Since the age of 10, Andrea Nguyen cherished a dream of becoming a baker. From that time, the little girl is all passionately interested in learning Banh Mi recipes and making it herself. According to Andrea, Banh Mi in the southern Vietnam was flexibly made from different ingredients like their generosity. The ingredients can be some types of Vietnam herbs, cucumber, carrot, pork, chicken, pate, and even seafood. Besides, for vegetarians, they can make Vietnamese sandwich with fresh vegetable and tofu. Banh Mi is delicious and fit everyone's taste; nonetheless, its crust is not easily to make. The crust needs to be crispy but its inside must be soft. Especially, Banh Mi can made from different ingredients and eat with different types of sauce. You can use leftovers such as pork, beef, shrimp, etc to put inside Banh Mi. It is very simple but quite tasty.
In 1975, Andrea Nguyen along with her family immigrated to America. Her family often takes advantage of the similar ingredients to process hometown dishes. To make Vietnam bread, they had to buy it from bakeries of other immigrant families, however, they were not satisfied with these breads. Later on, they decided to make it themselves. Nowadays, Banh Mi Vietnam becomes more and more widespread in the United States. Banh Mi regularly appears in culinary magazines and even if in the menus of restaurants. Many food companies have embarked on making and selling this special food.
In spite of being known as one of popular and familiar Vietnamese street foods, Banh Mi has created a good impression for international travelers about Vietnam cuisine. A BBC correspondent David Farley wrote an article on a subject "Is the Banh Mi the world's best sandwich?”. In the article, David Farley describes in detail the origins, ingredients, and his feeling about Banh Mi Vietnam.
In addition, most recently, Vietnamese Banh Mi was voted as one of 5 the world's best street foods by tourism website o.canada.com. According to an editor Mark Stachiew, travelers can take a whole lifetime to taste all types of street foods in the world, however, there are 5 must-to-try including Falafel (Israel), Banh Mi (Viet Nam), Tamales (Mexico), Jerk Chicken (Jamaica), and Currywurst (German). In the article, Mark Stachiew described: “If the French did anything good for Vietnam, it was to introduce them to the baguette which is known as banh mi in Vietnam and is what is used for these tasty sandwiches which are a popular street food in this Southeast Asian country. Common fillings are pork, chicken, sausage or paté, topped with pickled carrot, cucumber and fresh cilantro. The combinations are seemingly infinite and each one is delicious.”