Where vegan travellers get stuck in Vietnam

Vietnam looks like an easy place to eat vegetarian: a long tradition, vegetarian places everywhere, and two days a month when much of the city eats vegetarian together. Yet fully plant-based visitors still get stuck — usually in places nobody expects.

1. Fish sauce — the biggest trap

Fish sauce is in almost everything, including dishes that look entirely vegetable:

• Pickles of carrot and daikon — the most vegetable thing on the plate, and very often made with fish sauce.
• Dipping sauces served with fresh rolls and savoury pancakes.
• Broths for many noodle dishes, even when the stock is vegetable-based.
• Stir-fries and braises — seasoning with fish sauce is simply reflex in a Vietnamese kitchen.

The difficulty is that fish sauce isn't visible, and vendors don't think of it when asked "is there meat in this". To them it's a seasoning, not meat or fish — so "no meat" is an honest answer.

2. Two definitions that don't line up

In many countries "vegetarian" includes eggs and dairy by default, and "vegan" means nothing animal-derived. In Vietnam the lines fall differently:

• Lifelong vegetarians — eggs and dairy vary by person.
• Periodic vegetarians — many avoid only obvious meat and fish.
• Honey generally isn't counted among things to avoid here, unlike in the West.
• The five pungent roots — onion and garlic — matter to many Vietnamese vegetarians and almost never to Western plant-based eaters.

The result: both sides use the same word for different things, and both believe they've been clear.

3. Asking the wrong question

"Is this vegetarian?" is a closed question, and the answer is nearly always yes — because the person answering uses their own definition.

A more effective approach is asking about specific components:

• "Do the pickles have fish sauce?"
• "Does the sauce have egg?"
• "Is the frying oil shared with non-vegetarian food?"

These are specific enough to be hard to answer wrongly, and easier for the vendor to answer accurately.

4. Opening hours

Many vegetarian places in Vietnam keep their own rhythm: open in the morning, closed in the afternoon, shut early. Visitors used to late-opening restaurants get caught out — particularly after a long-distance bus or a midnight arrival from the airport.

On the first and fifteenth of the lunar month the reverse applies: far busier, and some places sell out early.

5. Mock meat causes confusion

A menu listing "vegan fish", "vegan chicken" or "vegan meat" confuses visitors in two opposite directions: some think it's actual meat, others think they've ordered wrongly.

This is why ingredient descriptions matter more than names — borrowing meat names is a local convention that outsiders have no key to decode.

6. Soy allergy is nearly unworkable

Vietnamese vegetarian cooking rests deeply on soy: tofu, tofu skin, soy sauce, fermented bean curd, vegan cold cuts. Someone with a soy allergy genuinely struggles here, and that's better said plainly than smoothed over.

Things that help

• Learn three words: "chay" (vegetarian), "nước mắm" (fish sauce), "trứng" (egg). Those three cover most situations.
• The most useful sentence: "No fish sauce, no egg, no dairy." Name what you don't eat rather than naming a category.
• Find a fully vegetarian place rather than a meat restaurant with vegetarian options — a vegetarian kitchen has no shared frying oil to worry about.
• Know a late-opening place in advance if your schedule includes a night flight or bus.
• Call ahead for important meals — you can ask and hear the answer, which beats reading an online description.

Five shops, all open 24 hours: 38 Le Thi Rieng, 15B Nguyen Thi Minh Khai, 2B Tran Hung Dao, 148B De Tham (District 1) and 210 Bui Van Ba (District 7). Call 0923.183.183.

Quick answers

What's the biggest trap?

Fish sauce, because it's in almost everything including dishes that look entirely vegetable, especially pickles. It isn't visible, and vendors treat it as a seasoning rather than as fish.

Why isn't "is this vegetarian?" enough?

It's a closed question and the answer is nearly always yes, since the person answering uses their own definition. Asking about specific components is harder to answer wrongly.

How do the two definitions differ?

In many countries "vegetarian" includes eggs and dairy while "vegan" excludes everything animal-derived. In Vietnam, eggs and dairy vary among lifelong vegetarians, honey generally isn't excluded, and the five pungent roots matter a great deal.

What's the most useful sentence?

"No fish sauce, no egg, no dairy" — naming what you don't eat rather than naming a category.

Fully vegetarian place or a meat restaurant with options?

A fully vegetarian place, since the whole kitchen is vegetarian and there's no shared frying oil to worry about.

What about a soy allergy?

Very difficult, since Vietnamese vegetarian cooking rests deeply on soy — tofu, tofu skin, soy sauce, fermented bean curd, vegan cold cuts. Better said plainly than smoothed over.