Paris is a massive city, with a very diverse conglomeration of peoples and ethnic groups that comprise the city. I want to explore these groups, talk a little about them, where they are in the city, and how they add to the food culture of Paris and a tiny review of the food I tried. Today I wanna discuss the Vietnamese and Diaspora of Paris.
First lets cover the Vietnamese community of Paris. Paris is home to the oldest overseas Vietnamese community in the world. This is a remnant of Frances colonial past, as modern day Vietnam was once the colony of “French Indochina”.
The colonization of Vietnam by the French lead to a mingling of French culture and language with the Vietnamese and a (relatively) large group of Vietnamese coming to Paris to live, work, and study. There are +70,000 people of Vietnamese descent in Paris, mostly in the
13th arrondissement and Suburbs around Paris. They bring a unique food culture with them that is more uncommon in America.
I had myself some Pho and Nayme (that last one I am certainly misspelling and I apologize), from three different restaurants. I enjoyed the Pho the most, and that meal I also had a traditional Vietnamese rice pudding and Ice cream desert that was also enjoyable. At the slightly more fancy place we went, honestly I didn’t like what I got, but I only ordered an appetizer and it was only like $8USD. Earlier that day I had also eaten at another Vietnamese place for lunch, thats when I had the “Nam me” or “Nayme” (still cant spell it to save my life) item and that was very satisfying for a quick lunch. Overall would give the Vietnamese food in Paris a 7.5/10. Definitely worth trying at least once, and would probably recommend Pho if its offered on the menu.