sssIf I had to choose one cuisine to eat for the rest of my life, I would immediately opt for Vietnamese food. I spent several winters exploring the country, with time spent in Saigon and Hanoi, in Hue and Danang, and eating as much as I could every second of every day. As a celiac, eating gluten free in Vietnam was not only possible but gloriously easy. Once I learned the ingredients I needed to avoid, I stuck to street food where I could see dishes being made and I explored to my taste buds’ content.

The following guide will help people navigate Vietnam with an eye to avoiding gluten. I am very sensitive and have avoided some dishes at restaurants where oil could be contaminated. The benefit of street food is that often the stalls are one-stop wonders, and if it involves something fried on the spot, the oil is only used for that product.

Eating in Vietnam was a pleasure, but also a good part of why I love to write about food. It isn’t just about taste, but the experience of sharing a meal in the midst of chaos, sitting on a blue plastic chair.

I hope this guide, twinned with my long Saigon Street Food Guide will make your time in Vietnam exciting, delicious, and filled with incredible sights.

Last Update: June 2020

Overview

Gluten free Translation Card in Vietnamese

Gluten Free Vietnamese Food: Dishes, Snacks, and Shops

What ISN’T safe to eat as a celiac in Vietnam?

Books and Further reading about Vietnam

Overview of Eating as a Celiac in Vietnam

I was diagnosed as celiac in early 2000s, though I rarely wrote about it when I started Legal Nomads. Honestly, I didn’t think readers would be interested, and it was something I struggled with heavily as I travelled but I kept it to myself.

When I met readers, many mentioned they also had celiac disease, so I started making sure I provided tips for celiacs or those following a gluten-free diet. This gluten free Vietnam guide is built with an aim to help fellow celiacs, but also to encourage people to eat in the country — it’s truly some of the best food you’ll try.

Saigon was a paradise for celiacs. I have been “glutened” inadvertently in Hanoi, where wheat is used more frequently, but in the South — Saigon and the Mekong — I have not had any trouble. I should note cross-contamination is an issue as I am really sensitive to gluten, but despite this the soy sauce in Southern Vietnam has been fine for me. The soy sauce does not have wheat listed as an ingredient, unlike the ones we find in the West or in China and Japan.

Whether that means there is no trace gluten in the sauce remains in question, but I did not get sick when eating soy sauce dishes on the street.

There is some contention about soy sauce generally, as some companies have said that fermenting soy sauce removes the gluten. Yes, it’s true that fermenting means that testing antibodies won’t detect hydrolyzed gluten, but the peptide chains remain, and gliadin is still there. Nima Sensor has a whole blog post about i t, for those interested.

Tourist-driven (read: fancier) restaurants will import wheat-y soy sauce from elsewhere, so my solution was to eat everything streetside, with great success.

A Tailored Gluten-Free Translation Card for Vietnam

This card was the second in what has become a series of gluten free guides and local language cards, and I’m excited to be working with translators and celiacs to build detailed and safe cards for us to use on the road.Each of the cards in the guide has been created with celiac-specific research, mention of cross contamination, and double checked translation from locals who speak the language.

Note: The card is available for purchase via trustworthy 3rd party site that uses https, so you know your information is safe. I am not gathering emails or information for anyone who buys the card.

Why is this card different?

I have used several different translation cards on my travels, and still got sick. I may be more sensitive than some celiacs, but even a small amount of contaminated oil for frying, or soy sauce in the food, is enough to make me ill for days. Let alone the joint pain later that week! This card is different because it not only uses all of the local food names for what to eat or avoid, but makes clear mention of the cross contamination concerns.

An English version of the card – so you know what you’re buying! – is available on the purchase page.



A big thanks to To Tra for enlisting her entire family’s translation services in an aim to make this card as thorough as possible without overwhelming waitstaff.

Gluten Free Vietnamese Food: Dishes and Snacks Before I went to Vietnam, my familiarity with the cuisine was quite shallow. Even now, after years of time in Saigon, I am likely missing some of the great dishes in my repertoire. One of the most rewarding things about Vietnam travel is how excited people are to share their food with you. As a celiac, the best weapon against anxiety from the disease is an understanding of the building blocks that go into each dish. Vietnam makes this easy for you. One of the most helpful aspects of Vietnamese eating is that the dish names are profoundly descriptive. What we in the west call pho is not only a soup name, it refers to the noodle used in the soup. Same for many other dishes, such as the litany of bun or banh dishes, referring to the starch that defines them from other dishes. Please see my VERY long food guide to Saigon Street food for photos and a more thorough description of each of the dishes below — this should be read alongside the current gluten free Vietnam guide to provide you with the most thorough information prior to your visit. Condiments — the plum or hoisin sauce with pho, for example — ought to be chosen quite carefully, but the most common condiment of all, fish sauce, was gloriously gluten free. That said, Andrea Nguyen writes in her post on Asian gluten free eating that some fish sauces aren’t safe:

Note that occasionally fish sauce will have an ingredient called hydrolyzed wheat protein, which is not gluten free. I have not seen fish sauce with this used in Vietnam very frequently but it merits checking if you are celiac. The Vietnamese ingredient name is “protein lua mi”

Thankfully I did not suffer adverse reactions to fish sauce during my winters of eating in Vietnam, but it is worth mentioning in the event it becomes more common.

Note that eating gluten free in Hanoi was more difficult for me than in the central or southern areas of Vietnam, due to the Hanoi and northern Vietnamese dishes’ use of soy sauce more frequently than in the south where fish sauce rules.

Gluten Free Vietnamese Dishes For banh xeo and banh khot, please be sure to ask if their batter has wheat and rice flour. The recipe is meant to be made with rice flour but some places are using pre-made mixes, in which case it is not safe for celiacs. See here for a recipe for banh khot that I’ve made many times since I lived in Vietnam.

Hu tieu (tapioca) noodles – these can be found in hu tieu Nam Vang a soup that was one of my favourite breakfasts. It’s important to note that some forms of hu tieu soups don’t actually use hu tieu noodles . As I wrote in my Saigon Street Food Guide, hu tieu soups can come wet or dry, with dry noodles stir-fried or lightly pan-fried and the broth on the side. There are also a few types of noodles commonly served with hu tieu soup, (1) mi (egg noodles, see below for UNSAFE foods where these wheat-based noodles reside in this guide), (2) hu tieu noodles, made with tapioca starch so they’re springier, and (3) pho or bun noodles, made with rice flour. Only (1) is off limits for us celiacs.

. As I wrote in my Saigon Street Food Guide, hu tieu soups can come wet or dry, with dry noodles stir-fried or lightly pan-fried and the broth on the side. There are also a few types of noodles commonly served with hu tieu soup, (1) mi (egg noodles, see below for UNSAFE foods where these wheat-based noodles reside in this guide), (2) hu tieu noodles, made with tapioca starch so they’re springier, and (3) pho or bun noodles, made with rice flour. Only (1) is off limits for us celiacs. Goi cuon – fresh spring rolls, which are wrapped in rice paper. Often called summer rolls in North America.

Mi quang – the exception to the “mi / my” category below, mi quang noodles are actually made of rice, served with a smaller amount of broth that is tinted with turmeric. They are wider than pho noodles and quite delicious!

Mien (mung bean flour) noodles. Mien noodles can often be found in stalls that sell pho, and one of my favourite dishes to get when I had a cold was mien ga, chicken noodle soup with mung beans as the noodle base.

Pho (rice flour or rice starch) – while we often use pho as the name of the soup, the soup’s name comes from the noodle itself, which is made from rice flour.

Bun (rice flour or rice starch) – there are a whole slew of bun soups – bun bo, bun mam, bun ca, bun thang, bun moc, bun mang vit, and many more. For those growing up in the West, please do explore the extraordinary variety of Vietnamese soups beyond pho. Many of these soups do not have soy sauce in them, but it is always important to ask. Whenever I had a cold, bun moc, a pork and mushroom meatball soup with rice noodles, was my favourite go-to to help me feel better. Banh canh (tapioca and rice noodles), often served in banh canh cua, an incredible crab noodle soup that I often ate for breakfast near my apartment in Saigon.

(tapioca and rice noodles), often served in banh canh cua, an incredible crab noodle soup that I often ate for breakfast near my apartment in Saigon. Cha gio (fried spring rolls, wrapped in rice paper) Northern-style Vietnamese restaurants will call these nem. Note that for celiacs eating in Hanoi, and with more and more frequency in the south, they are not always made with rice paper as the wrapper. Northern nem are sometimes dipped in bread crumbs before being fried, so again please be cautious if not in Saigon. These days, it’s important to ask if the fried rolls are made using banh trang (rice paper) or won ton or flour wrappers.

(fried spring rolls, wrapped in rice paper) Northern-style Vietnamese restaurants will call these Note that for celiacs eating in Hanoi, and with more and more frequency in the south, they are not always made with rice paper as the wrapper. Northern are sometimes dipped in bread crumbs before being fried, so again please be cautious if not in Saigon. These days, it’s important to ask if the fried rolls are made using banh trang (rice paper) or won ton or flour wrappers. Com (rice) – com tam (broken rice), com suon (rice with pork chop), com hen (rice with baby clams) — com anything, really. The com itself is safe, but as with any protein dishes you need to confirm that the meat or seafood was not marinated in a marinade that includes soy sauce. During my years of living in Southern Vietnam, soy sauce was not prevalent, but readers report it is more and more common in the south.

(rice) – (broken rice), (rice with pork chop), (rice with baby clams) — com anything, really. The com itself is safe, but as with any protein dishes you need to confirm that the meat or seafood was not marinated in a marinade that includes soy sauce. During my years of living in Southern Vietnam, soy sauce was not prevalent, but readers report it is more and more common in the south. Chao long – this is a congee-like porridge, made with rice and some deliciously nutritious offal like lungs and intestines, as well as blood cubes. It’s not for everyone, but it is amazing if you enjoy your grisly parts. Note that they usually come with bread on the side, or chopped inside, but you can just decline them.

– this is a congee-like porridge, made with rice and some deliciously nutritious offal like lungs and intestines, as well as blood cubes. It’s not for everyone, but it is amazing if you enjoy your grisly parts. Note that they usually come with bread on the side, or chopped inside, but you can just decline them. Oc – is technically the word for snails, but an oc restaurant will not only serve snails but also a dizzying variety of delicious seafood, from grilled scallops to lemongrass clams, and so much more. Often these are cooked over the fire or steamed, and I did not encounter breaded options very often. Unlike the fried oysters or breaded scallops of Canada, I was able to partake in almost all of the seafood at these stalls, and it was incredibly tasty. For a primer, please see Vietnam Coracle’s Snails and Seafood guide. Gluten Free Vietnamese Snacks I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the snacks.

One of the hardest parts about being a celiac is that often the “on the go” snacks that countries offer are made from wheat. It makes sense; the sandwich or pastry are both easy ways to transport food without making a mess. With the exception of Mexico, where corn snacks are everywhere, I’ve had a hard time with mid-meal noshes.

Not so in Vietnam! From banh trang nuong (grilled rice paper rolls), below, to banh trang tron (rice paper shredded and mixed with quail egg, peanuts, chili oil, and green mango into a salad), to banh trang cuon (rice paper rolls with similar ingredients but rolled and cut into a bag), I never felt hungry when soups were lacking. None of these had any wheat.