05/20/2026
Happy AAPI month! Today, we’re talking about our “bread and butter” (pun intended): bánh mì! 🥖
We all know what bánh mì is: it’s a VERY tasty sandwich that has lots of delicious ingredients.
But in traditional Vietnamese culture, there are tons of super interesting factoids about bánh mì that you may not have known.
We picked 3 that stood out to us:
1️⃣ “Bánh mì” translates to “bread!” That’s right: when we say we LOVE bánh mì, we’re saying we love the bread itself, not necessarily all of the yummy fillings.
2️⃣ Bánh mì isn’t usually a dinnertime meal (but we think it works PERFECTLY for dinner anyway). In a traditional Vietnamese setting, you need a warm meal, typically with rice or noodles, for it to be considered dinner. As a result, bánh mì is often thought of as breakfast or a daytime snack food.
3️⃣ Bánh mì has two distinct styles: North and South. When you order bánh mì in Northern Vietnam, you won’t be getting all the fillings we think of when we order it here. Instead, it’s very simple: bread, some sort of pâté, butter, and a little bit of salt and pepper. When you order it in the south, you get the much more familiar “everything-but-the-kitchen-sink” sandwich (pickled carrots, daikon, and cilantro).
One of the reasons culture is so rich comes from the food we eat!
What are a few things you know about bánh mì that we didn’t share here? Let us know below!
