The best way to experience a new culture is to eat your way through it. Or that is what I would like to think. Food is one of the only things that I believe that can unite people. No matter who you are or where you are from, because at the end of the day we all need to eat.

During the second night of Vũng Tàu, the interns and a couple of the ambassadors decided to hit the town and explore local food shops. We began our night at this shop on the side of the road, called Com Tam Loan. It looked like every other shop on the road to a foreigner like myself. But when we found our way to our seats we were treated to smell of sweet and smoky barbeque. As our mouths watered and our stomach grumbled, we were treated complimentary fresh fruits and while we anticipated our next dinner.

Dinner was passed around the table, and our eyes were greeted with to glistening pieces of pork charred to perfection on a bed of broken rice with a side of string beans, eggs, thinly sliced pork belly, and house special fish sauce. This dish is known as Cơm Tấm, which directly translates to broken rice. A well-known dish in South Vietnam, and for a good reason. The flavour of the pork melted smoothly into the tender fragments of rice, the fish sauce that was unique to Cơm Tấm Loan added a sweet and tangy note to break up the grease from the pork. Overall, the dish was an amazing meal to finish off my night.