Eating Viet Nam

Starred review from February 9, 2015
In this wry, entertaining food and travel memoir, journalist and “Noodlepie” blogger Holliday escapes a future career as an office drone by expatriating to Vietnam, where he makes his living as an English teacher. His true passion, however, is the quest for the best and most interesting street food in Ha Noi. At first, locals only point him to “big, fancy-schmancy” hotels “serving western, ‘Asian’—whatever that is.” But upon further digging, Holliday unearths the pleasures of street-stall bit tet—“A thin slice of beef comes with three (count them) potato fries, a token sprinkling of green onions, a fried egg, and a ball of peppery coagulated cow blood”—pho, and, of course, bahn mi, the Vietnamese baguette sandwich, which merits its own chapter. Holliday’s lively chronicle of the beginnings of his blog, Noodlepie, at the dawn of the blogosphere, sets the stage for his successful transition from English teacher to freelance writer. Writing in an inviting style with ample humor, and using his intricate knowledge of street food and life in Vietnam, Holliday keeps the pages turning with stories of food that is delicious—the search for the perfect bun cha, “the astounding lunchtime BBQ pork and noodles”—and more questionable: “As the pig’s uterus landed on the blue plastic table in front of me, I knew I’d made a mistake.”

February 15, 2015

Anthony Bourdain regularly proclaims his love for Vietnam, so it's no surprise that one of the books for his Ecco imprint should chronicle the foods of this country. When Holliday moved from England to Hanoi to teach English, another expat advised him to find a hobby, and the author realized his passion was discovering great food. But Holliday wasn't interested in eating at the restaurants Westerners frequented. His fascination was in the street fare that the Vietnamese ate. Holliday takes readers on a gastronomical tour of the many provisions on offer, from the relatively tame--pho and banh mi--to the more bizarre, such as cobra and pig's uterus, and advises readers on what to look for when choosing local food. VERDICT With a personal, often humorous tone, Holliday does an exceptional job of bringing the heat, noise, and plethora of scents and flavors of Vietnam to life, and this book will definitely spark the curiosity and appetite of all readers.--Melissa Stoeger, Deerfield P.L., IL

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