With over 400 recipes gathered from all across Vietnam, this new cookbook is a love letter to the country’s cuisine from a daughter of the diaspora.

Left to right: Recipes in the book include one for savory mini pancakes called banh khot; Anaïs Ca Dao van Manen. (Photos: Pham Bich Phuong (left); Mat Bet)

Born in Paris but raised in Vietnam and schooled in Singapore, chef Anaïs Ca Dao van Manen has worked as far afield as London and Bogotá. Here, the author behind Phaidon’s new title Vietnam: The Cookbook shares what it was like to pursue the project.

Tell us about the research you did for the cookbook.

There were two parts to it. First, I lined up all the dishes my family and I knew, with help from my aunties and a few cooks in Saigon. We cooked together for like a year—three days a week, four or five recipes at a time. For the dishes I didn’t know, I asked people who knew a particular region well to introduce me to the communities there. It took six months to meet the locals, their parents, and grandparents—people with immense knowledge of traditional cuisine. Every region in Vietnam has its own distinct culture, and there are also 54 ethnic groups, such as the Ba Na, the Ma, and the Red Dao, each with its own way of using ingredients.

While exploring northern Vietnam, you fell in love with mountainous Ha Giang Province. Why is that?

It was one of my best experiences. I spent a week at a local homestay, sleeping beside the owner, Co Mui, and her family. They made an omelet that resonated with me: you fry the egg without any seasoning, adding just a splash of fish sauce when it’s nearly done. Once you flip it, the fish sauce caramelizes and seasons the whole dish. It’s simple, and it’s great. On another visit, someone from the Nung ethnic community who worked at our hut-like “hotel” invited us to her friend’s wedding. We got very drunk on ruou men—a local rice wine everyone has their own recipe for—sang karaoke, and hung out with older women chewing betel leaves. I want to show people how welcoming they are, and how there’s more to Vietnam than its mainstream destinations.

How do you want readers to see Vietnamese cuisine through your book?

I hope people will discover there are so many types of food within it. To eat seafood and snails, you go to a specific kind of restaurant, quan oc. A home-cooked family meal comes with rice, meat dishes, soups, and sides. And then you go out to eat noodles by yourself. Vietnamese cuisine is defined by moments and circumstances.

Has the project changed your outlook on being Vietnamese?

I gave up on thinking too much about identity. Even though I grew up in Vietnam, I went to a French school and speak Vietnamese with an accent. But people have been so nice to me since I came back. Now I’m just grateful that I got to cook and eat all these dishes. Everyone is an amalgam of the things, experiences, and people they come across.

Vietnam: The Cookbook by Anaïs Ca Dao van Manen is published by Phaidon.

Another featured recipe in the book is for a whole grilled chicken rubbed with chili. (Photo:

This article originally appeared in the December 2025/February 2026 print issue of DestinAsian magazine (“Tasting a Nation”). Buy a single issue or subscribe here.

Introducing Phaidon’s Latest Asia-Focused Cookbook

Stay inspired with our DestinAsian newsletters