Bánh mi is a great sandwich-like dish worth trying

Wednesday’s blog entry was about pho, the delicious soup that can be found at local Vietnamese restaurants.

It is a part of this week’s blog posts about the cultural diversity that can be found in Gulf Coast restaurants. It is a delicious choice, and I encourage you to give it a try.

Another offering you might like to try is what is mistakenly called a Vietnamese style po-boy, or more properly bánh mi.

It is a sandwich-like dish made with crusty French bread and other ingredients, such as pâté, Chinese-style roasted red pork, Vietnamese-style sandwich meats and lots more stuffed inside.

I never met a banh mi that I did not like. You can be sure the Vietnamese did not borrow this idea from New Orleans, the reputed home of the po-boy.

Vietnam was a colony of France for many years, and Frenchmen are known for sticking almost anything in between a sliced open baguette.

You didn’t really think that the pâté you got in your last banh mi was a local invention, did you?

The Vietnamese have done a wonderful job of adding French touches to their national cuisine, if you have not already done so, give bánh mi a try.