How My Eating Habits Changed After Moving to Vietnam

In this post, I want to talk about how my eating habits have changed since I moved to Vietnam!

Southern Vietnam is a tropical paradise. There is no winter—only two seasons: the rainy season and the dry season. When the place and the climate change, your eating habits change too. Your body adapts to the environment, and your lifestyle follows naturally.

Almost as soon as I started living here, I began eating much less for dinner. Maybe it’s just because of the humid heat. When I was in Japan, I used to eat very big dinners. Many Japanese people are the same—they tend to eat a lot at night.

Recently, I even skip dinner many days. According to my Vietnamese friends, eating a big meal at night isn't very healthy. Instead, I started eating a lot for breakfast. In Japan, I often skipped breakfast, but now I eat a solid breakfast and lunch, and then no dinner! I feel much more comfortable this way.

In the past, I didn't hate sour things like tomatoes or vinegar, but I usually avoided them.

In Vietnam, noodle shops always have sliced limes on the table. At first, I didn't use them, but now I can’t eat without them! Adding that sour kick to a bowl of Bún bò Huế (spicy beef noodle soup with lemongrass) is the best! In the year-round heat of Ho Chi Minh City, sour food is essential for recovering from fatigue.

Japanese people love white rice. We even eat rice with cup noodles!

While Vietnamese people also like rice and noodles, the portions are usually smaller. Sometimes there are more meat, vegetables, and herbs (like cilantro) than carbs. It’s usually a 50/50 balance. When Vietnamese people see "mukbang" videos of people eating huge piles of rice, they say, "You'll get sick if you eat that much rice!"

Most of the fish you find in Vietnam are white fish with a light, simple flavor. Even in the countryside, there are plenty of seafood options, but not as much variety in fish.

To be honest, I really miss fatty fish like salmon and tuna. There are sushi restaurants everywhere in the city, so even if it’s expensive, I often end up going there to eat.

Even if I don't buy it myself, my colleagues and friends often give me fruit. For example, dragon fruit or mangoes.

I even eat fruits that aren't very sweet, like guava, with a bit of chili salt. I almost never ate these in my home country. Thanks to the people around me, I've developed a healthy habit of eating fruit every day.

I think this is also because of the humid weather.

In Japan, I almost never drank Coke. But since coming to Vietnam, I drink it about once every two days. Some of my colleagues drink it every day! Sometimes I go into a small cafe to take a break, and if I don't know what to order, I just get a Coke (lol). I don’t recommend drinking it every day, of course, but when you are out in the heat, you really crave that refreshing carbonated feeling.

I’m looking forward to seeing how my habits change next!