed some, so I guess I\u2019ll have to plan another trip to Vietnam \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n\n\n\n Many of them are delicious! Others, good. And some\u2026 just not to my taste. I mean, come on, I can\u2019t like them all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But you have plenty to choose from, and that\u2019s the most important thing! And the prices, even for me as a tourist, are absolutely affordable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Several street vendors asked me for 100,000 dong per kilogram of fruit. That\u2019s about 4 euros. Obviously, for Vietnamese people the price is much lower. The guide I had on this Asian adventure told me that, normally, fruits cost between 50,000 dong (around 2 euros) and 200,000 dong (8 euros) per kilogram. Most of them are on the lower end. The ones closer to 8 euros are rarer or out of their usual season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In Hanoi, where I first went wild on fruits, in spring you\u2019ll find watermelon, summer \u2013 apples, mango, lychees, plums, then in autumn and winter \u2013 bananas, apricots\u2026 Just to name a few of the fruits we\u2019re familiar with. There are also tons of other fruits I instantly labeled as \u201cexotic\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In winter, the north of Vietnam buys fruits from the south, because in the south, being always warm, they have plenty!<\/p>\n\n\n\n I bought from both the north and the south :), depending on what made my mouth water or what sparked my curiosity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Pineapple<\/strong>, pomelo<\/strong>, bananas<\/strong>, grapefruit<\/strong>, mango<\/strong>, and papaya<\/strong> \u2013 in abundance! If you don\u2019t want the whole fruit, no problem, as the street vendors sell trays with sliced fruit, in various quantities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Rambutan<\/strong>. Good stuff! I bought it several times and, noticing I liked it, the vendor added more to my bag to weigh more at the scale (sound familiar from our markets?…).<\/p>\n\n\n\n Mangosteen<\/strong>. My first curiosity in Vietnam, because I kept seeing them everywhere and had no idea what they were. I even asked for instructions on how the heck to eat them, and the vendor kindly cut them open so I could enjoy the white flesh inside. (Their peel is super tough \u2013 no way to open it with your nails\u2026)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Dragon fruit.<\/strong> Looks really cool, I knew it from other countries too, but I wasn\u2019t crazy about the taste even here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It was among the breakfast fruits, so I tasted it again (middle row, left plate), just to make sure I wasn\u2019t mistaken before. Still feel the same. It\u2019s more pretty than tasty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Oh, and I found out that its flesh can be either white or pink. You can supposedly tell by the peel and leaves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Can you believe that on my last day in Vietnam, I bought 2 trays of passion fruit<\/strong> and carried them with me back to Bucharest?!<\/p>\n\n\n\n What can I say, I just couldn\u2019t part with it!<\/p>\n\n\n\n I devoured passion fruit in Vietnam!!! From freshly cut fruit to passion fruit juice, passion fruit smoothies, even dishes with passion fruit sauce.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I had so much passion in me that I was thinking: \u201cDear God, don\u2019t let a handsome man cross my path now, or I\u2019ll burst into flames!\u201d<\/em> \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n\n\n\n Custard apple.<\/strong> Or as we call it in our language: \u201capple with scales.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n I was fascinated by this fruit when I saw it on the stalls, so I bought it. More expensive than others \u2013 80,000 dong (a little over 3 euros) per kilogram.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I asked for usage instructions and found out that you simply peel off the \u201cscales\u201d, which is actually quite easy to do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This is what\u2019s left after removing the peel. Then you start biting into it. It\u2019s like a super ripe peach, mixed with a pear \u2013 at least, that\u2019s how it felt to me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And you\u2019ve got to be careful not to break your teeth on its seeds \u2013 they\u2019re really hard and quite large.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Jackfruit.<\/strong> I saw an explosion of jackfruit in Vietnam! Not just on stalls, but even more in trees!<\/p>\n\n\n\n The bigger this rugby-ball-sized fruit gets, the closer it is to being picked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And you can buy it already sliced, so you don\u2019t have to carry a machete around. Someone else does that for you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Rose apple.<\/strong> I came across it at a park vendor, but I didn\u2019t trust it based on its appearance \u2013 it looked like a wrapped-up sock. And I couldn\u2019t understand what the woman was saying it was.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Then I found it sliced at the hotel during breakfast. I learned it was a \u201cpink apple\u201d, and suddenly got the courage to taste it. It\u2019s okay. Like an apple… mixed with a pear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Green oranges.<\/strong> 25,000 dong per kilogram. That\u2019s about one euro.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I bought some because I was craving something juicy. And I found out just in time that these green oranges are mostly for juice, unlike the orange-colored ones, which are meant for eating. So I got it right!<\/p>\n\n\n\n Longans.<\/strong> Small, round, brown, hanging in bunches from branches, easy to peel, and the white translucent flesh is sweet. Kind of like lychee, but sweeter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And I came across many, many other fruits. Toad fruit, Plum-Mango, Kumquat, Baby lime. Well, even though it\u2019s a fruit, Buddha\u2019s Fingers are not eaten, so don\u2019t try to devour it if you buy one… This fruit is decorative. The Vietnamese buy it and bring it as an offering to pagodas and temples.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And the more its shape resembles praying hands, the more expensive it is, because it\u2019s like having Buddha\u2019s hands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s very interesting, and yes, I saw it in every temple, next to Buddha statues, Lady Buddha, or the kings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Have you heard of \u201cdurian\u201d? I hadn\u2019t, until I started reading more about Vietnam.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s the smelliest fruit ever! Seriously! It\u2019s known as the most foul-smelling fruit in the world. That\u2019s what I read, that\u2019s how it was introduced to me over there, and that\u2019s exactly how I\u2019d describe it after smelling it myself. Oh my God, you can\u2019t imagine how bad it stinks! It has a smell you can detect from dozens of meters away! It\u2019s like City Hall sent a whole fleet of septic trucks to every house in the neighborhood\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n It looks like an oversized chestnut (one can weigh between 1-3 kg!), and its spikes are so hard that an army could defeat its enemy with durians as cannonballs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Most commonly, it\u2019s sold by the \u201cfetus\u201d, as I call the inner part. Because that\u2019s what most of them look like, a fetus. A durian can have 2-4 chambers, and in each chamber there\u2019s a pulp. The seller has to be very careful about how he cuts the shell to get the whole pulp out, which is then placed nicely in a container.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Many people hate durian! But those who love it, love it a lot! Apparently, there\u2019s no middle ground.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s a fruit with tons of health benefits, considering it\u2019s rich in vitamins (B complex, C, A), fiber, phosphorus, calcium, magnesium, iron, zinc, and\u2026 well, I could go on listing the entire periodic table.<\/p>\n\n\n\n At first, I observed it from a distance. A great distance! Then I got closer to the stalls, asked questions, touched it, but didn\u2019t buy it. (By the way, it\u2019s an expensive fruit!)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Then I said, \u201cCome on, Dana, be brave, you won\u2019t die\u201d. I held my breath and bought a container with the smallest 2 pieces I could find. I paid 55,000 dong after long negotiations (a bit over 2 euros), while most fruits cost 50,000 dong per kilogram!<\/p>\n\n\n\n I wrapped it well in a bag and kept it in my backpack until dinner time when\u2026 I nearly knocked out everyone at the table with the smell, haha.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The reactions when I invited them to try a piece of durian were among the most diverse. Few of us actually dared to taste it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The taste? Hard to describe. But it\u2019s not a disaster, not at all. The worst part is the smell. If you can get past that, you can eat it. It\u2019s kind of like mashed banana, but with the scent of dirty socks just pulled out of a city dumpster.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We even tried eating it while holding our noses and that worked much better! But if the smell sticks in your brain, you won\u2019t be able to eat much. Proof: none of us could eat more than a small piece. (What you see in the photo is what we didn\u2019t eat. The rest we gave to the restaurant staff, some of whom were durian fans.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n The funny thing is that some hotels forbid guests from bringing durian into their rooms! You wouldn\u2019t think such a thing was possible, right? But they do it because its horrendous, strong smell travels through the ventilation system into other rooms and sends everyone fleeing. But honestly, you don\u2019t even need the vents \u2013 this fruit can be smelled from tens of meters away! We were walking down the street and thought we\u2019d found a dead horse. Turns out, it was durian on a vendor\u2019s table, 30 meters away\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n And the craziest part? I read this on the website of Bamboo Airways, the airline we flew on for a domestic route: \u201csmelling fruits (durian, jackfruit) are not allowed in carry-on baggage!\u201d So if you plan to pack some durian in your hand luggage, forget about boarding the plane\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n I saw many green coconuts abandoned at the roots of trees. A sign that people had drunk, or were drinking, coconut water from them. It\u2019s simple: someone drills a hole in the coconut, sticks in a straw, and\u2026 drink ready. It\u2019s basically the clear liquid inside green coconuts, before the white flesh we like to snack on has formed. That\u2019s it. No sugar or anything else is added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I read that this liquid has a ton of benefits! First and foremost, it\u2019s super hydrating. I\u2019m not a big fan, to be honest, but in Vietnam it seems to be one of the most popular drinks, since a large number of people consume it regularly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If I didn\u2019t go for the healthy stuff, I definitely went for sugarcane juice<\/strong> instead. Extremely, extremely<\/em> sweet!<\/p>\n\n\n\n In almost every city, I found little street stalls where Vietnamese vendors make this juice. They feed the sugarcane into a pressing machine, along with half a lime (I would\u2019ve added about 5!), and out comes a glass of juice. I paid 10,000 dong for one glass \u2013 that\u2019s less than half a euro.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Here\u2019s how it\u2019s made:<\/p>\n\n\n\n https:\/\/youtube.com\/shorts\/EilIHdwjNJg<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n There\u2019s also a banana-based drink, but that one\u2019s wine \ud83d\ude42 I didn\u2019t try it, no idea what \u201cbanana wine\u201d tastes like (apparently it’s similar to our Romanian \u021buic\u0103 or palinc\u0103), but I found out that 1 liter costs 10 dollars. (By comparison, rice wine costs 7 dollars per liter.) Banana wine is said to be good for bones, hands, and back. Well, I bet it is: once you\u2019re tipsy from a few shots, you don\u2019t feel any pain anymore\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n At one point, I started craving a chocolate bar or a slice of cake, after so many fruits. What can I say, old habits\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe\u2019re not that great with desserts\u201d, the Vietnamese admit. Yes, that\u2019s true, I confirm it too: I had a slice of birthday cake, tasted others\u2019 cakes, and tried some hotel desserts, but nothing really impressed me. They were all kind of sponge cakes with cream.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I had some donuts from the street, which you find everywhere. Classic donuts, some filled with cream, others coated in who-knows-what. They\u2019re okay if your blood sugar suddenly crashes, but it\u2019s not like you\u2019d miss them if you didn\u2019t have any\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n The explanation for why they haven\u2019t stressed over making sweets is simple: they don\u2019t need to! They don\u2019t eat ice cream or cakes after lunch or dinner, because they have a huge variety of fruits they can naturally enjoy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Even in stores, there wasn\u2019t much going on in the dessert aisle. The local sweets aren\u2019t much, and the international ones \u2013 where you can find them \u2013 are quite expensive compared to fruits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n To further convince you that Vietnam is a fruit paradise, here\u2019s another argument: throughout the entire vacation, I walked past one of my favorite gelato shops several times and\u2026 didn\u2019t go in to buy ice cream! Which even surprised me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nFRUITS IN VIETNAM<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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I think I even found the Vietnamese version of our beloved sour plums (corcodu\u0219e)\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\nBUDDHA FINGERS<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nDURIAN<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nCOCONUT WATER<\/strong><\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nVIETNAMESE DESSERT<\/strong><\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n