Vietnam is basking in popularity among regional and international cookbook publishers. At least two have knocked on the door of local author, Annabel Jackson, whose previous titles include culinary guide books, Vietnam On A Plate and Macau On A Plate.
Jackson has written the introduction to The Food Of Vietnam ($160) published by the Singapore-based Periplus Editions. The recipes were collected by Vietnamese cook Trieu Thi Choi and prepared by chefs at the old Saigon Floating Hotel in Ho Chi Minh City.
The second group in search of a taste of Indochina is the London-based Conran Octopus, which has commissioned a collection of Vietnamese street food recipes. The glossy cookbook is part of a series on street foods of the world.
Jackson gathered the recipes from people in the street, restaurant and hotel chefs and their mothers. Then she tested and adjusted each one to capture what she calls 'the disappearing Vietnam'.
An unexpected bonus, Jackson adds, was to chart traditional dishes which are becoming extinct as Vietnamese turn to supermarket food.
One of the increasingly-rare dishes is xoi, a glutinous rice breakfast dish served with sugar, salt, shallots and green beans. When you can get it at all, it is more likely to be in a plastic bag than wrapped in the traditional banana leaf.