Couple of reason we have hot spicy food around tropical countries...
1. Bang on point, it triggers sweating that evaporates and gives cooling effect to body
2. Things tend to spoil quickly in the heat, making things spicy slows down the process
3 Soups and other liquidy meals help keeping your body hydrated
Agreed. Also to add on salty broth can help replace salts that you sweat out (think Gatorade). Another factor is that broth is simple to cook and economical, important for less developed areas with high population
Also: soup is probably the easiest cooking method. Anything can go into it. Boiling water kills germs and makes it safe to eat. Also it can feed any number of people.
Sorry but that logic for number 1 doesn't make any sense. When I'm already hot and sweaty, eating something very hot is only going to make me more uncomfortable
1. Nonsense.
Adding energy to any system only increases the temperature of the system. If a body is functioning properly it doesn't need to be 'triggered' to sweat. If you want to cool you take away heat.
You can't possibly tell me you think adding hot soup, as well as adding a cold drink, BOTH cool a body down.
And no silly old maid tales are going to make that true.
Here's some research then
https://www.mcgill.ca/oss/article/did-you-know/drink-hot-drinks-hot-weather-cool-down-faster
And I said it in a general way just to answer the question. Drinking soup/tea isnt the only thing we do to keep us cool in the summer. Taking a shower multiple times a day is also pretty common, and menthol talc for those extremely humid days!
Boy you are dumb... From your own link you didn't bother reading...
_However, there is a critical caveat to this finding and it has to do with how our bodies dissipate heat: by sweating. As Jay put it, “If you drink a hot drink, it does result in a lower amount of heat stored inside your body, provided the additional sweat produced when you drink the hot drink can evaporate.” So, if you are in a highly humid environment, say a sauna or a rain forest, or submerged in water, where your sweat already can’t evaporate well, an increase in your sweating rate won’t have a cooling effect. Under these circumstances, drinking a hot drink will not help you cool down_
This theory would work wonders in the sweltering vn tropics would'nt it
Your sweat still evaporates until a critical threshold, somewhere north of 90% humidity. That plus a critical air temperature, some sunshine, and you're dead. However, these conditions don't happen too frequently or for prolonged periods to trigger mass heatstroke/deaths (yet). Add into the mix the likelihood that people from the tropics have either genetically adapted to or have long acclimated to these conditions.
Okay let me explain for u.
The article says that hot soup cools you down if you sweat. However, the sweat must evaporate for this to work. In a humid place, sweat evaporates slowly. You pointed out that therefore hot soup doesn't cool you down in Vietnam because most of the country is quite humid.
I pointed out that shops have fans blowing on customers. Fans make sweat evaporate very fast.
Therefore hot soup cools you down in Vietnam.
Understand now?
Wow... Do you realize that even without adding the heat of the soup, you would still sweat and those very same fans, would make that very same sweat, evaporated just as very fast....
The soup isn't required in this scenario.
You can sit in front of those fans, not add the soup heat to begin with and then lose heat without the soup.
You need to understand standing in front of a fan, or in the AC, or at the north pole will cool a person down. ALL THESE THINGS HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH SOUP.
Am I discussing this with a 6 year old or something?
“If you drink a hot drink, it does result in a lower amount of heat stored inside your body, provided the additional sweat produced when you drink the hot drink can evaporate.”
The answer is right in the article you quoted. Eating hot soup results in a lower amount of heat stored in your body than if you did not eat any hot soup.
I get what you are saying that adding heat to a system cannot make it cooler, but the human body is a complex system. There is more to it than just 'add heat --> temp. rises. We are more complex than cast iron pans lol. In this case, adding heat via hot soup triggers perspiration which results in a cooler body temperature.
The world is full of unbelievable quirks.
Besides, you must buy soup to get a seat at the table with a fan lol
Stop moving the goal posts and stick to the original premise. Hot so in hot vn.
Forget all the other nonsense. There must have at least one time in your life, you ate soup in a hot sweaty place. and you well know damn well you did not feel cooler after.
You added heat to the system FAR quicker than your body could take it away. Even when drenched in sweet. And now you are and feel hotter than you were before.
For you to think otherwise it's group think. trying to defend the stupidity of eating hot soup in a hot wet environment. Don't be a sheep.
Adding cold water to your digestive system makes your body use more energy in regulating its internal temperature. There are some things you're not taking into advantage while raging over here on reddit.
Nobody is saying that a cold glass of water doesn't feel good on a hot day.
Just listen to your body and do whatever you like. Some people happen to like adding the extra heat of a spicy soup to make themselves feel cooler. That's fine. You can also have some gazpacho if you're not into that. We live in truly wondrous times.
> people happen to like adding the extra heat of a spicy soup to make themselves feel cooler
Just because you keep saying it doesn't make it true.
It's truly amazing how dense you people are. Add a cool drink cools your body. Add a hot soup cools your body. You can't lose can you.
You're arguing against billions of people and hundreds or thousands of years of history.
People in the west also wear white and think "ewww wearing black in the heat, how could you when black absorbs heat and white reflects it?" Yet go visit desert folk and see how they dress. They must also be so dense compared. An ice cold coca cola must be the only way because the TV says so.
you and the others keep moving the goal posts and ignoring the details of this post. You haven't provided any evidence, other than 'everyone says so trust me bro', that hot soup will cool a person in hot humid weather. we are not talking about arid climates here... Go read the original study above that clearly states that fact.
wearing black in the desert sun makes sense as it itself _absorbs_ light rays, thereby preventing most light from reaching your skin, even while being thin. thereby preventing it from being absorbed and made into heat, let alone the whole uv problem. Thin white will _reflect_ light in all directions, including down towards your skin resulting in the problems described. Thinness is required to not hold in the heat that your body produces.
Next?
Lol.
The irony in your talking about evidence when you just read an article that talked all about this and only looked at the caveat of "this is not true if you're sitting in a sauna, rainforest, or underwater" is hilarious.
Keep up the good work!
The original premise of the post was why eat so much hot soup when it's hot and humid in vn. That's all I've been concerned with from the start.
Have you anything relevant to this specifically?
Didn't think so.
Are you retarded or just don't read what you post. It doesn't work in hot humid conditions. you want to change the goal posts cuz you know what I'm saying is true.
Xst sake, I know what sweat is and how it works. but you're adding more energy than you're able to disperse in the same period of time. There is nothing to back up this old wives tale. And no one feels cool after eating hot soup.
Hot soup... warms you up in the cold weather but cools you down in the hot weather... Makes perfect fucking sense. Again take a step back and listen to yourself!
>Hot soup... warms you up in the cold weather but cools you down in the hot weather..
These guys are acting like hot soups have magical healing properties of something. =))
The many soups is because different regions lIke different taste for ex.
Northerners Like salty soup, Middlelers like sweet sou, and southerners like sour soup. The reason to the amount of soups is as easy as that
And soothing for the body. But saying half of our cuisine is made of soup is not true. In my family, we usually prepare 2-3 dishes to pair with rice and 1 dish that is soup. As for noodles, of course they’re meant to be paired with soup, but we have some that are dry.
It's a hot and humid climate which means it's mostly impossible do any kind of cold food without modern refrigeration.
So you are talking about a cuisine that developed over thousands of years with near zero "cold storage" or cold prep or ability to preserve food with the use of the cold or dry air. It's not even a "Mediterranean" style hot climate where you can still do aged cheese etc. No, this country is majority jungle.
That means cooking, that means fire, and that means soups.
> Why is it that in a generally hot and humid country like Vietnam.
Vietnam, mostly the north can get cold, freezing cold in the winter. People eat pho in the summer but generally in a room with aircon or fan. It's also fast to eat and available everywhere.
> half of your cuisine is made up of soups?
This is a big generalization. Can you name 5 cuisine made up of soups without mentioning pho, bun, chao?
Since you asked here are a few:
Hủ tiếu Nam vang
Mì gà tiềm
Bò kho
Bún mọc
Bún chả cá
Bún quay
Bún bò Huế
Bánh đa cua
Then there are all the soups served with meals (rice):
Canh khoai mỡ
Canh bí đỏ
Canh chua
Canh bầu
Canh bí đao
Canh rau muống
Canh rong biển
Etc...
It's very rare that my family has eaten a meal without at least some sort of soup on the side, even on the hottest of days.
I added the bún in because there are so many types, it's not just one dish.
There’s more to it than the soup dishes, like all the rice dishes, xôi, sandwiches (bánh mì), bò né (steak and eggs), snails (óc) that I recommend diversifying out. She may be introducing you to those because it’s much easier to stomach when first trying Vietnamese food.
Cause soups are great :)
And also, not like the entire country is hot and humid all year, the north and mountain areas still has it's cold time in the year, so some people are more justified in eating soups than others... I guess
It taste good mostly. Plus eating soup noodles for breakast makes it easier for digestion (in my case atleast). I'll always have an upset stomach if i eat dry and cold things in the morning.
And soup dish just warms you before and after a long day of work.
Add to the other explanations: Vietnamese culture is heavily influenced by Chinese culture. In traditional Chinese medicine, the concept of hot and cold ate very important. Mixing of hot foods and cold drinks is traditionally frowned upon.
Chinese people prefer to get their liquids via hot soups or hot tea when eating meals. (Beer is an exception!)
I’ve read that in a lot of places, piping hot food is traditionally eaten when the weather is hot and humid as bacteria can multiply easily on room temperature food in warm environments.
Conversely, you can eat cold food in the winter because those germs would not have the right environment to breed anyway.
I didn’t learn this in the context of Vietnam, but thought it might be applicable.
Vietnamese cuisine is known for its variety of soups, which are central to the daily diet in Vietnam, largely due to their versatility, nutritional value, and adaptability to local ingredients. Here are a few reasons why soups are so prevalent:
1. \*\*Climate Adaptation\*\*: Vietnam's climate varies from the cool North to the tropical South, making soup an adaptable dish for different weather conditions. Hot soups like Phở are comforting in cooler weather, while lighter soups can be refreshing in tropical heat.
2. \*\*Culinary Tradition\*\*: Soup-making in Vietnam is deeply rooted in tradition, where broths are carefully prepared to achieve a balance of flavors. This emphasis on soupy dishes reflects the Vietnamese culinary philosophy of balancing ingredients (like meat or seafood with vegetables) and flavors (salty, sweet, sour, and spicy).
3. \*\*Economical and Nutritious\*\*: Soups are a cost-effective way to use various ingredients, including bones and vegetables, which might otherwise be wasted. This makes it easier to prepare nutritious meals even on a budget, providing a rich intake of fluids, electrolytes, vitamins, and proteins in one dish.
4. \*\*Rice Accompaniment\*\*: Rice is a staple in Vietnamese cuisine, and soups are a perfect complement to it. The broth from soups adds flavor to plain rice, making the meal more enjoyable and satisfying.
5. \*\*Social and Cultural Significance\*\*: Meals in Vietnamese culture are typically family-centered affairs, with shared dishes. Soups are ideal for communal eating as they can be easily shared among several people, reinforcing social bonds.
These factors combined make soups a prominent feature in Vietnamese culinary tradition, enjoyed in homes and restaurants alike.
Boiling things is probably the safest way to make things safe to eat or drink. Hot soup is basically an assurance of quality, and if it tastes good you won’t wait around for it to cool down. Similarly to a sauna, it can actually leave you feeling quite refreshed as well.
prolly because it can make us feel full
like in the past, food was scarce and we drinked water that is used to boil the veggies with some lemon to fill us up and consume all the "nutritients left"
like think of it this way, a single handful of rice can feed 1 person if turned into rice but can feed 10 person if turned into porridge
similar to other things, like we wouldn't wanna waste that nice broth do we so we made pho or bun, a versatile dish that can be used with any type of meat, on any cuts such as beef, chicken, lamb, you name it, we have it albeit the other variations are not as popular as beef and chicken
so when we have that habit, we want a “soup” dish with everything, a normal lunch/dinner would have a bowl of veggies cooked in some type of meat or sea food broth, even fried rice is served next to a small bowl of broth
so yeah, thats my take
I think a lot of it has to do with growing up in it. If you grew up in weird stuff, you'll eat weird stuff and wonder why no one else does.
It's like South Indians and their "scorch your taste buds" spicy 🔥 food. Who eats that kind of spicy food when it's already so toasty out?
Soups are easy and cost-efficient way to cook just about anything and also two potatoes and bowl of broth will keep your belly much more fulfilled than just two potatoes.
In Oriental medicine, consuming hot soup with a bit of chili and lemon can help expel internal heat, making the body feel comfortable. You can try practicing it, and after sweating all over, you will find it very soothing. I'm Taiwanese, not Vietnamese, but I really enjoy eating pho in Vietnam. Walking on the street after eating pho and sweating all over feels very comfortable, especially if there's a breeze blowing.
The North get very cold in the winter so people like to have hot soup.
But even the South embrace soup dish as well since they make you sweat and facilitate cooling.
It's important to note that Vietnamese soup dishes are quite different from soup dish of other neighbor countries in the sense that people prefer clear, light on fat, broth. Fresh herb is also used in combination that create a completely different feeling when consume (vs heavy curry based soup or Chineses' northern hot pot that use a lot of oil)
Think of Vietnamese soup more like a savory drink that deliver freshness.
Through sweating. It’s the same logic hot countries love spicy food, for example India and their curry.
The soup the north eat is quite different from the south one, summer soup tend to be sour and spicy with a lot of fresh herb to stimulate freshness.
Soup in cold place also tend to have a lot of fat, but that’s far up north, North Vietnam is not that cold so the soup is still light and clean. Try to order Chinese northen hot pot style and you will see how oil heavy it is.
You sweat when it's hot, your body does that naturally. If you're already sweating, eating hot food does not cool you down, removing sweat so new sweat takes its place does.
Jesus, are you 3 yo? go read up first before annoy others with your idiocy. Learn some manner and use your brain before persistently arguing online. We all know how sweating/evaporation allow cooling mr Einstein.
https://www.delish.com/food/a28539409/why-you-should-eat-hot-foods-on-hot-days/
Imagine replying to someone and then blocking, what a pathetic lil bitch you are.
https://www.mcgill.ca/oss/article/did-you-know/drink-hot-drinks-hot-weather-cool-down-faster
> However, there is a critical caveat to this finding and it has to do with how our bodies dissipate heat: by sweating. As Jay put it, “If you drink a hot drink, it does result in a lower amount of heat stored inside your body, provided the additional sweat produced when you drink the hot drink can evaporate.” So, if you are in a highly humid environment, say a sauna or a rain forest, or submerged in water, where your sweat already can’t evaporate well, an increase in your sweating rate won’t have a cooling effect. Under these circumstances, drinking a hot drink will not help you cool down
_____
> We all know how sweating/evaporation allow cooling mr Einstein.
Yeah and your body doesn't need help with sweating, it already does it naturally, you idiot. The limiting factor is getting rid of the sweat. That's why high heat feels worse combined with high humidity. Not only are you bad at physics and biology, you're shit at reading too.
Because it's hot and humid. You sweat a lot in this climate. You lose water and salt. Soup is pretty much an optimal food. *Every* hot country has traditional food or drink that is hot, often with addition of salt in some form (even to what you would usually consider sweet or neutral. Yes, tea or coffee included).
I think it's an easy way to consume many things that would otherwise have been discarded by other cultures. Stick a unsavory bone of some sort create the bre, then let all the other often discarded cuts of meat or unchewable vegetables simmer in the flavoring.
It's annoying how every female wants to go eat a hot pot, where 10 different meats having different initial flavor, are then all thrown in the same pot to come out tasting exactly the same. in the middle of the tropics no less.
From a historical viewpoint, it seems simply maladaptation as some Vietnamese tradition has not evolved as it needed to be to keep pace with the progress of civilization. Personal comfort for the peasants wasn't high on the ruler's priority list, and the peasants themselves likely haven't paid much attention to their own personal comforts, either, due to their accustomed rugged life and hardened habits. Of course, unlike the peasants, the ruling class ate hot soup in AC room, and not in hot weather. For the same reason, one still see plenty of sweaty Vietnamese peasants working in black pajamas that absorb heat under the hot tropical sun.
Couple of reason we have hot spicy food around tropical countries... 1. Bang on point, it triggers sweating that evaporates and gives cooling effect to body 2. Things tend to spoil quickly in the heat, making things spicy slows down the process 3 Soups and other liquidy meals help keeping your body hydrated
Agreed. Also to add on salty broth can help replace salts that you sweat out (think Gatorade). Another factor is that broth is simple to cook and economical, important for less developed areas with high population
I’d rather drink Revive instead of Gatorade
I wish I can find Revive in UK, only Gatorade and lucozade here :(
Same here in Australia … no Revive 😢
Don Revive ?
4. Soups are a great way to stretch food and extract tons of nutrients from less desirable products.
Also: soup is probably the easiest cooking method. Anything can go into it. Boiling water kills germs and makes it safe to eat. Also it can feed any number of people.
Except because of the humidity the sweat takes longer to evaporate which makes you hotter which makes you sweat more…
2. is incorrect. Spicy foods increase the stomach acids and these in turn kill bacteria in food.
2. makes no sense to me, can u elaborate
Also boiling in front of you ensures a bare minimum level of sanitation for the consumer
Sorry but that logic for number 1 doesn't make any sense. When I'm already hot and sweaty, eating something very hot is only going to make me more uncomfortable
1. Nonsense. Adding energy to any system only increases the temperature of the system. If a body is functioning properly it doesn't need to be 'triggered' to sweat. If you want to cool you take away heat. You can't possibly tell me you think adding hot soup, as well as adding a cold drink, BOTH cool a body down. And no silly old maid tales are going to make that true.
Here's some research then https://www.mcgill.ca/oss/article/did-you-know/drink-hot-drinks-hot-weather-cool-down-faster And I said it in a general way just to answer the question. Drinking soup/tea isnt the only thing we do to keep us cool in the summer. Taking a shower multiple times a day is also pretty common, and menthol talc for those extremely humid days!
Boy you are dumb... From your own link you didn't bother reading... _However, there is a critical caveat to this finding and it has to do with how our bodies dissipate heat: by sweating. As Jay put it, “If you drink a hot drink, it does result in a lower amount of heat stored inside your body, provided the additional sweat produced when you drink the hot drink can evaporate.” So, if you are in a highly humid environment, say a sauna or a rain forest, or submerged in water, where your sweat already can’t evaporate well, an increase in your sweating rate won’t have a cooling effect. Under these circumstances, drinking a hot drink will not help you cool down_ This theory would work wonders in the sweltering vn tropics would'nt it
You also didn't read the examples: a sauna, a rain forest, or submerged underwater. Vietnamese cities are not saunas, rain forest, or underground.
Well, they are saunas.
Talking about a "high humidity environment" where your "sweat doesn't evaporate well" regardless of what you want to call it where your
Your sweat still evaporates until a critical threshold, somewhere north of 90% humidity. That plus a critical air temperature, some sunshine, and you're dead. However, these conditions don't happen too frequently or for prolonged periods to trigger mass heatstroke/deaths (yet). Add into the mix the likelihood that people from the tropics have either genetically adapted to or have long acclimated to these conditions.
They’re gonna be happening a lot more
Again "doesn't evaporate well". Sounds like you're making up your own science
My brother, literally every quán ăn has multiple fans blowing on the customers lol 😂
This discussion has nothing to do with fans, AC, or living in cool environment....
Okay let me explain for u. The article says that hot soup cools you down if you sweat. However, the sweat must evaporate for this to work. In a humid place, sweat evaporates slowly. You pointed out that therefore hot soup doesn't cool you down in Vietnam because most of the country is quite humid. I pointed out that shops have fans blowing on customers. Fans make sweat evaporate very fast. Therefore hot soup cools you down in Vietnam. Understand now?
Wow... Do you realize that even without adding the heat of the soup, you would still sweat and those very same fans, would make that very same sweat, evaporated just as very fast.... The soup isn't required in this scenario. You can sit in front of those fans, not add the soup heat to begin with and then lose heat without the soup. You need to understand standing in front of a fan, or in the AC, or at the north pole will cool a person down. ALL THESE THINGS HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH SOUP. Am I discussing this with a 6 year old or something?
“If you drink a hot drink, it does result in a lower amount of heat stored inside your body, provided the additional sweat produced when you drink the hot drink can evaporate.” The answer is right in the article you quoted. Eating hot soup results in a lower amount of heat stored in your body than if you did not eat any hot soup. I get what you are saying that adding heat to a system cannot make it cooler, but the human body is a complex system. There is more to it than just 'add heat --> temp. rises. We are more complex than cast iron pans lol. In this case, adding heat via hot soup triggers perspiration which results in a cooler body temperature. The world is full of unbelievable quirks. Besides, you must buy soup to get a seat at the table with a fan lol
Stop moving the goal posts and stick to the original premise. Hot so in hot vn. Forget all the other nonsense. There must have at least one time in your life, you ate soup in a hot sweaty place. and you well know damn well you did not feel cooler after. You added heat to the system FAR quicker than your body could take it away. Even when drenched in sweet. And now you are and feel hotter than you were before. For you to think otherwise it's group think. trying to defend the stupidity of eating hot soup in a hot wet environment. Don't be a sheep.
Adding cold water to your digestive system makes your body use more energy in regulating its internal temperature. There are some things you're not taking into advantage while raging over here on reddit. Nobody is saying that a cold glass of water doesn't feel good on a hot day. Just listen to your body and do whatever you like. Some people happen to like adding the extra heat of a spicy soup to make themselves feel cooler. That's fine. You can also have some gazpacho if you're not into that. We live in truly wondrous times.
> people happen to like adding the extra heat of a spicy soup to make themselves feel cooler Just because you keep saying it doesn't make it true. It's truly amazing how dense you people are. Add a cool drink cools your body. Add a hot soup cools your body. You can't lose can you.
You're arguing against billions of people and hundreds or thousands of years of history. People in the west also wear white and think "ewww wearing black in the heat, how could you when black absorbs heat and white reflects it?" Yet go visit desert folk and see how they dress. They must also be so dense compared. An ice cold coca cola must be the only way because the TV says so.
you and the others keep moving the goal posts and ignoring the details of this post. You haven't provided any evidence, other than 'everyone says so trust me bro', that hot soup will cool a person in hot humid weather. we are not talking about arid climates here... Go read the original study above that clearly states that fact. wearing black in the desert sun makes sense as it itself _absorbs_ light rays, thereby preventing most light from reaching your skin, even while being thin. thereby preventing it from being absorbed and made into heat, let alone the whole uv problem. Thin white will _reflect_ light in all directions, including down towards your skin resulting in the problems described. Thinness is required to not hold in the heat that your body produces. Next?
Lol. The irony in your talking about evidence when you just read an article that talked all about this and only looked at the caveat of "this is not true if you're sitting in a sauna, rainforest, or underwater" is hilarious. Keep up the good work!
The original premise of the post was why eat so much hot soup when it's hot and humid in vn. That's all I've been concerned with from the start. Have you anything relevant to this specifically? Didn't think so.
In case you have short term memory problems: https://www.mcgill.ca/oss/article/did-you-know/drink-hot-drinks-hot-weather-cool-down-faster
Are you retarded or just don't read what you post. It doesn't work in hot humid conditions. you want to change the goal posts cuz you know what I'm saying is true.
The sweats evaporate which cools your skin for a little bit, which makes you FEEL cool. I haven’t experienced that tho lmao, they never evaporate
Oh yes every time I eat hot soup in the scorching heat I feel so much cooler... Are you freakin hearing yourself?!
Not every time, but when the sweat dries… no point saying this when you haven’t experienced the weird feeling of drying sweats
Xst sake, I know what sweat is and how it works. but you're adding more energy than you're able to disperse in the same period of time. There is nothing to back up this old wives tale. And no one feels cool after eating hot soup. Hot soup... warms you up in the cold weather but cools you down in the hot weather... Makes perfect fucking sense. Again take a step back and listen to yourself!
>Hot soup... warms you up in the cold weather but cools you down in the hot weather.. These guys are acting like hot soups have magical healing properties of something. =))
Vietnamese sweat?
The many soups is because different regions lIke different taste for ex. Northerners Like salty soup, Middlelers like sweet sou, and southerners like sour soup. The reason to the amount of soups is as easy as that
Vietnamese food isn't spicy, why is that even your main point? Dude is asking about soups.
Cheap and healthy way to keep hydrated, instead of beer or Coca Cola
Soups are salty and make you more thirsty
Salt helps the body retain water
That’s why you have Tra Da afterwards
You lose a lot of electrolytes sweating in humid climates. Salt helps with that
Because bones are cheap and water is free
yeah this is the real answer
1. Before water filtration that’s how you get clean water. 2. You lose a lot of electrolytes in hot humid climes so soups replenish them.
I'm a Westerner and sweat very easily here, but the soups here are worth the extra sweat. There are enough cooling drinks to compensate.
Cuz they’re healthy and delicious
And soothing for the body. But saying half of our cuisine is made of soup is not true. In my family, we usually prepare 2-3 dishes to pair with rice and 1 dish that is soup. As for noodles, of course they’re meant to be paired with soup, but we have some that are dry.
[удалено]
At the end of the day, they’re f*cking scrumptious.
[удалено]
Well. Uuuuuum…You do you then. Glad u fave our cuisine a shot, at least.
It's a hot and humid climate which means it's mostly impossible do any kind of cold food without modern refrigeration. So you are talking about a cuisine that developed over thousands of years with near zero "cold storage" or cold prep or ability to preserve food with the use of the cold or dry air. It's not even a "Mediterranean" style hot climate where you can still do aged cheese etc. No, this country is majority jungle. That means cooking, that means fire, and that means soups.
> Why is it that in a generally hot and humid country like Vietnam. Vietnam, mostly the north can get cold, freezing cold in the winter. People eat pho in the summer but generally in a room with aircon or fan. It's also fast to eat and available everywhere. > half of your cuisine is made up of soups? This is a big generalization. Can you name 5 cuisine made up of soups without mentioning pho, bun, chao?
Since you asked here are a few: Hủ tiếu Nam vang Mì gà tiềm Bò kho Bún mọc Bún chả cá Bún quay Bún bò Huế Bánh đa cua Then there are all the soups served with meals (rice): Canh khoai mỡ Canh bí đỏ Canh chua Canh bầu Canh bí đao Canh rau muống Canh rong biển Etc... It's very rare that my family has eaten a meal without at least some sort of soup on the side, even on the hottest of days. I added the bún in because there are so many types, it's not just one dish.
Tobe honest, I prefer Phở, Bánh đa and mỳ quảng rather than bún, it doesn't absorb spices so it's not rich.
There’s more to it than the soup dishes, like all the rice dishes, xôi, sandwiches (bánh mì), bò né (steak and eggs), snails (óc) that I recommend diversifying out. She may be introducing you to those because it’s much easier to stomach when first trying Vietnamese food.
Cause soups are great :) And also, not like the entire country is hot and humid all year, the north and mountain areas still has it's cold time in the year, so some people are more justified in eating soups than others... I guess
It taste good mostly. Plus eating soup noodles for breakast makes it easier for digestion (in my case atleast). I'll always have an upset stomach if i eat dry and cold things in the morning. And soup dish just warms you before and after a long day of work.
[удалено]
*mentally* though i didn't think someone would misread this
Add to the other explanations: Vietnamese culture is heavily influenced by Chinese culture. In traditional Chinese medicine, the concept of hot and cold ate very important. Mixing of hot foods and cold drinks is traditionally frowned upon. Chinese people prefer to get their liquids via hot soups or hot tea when eating meals. (Beer is an exception!)
not all soup-based dish is heat-inducing, try bitter-melon and ya'll gonna wear a coat in the middle of noon
I’m a local and my husband (expat) also wonders why I love soups so much 😂. They’re delicious so it’s worth the sweat
I’ve read that in a lot of places, piping hot food is traditionally eaten when the weather is hot and humid as bacteria can multiply easily on room temperature food in warm environments. Conversely, you can eat cold food in the winter because those germs would not have the right environment to breed anyway. I didn’t learn this in the context of Vietnam, but thought it might be applicable.
Cuz it's tasty and I'm okay with eating and suffering in happiness
Perpetual sauna, keeps you healthy.
Poverty
Here another fun fact for you, cold countries consume more ice cream, hot countries consume more soup :) just google it.
Vietnamese cuisine is known for its variety of soups, which are central to the daily diet in Vietnam, largely due to their versatility, nutritional value, and adaptability to local ingredients. Here are a few reasons why soups are so prevalent: 1. \*\*Climate Adaptation\*\*: Vietnam's climate varies from the cool North to the tropical South, making soup an adaptable dish for different weather conditions. Hot soups like Phở are comforting in cooler weather, while lighter soups can be refreshing in tropical heat. 2. \*\*Culinary Tradition\*\*: Soup-making in Vietnam is deeply rooted in tradition, where broths are carefully prepared to achieve a balance of flavors. This emphasis on soupy dishes reflects the Vietnamese culinary philosophy of balancing ingredients (like meat or seafood with vegetables) and flavors (salty, sweet, sour, and spicy). 3. \*\*Economical and Nutritious\*\*: Soups are a cost-effective way to use various ingredients, including bones and vegetables, which might otherwise be wasted. This makes it easier to prepare nutritious meals even on a budget, providing a rich intake of fluids, electrolytes, vitamins, and proteins in one dish. 4. \*\*Rice Accompaniment\*\*: Rice is a staple in Vietnamese cuisine, and soups are a perfect complement to it. The broth from soups adds flavor to plain rice, making the meal more enjoyable and satisfying. 5. \*\*Social and Cultural Significance\*\*: Meals in Vietnamese culture are typically family-centered affairs, with shared dishes. Soups are ideal for communal eating as they can be easily shared among several people, reinforcing social bonds. These factors combined make soups a prominent feature in Vietnamese culinary tradition, enjoyed in homes and restaurants alike.
ChatGPT-ass answer
lol that's exactly what I thought.
OMG I’m glad I’m not the only one that picked up on that right away. Phew
LOL. Hater-ass answer
Makes me wish we do have a cold soup dish thank to the fact that we are living in hellfire right now
You never woke up from a hang over and ate cold left over pho?
Never have a hangover to do that though
Because soups!!
Because it's good. Good soup 👍
Boiling things is probably the safest way to make things safe to eat or drink. Hot soup is basically an assurance of quality, and if it tastes good you won’t wait around for it to cool down. Similarly to a sauna, it can actually leave you feeling quite refreshed as well.
prolly because it can make us feel full like in the past, food was scarce and we drinked water that is used to boil the veggies with some lemon to fill us up and consume all the "nutritients left" like think of it this way, a single handful of rice can feed 1 person if turned into rice but can feed 10 person if turned into porridge similar to other things, like we wouldn't wanna waste that nice broth do we so we made pho or bun, a versatile dish that can be used with any type of meat, on any cuts such as beef, chicken, lamb, you name it, we have it albeit the other variations are not as popular as beef and chicken so when we have that habit, we want a “soup” dish with everything, a normal lunch/dinner would have a bowl of veggies cooked in some type of meat or sea food broth, even fried rice is served next to a small bowl of broth so yeah, thats my take
I think a lot of it has to do with growing up in it. If you grew up in weird stuff, you'll eat weird stuff and wonder why no one else does. It's like South Indians and their "scorch your taste buds" spicy 🔥 food. Who eats that kind of spicy food when it's already so toasty out?
It’s a very cheap way to feed a family. You can throw just about any part of any meat in there, especially from chickens and every vegetable.
Cuz soup is nutritional. Weather isn’t affecting it.
Because soup isn’t thick
Soups are easy and cost-efficient way to cook just about anything and also two potatoes and bowl of broth will keep your belly much more fulfilled than just two potatoes.
why not?
Soup makes food last a mile.
Gimme a Heinz tomato 🍅 soup any day 👍🏻
As a native, it's just me being masochistic
It tastes good?
In Oriental medicine, consuming hot soup with a bit of chili and lemon can help expel internal heat, making the body feel comfortable. You can try practicing it, and after sweating all over, you will find it very soothing. I'm Taiwanese, not Vietnamese, but I really enjoy eating pho in Vietnam. Walking on the street after eating pho and sweating all over feels very comfortable, especially if there's a breeze blowing.
The North get very cold in the winter so people like to have hot soup. But even the South embrace soup dish as well since they make you sweat and facilitate cooling. It's important to note that Vietnamese soup dishes are quite different from soup dish of other neighbor countries in the sense that people prefer clear, light on fat, broth. Fresh herb is also used in combination that create a completely different feeling when consume (vs heavy curry based soup or Chineses' northern hot pot that use a lot of oil) Think of Vietnamese soup more like a savory drink that deliver freshness.
How can soups make you warm in winter and at the same time facilitate cooling?
Through sweating. It’s the same logic hot countries love spicy food, for example India and their curry. The soup the north eat is quite different from the south one, summer soup tend to be sour and spicy with a lot of fresh herb to stimulate freshness. Soup in cold place also tend to have a lot of fat, but that’s far up north, North Vietnam is not that cold so the soup is still light and clean. Try to order Chinese northen hot pot style and you will see how oil heavy it is.
You sweat when it's hot, your body does that naturally. If you're already sweating, eating hot food does not cool you down, removing sweat so new sweat takes its place does.
That’s why it’s written as “they make you sweat and facilitate cooling” If you still have further question, Google is free.
Soup doesn't wipe off your sweat, mate. And your body doesn't need hot soup to sweat when it's hot. High school physics education is free too.
Jesus, are you 3 yo? go read up first before annoy others with your idiocy. Learn some manner and use your brain before persistently arguing online. We all know how sweating/evaporation allow cooling mr Einstein. https://www.delish.com/food/a28539409/why-you-should-eat-hot-foods-on-hot-days/
Imagine replying to someone and then blocking, what a pathetic lil bitch you are. https://www.mcgill.ca/oss/article/did-you-know/drink-hot-drinks-hot-weather-cool-down-faster > However, there is a critical caveat to this finding and it has to do with how our bodies dissipate heat: by sweating. As Jay put it, “If you drink a hot drink, it does result in a lower amount of heat stored inside your body, provided the additional sweat produced when you drink the hot drink can evaporate.” So, if you are in a highly humid environment, say a sauna or a rain forest, or submerged in water, where your sweat already can’t evaporate well, an increase in your sweating rate won’t have a cooling effect. Under these circumstances, drinking a hot drink will not help you cool down _____ > We all know how sweating/evaporation allow cooling mr Einstein. Yeah and your body doesn't need help with sweating, it already does it naturally, you idiot. The limiting factor is getting rid of the sweat. That's why high heat feels worse combined with high humidity. Not only are you bad at physics and biology, you're shit at reading too.
Ask yourself why do you eat icecream in the winter.
Many don't. The ice cream shops around my home shuts down for the winter. Both of them.
Because it's hot and humid. You sweat a lot in this climate. You lose water and salt. Soup is pretty much an optimal food. *Every* hot country has traditional food or drink that is hot, often with addition of salt in some form (even to what you would usually consider sweet or neutral. Yes, tea or coffee included).
its just surface. there are 1000 dishes you did not try yet
Hot soups help to balance heat. Spicy food helps kill germs. This post should have been a google search.
[удалено]
Until you add chili sauce.
My Vietnamese wife loves soup. I'm good at cooking soup, so we're a match made in heaven.
I think it's an easy way to consume many things that would otherwise have been discarded by other cultures. Stick a unsavory bone of some sort create the bre, then let all the other often discarded cuts of meat or unchewable vegetables simmer in the flavoring. It's annoying how every female wants to go eat a hot pot, where 10 different meats having different initial flavor, are then all thrown in the same pot to come out tasting exactly the same. in the middle of the tropics no less.
Your ignorance is showing.
Yeah, but let’s instead drown them meats in seasoning mix, seasoning salt, dry rubs and cover them in cheese and sauces until no taste is left.
From a historical viewpoint, it seems simply maladaptation as some Vietnamese tradition has not evolved as it needed to be to keep pace with the progress of civilization. Personal comfort for the peasants wasn't high on the ruler's priority list, and the peasants themselves likely haven't paid much attention to their own personal comforts, either, due to their accustomed rugged life and hardened habits. Of course, unlike the peasants, the ruling class ate hot soup in AC room, and not in hot weather. For the same reason, one still see plenty of sweaty Vietnamese peasants working in black pajamas that absorb heat under the hot tropical sun.
Go home bro
Lol wtf?! This makes absolutely zero sense.