Bánh Mì

Banh mi first came to Vietnam through French soldiers during the French colonization with the name ‘baguette’, but Vietnamese Banh mi usually has a fluffier texture and crispier crust than the French baguette due to the baking tools and techniques used.

In the 1860s, when France made their first steps into Vietnam to begin their invasion, their bread made from wheat flour also arrived in Vietnam.

The original French baguette had a thin and long shape, the crust was not crispy and the core was thicker.

At that time, a baguette was an expensive dish, which was only served to the upper class or French, because wheat could not be planted in Vietnam due to the tropical weather and imported wheat flour was very expensive.

Nevertheless, when World War I began a lot of the French had to go back home for the war and the price of French food suddenly decreased.

Vietnamese could now eat these foods which they did not have the opportunity to before.

The baguette was one of them, and after the Vietnamese tried the baguette they remade it by adding rice flour to the ingredients (which is always available in this agricultural country), made it shorter and baked it in a different way.

These changes made Banh mi the flavor it is today which is much different from the baguette.

Besides, Vietnamese also have another name for the new baguette: “Banh mi”.