Ok, so. You’re in Vietnam, you’ve got to have a banh mi sandwich, no question. But it’s also 32 degrees from dawn until dusk, and those street carts do *not* look like they have any kind of refrigeration. And while I like to fancy myself an adventurous eater, I restrict myself to the tofu banh mi in Chinatown in Toronto (air conditioned, health inspected, etc.) out of concern for the provenance of the meat. Am I really going to eat one where the meat has been sitting out in the streets of Saigon all day? Well, I had to work

A cooking class at the originally monikered Saigon Cooking Class. Great fun, with the market visit to start, and then four dishes prepared over 3 hours. On the menu: 1. Tofu Soup with Tomato, Herbs and Whipped Egg 2. Grilled Beef, Herb and Kumquat Salad, with Sticky Fish Sauce Dressing 3. Braised Caramelised Pork 4. Chicken Curry with Lemongrass and Coconut Juice Verdict: #2 was the standout for flavour, but the technique and general flavour profile behind the caramelisation of #3 was probably the most interesting, especially so since we’d had a caramelised fish dish the night before that was super tasty. #1 was quick,

Ben Thanh Market, y’all. We got a guided tour of the erstwhile Les Halles Centrales prior to a cooking class. Most interesting was the whiteboard listing the average meat and fish prices for the month— you still get the fun of haggling, but no one gets really screwed over.