Vietnamese meal-serving culture in the eyes of a Korean blogger.

The custom of inviting guests to stay for a meal and serving them many delicious dishes is familiar to Vietnamese people, but it is strange to some foreign guests.

Park Wow Sung, a Korean blogger with nearly 400,000 likes on TikTok and over 150,000 subscribers on YouTube, regularly shares content about Vietnamese culture. The blogger lived in Ho Chi Minh City for 15 years, is fluent in Vietnamese, and has a passion for Vietnamese cuisine . He even opened a Vietnamese restaurant in central Seoul.

With a passion for Vietnamese culture, most of the content he posts on social media is in Vietnamese and focuses on Vietnamese food and culinary culture.

In a video Wow Sung posted on TikTok at the end of 2023, he shared about "the strange habit of Vietnamese people" when entertaining guests. Based on his own experience, Wow Sung said that if Vietnamese people like someone, they will invite them to their home and enthusiastically offer them a meal, treating them to a variety of delicious dishes.

The Vietnamese culture of hosting guests at home, as seen through the eyes of a South Korean blogger. — Wow Sung shared a video about Vietnamese hospitality culture. Source: *TikTok/Wowsung*

What surprised him was that the Vietnamese host didn't just cook one dish, but prepared a multi-dish meal and insisted that the guest eat it all. In the video, he recorded being invited to his Vietnamese friend's house, where he was shown delicious dishes like steamed sausage, fish soup, and duck meat. According to the Korean blogger's description, these were specialties from both land and water.

Wow Sung added that many Vietnamese people have a habit of only "concerned about inviting guests to eat" when sitting down at a table, happy when guests eat well and eat a lot, and sad when guests eat little. Despite the cultural differences, Wow Sung shared that he felt warm and loved to be welcomed so enthusiastically. The uploaded video attracted nearly 1 million views and garnered attention from the Vietnamese online community. Many expressed their delight at the blogger's fluent Vietnamese and understanding of Vietnamese culture.

Most comments agreed with Wow Sung's opinion that Vietnamese people are very hospitable. "When visiting relatives, if you are offered food and refuse, the host will scold you with phrases like 'If you don't eat, you're not my nephew'," commented one follower of blogger Wow Sung.

A South Korean blogger personally prepares Vietnamese food. Photo: Wow Sung

Some Vietnamese people even noticed that in the video, Wow Sung unintentionally violated a Vietnamese taboo: connecting chopsticks together during a meal. When reminded by netizens to avoid "connecting chopsticks," the Korean blogger didn't understand the term or why this action is considered taboo during a meal. Wow Sung enthusiastically thanked the online community for their helpful explanations.

This isn't the first time the Vietnamese people's hospitality has impressed foreigners. Blogger Matthew Pike, a reporter for the travel website Culture Trip, who once lived in Saigon, also wrote an article sharing what he loves about the Vietnamese people, including their hospitality.

"It's not uncommon to see a group of tourists being invited into a local's home for a meal. Especially during festivals, you might be treated to delicious food and join parties that last until late at night. This is something that Vietnamese people always do to impress international tourists," Matthew Pike wrote.

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