45 Vietnamese dishes receive criticism; should we feel offended?

Vietnamese people are annoyed: It's so delicious, and yet they're complaining!

How could they not feel offended? It's understandable if foreigners don't know how to eat blood pudding or shrimp paste, but what about the delicious and savory mung bean cake from Hai Duong , the chewy and sweet glutinous rice balls, and the refreshing jellied meat? Yet they're at the bottom of the list with a meager 2-3 star rating?

And then there are the famous bánh tét, bánh chưng, braised fish in clay pot, sour soup… how did they all make it onto this list?

But wait, are these really the worst dishes being criticized?

Bun mam (rice noodles with fermented fish sauce), a dish that many foreigners find "strong-smelling," but once you get the hang of it, you'll love it - Photo: RAY KUSCHERT

First, the name of the list, "45 Worst Rated Vietnamese Foods," means 45 Vietnamese dishes with the worst/leastest/lowest/worst ratings on the site, with a specific example being Hai Duong mung bean cake with 2.8 out of 5 stars.

Tied with a 2.8-star rating, blood pudding ranks second on the list.

Meanwhile, the dish ranked 45th and last on the list, beef stir-fry, received a rating of 3.9 out of 5 stars.

Therefore, whether it's the "worst" or the "least bad" dish on this ranking, it still scores above average, so perhaps it should be understood that these are simply dishes that received fewer votes compared to other Vietnamese dishes on the site.

It's worth adding that the highest-rated Vietnamese dishes on this site are banh mi, beef in vinegar sauce, and vermicelli with grilled pork and spring rolls, all receiving 4.6 stars.

Grilled pork vermicelli with spring rolls, a dish loved by both Vietnamese and foreigners - Photo: NGOC DONG

Not to mention, if you search by country on the site, you'll find many Vietnamese dishes that haven't even received any ratings yet, such as fruit salad, lotus root salad, rice cakes, apple cider, and even Cai Mon durian and Ben Tre coconut...

How can you expect these items to be so bad that they deserve... 0 stars?

Even delicious glutinous rice dumplings are being criticized.

3,000 votes for 45 dishes, is that reliable?

To the left of each food article on the site, there are three boxes for readers to tick after reading about the dish: "Have you tried this dish? Please vote!", "Would you like to try it?", and "Add to wishlist".

Therefore, it's possible that readers might not even know what that dish is, so why would they click to vote?

When clicking to vote for a dish, readers will be asked to rate their favorite dish with stars, add a comment, suggest a location where they can eat it, and include a photo of the dish…

Based on that principle, the more well-known a dish is, the higher the chance of it being voted on, commented on, and recommended as a place to eat it.

Yeah, pork offal porridge, even foreigners would find it hard to understand why.

The next point to note is the number of votes. According to TasteAtlas, the list of "45 least-rated Vietnamese dishes" as of March 16th recorded 4,427 reviews, of which 3,037 were deemed valid by the system.

These valid reviews are filtered using a series of mechanisms that TasteAtlas claims identify real users and ignore reviews from bots or those with a bias towards claiming their country is superior, while adding value to reviews from users the system recognizes as knowledgeable.

Why would anyone dislike sticky rice with gac fruit?

Thus, we only understand that those 45 Vietnamese dishes received over 3,000 votes. However, to conclude that those 45 dishes were "criticized," we need to consider additional factors such as the voting period, whether the dishes were posted on the website at consistent times, and the dishes' popularity worldwide .

It's noticeable that all 45 dishes on the list are familiar to Vietnamese people, but most are not very well-known to many international diners, especially those who have never been to Vietnam.

Foreign tourists taking photos of a traditional Tet (Vietnamese New Year) meal at the Vietnamese Tet Festival in Ho Chi Minh City in 2020 - Photo: PHAN BAO

Arouse curiosity with Vietnamese cuisine.

Even more positively, this list is contributing, to some extent, to promoting Vietnamese dishes that many foreigners are unaware of.

When it comes to Vietnamese food, tourists visiting Vietnam are probably familiar with pho, banh mi, banh xeo, bun bo, com tam, goi cuon… but how many foreigners can be sure what Hue-style banh khoai is, or how many visitors to Vietnam have actually had the chance to eat gac fruit sticky rice?

Broken rice (Com Tam), one of the Vietnamese dishes most well-known to foreigners - Photo: NGOC DONG

Besides, this is just one of the lists of Vietnamese dishes that TasteAtlas publishes; more recent ones include Top 28 Vietnamese Street Food, Top 47 Vietnamese Food, Top 16 Vietnamese Soups, and so on.

One notable point is that most of the names of Vietnamese dishes on the site are written in Vietnamese with correct spelling and diacritics, instead of omitting them like many other English-language sites.

How can you criticize mooncakes?

Each dish comes with a detailed description of its origin, time of creation, ingredients, region of popularity, level of popularity, and a graphic map showing the area where the dish is found…

Below most articles about food, there are also related articles suggesting different versions of that dish, if any exist. For example, pho has variations such as rare beef pho, seafood pho, mixed pho, vegetarian pho, stir-fried pho, pho rolls, etc., along with suggestions for places to eat them, if available.

TasteAtlas follows the motto "to be an encyclopedia of flavors, a world map of traditional dishes, local ingredients and authentic restaurants."

Therefore, instead of taking offense, this list can be seen as a valuable reference for dishes that are not yet popular with foreigners, because TasteAtlas also affirms that their rankings should not be considered the final global conclusion about food.

"The purpose of these boards is to promote delicious local food, evoke pride in traditional dishes, and spark curiosity about dishes you've never tried before," TasteAtlas states.

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/45-mon-viet-bi-che-co-nen-tu-ai-20240320174634032.htm