Comparison of Chinese and Vietnamese food cultures

Abstract

As geographically adjacent countries with profound cultural ties, China and Vietnam share partially overlapping culinary traditions while exhibiting distinct culinary traits; however, existing academic literature lacks systematic comparative studies on their culinary cultures, leading to an incomplete understanding of their cross-cultural interactions in academia. This study adopts a cultural comparative approach—integrating systematic literature review, case study analysis, and cross-cultural comparison—to explore similarities and differences between Chinese and Vietnamese culinary cultures from three core dimensions: daily dining habits, festive culinary traditions, and dining etiquette. Key findings are as follows: for daily staples, Vietnamese phở typically features single-type meat toppings and lemon-infused broth, while China’s Yunnan Crossing-the-Bridge Rice Noodles are characterized by diverse toppings and chili oil; for festive foods, Chinese zongzi focus on commemorating the patriotic poet Qu Yuan, whereas Vietnamese zongzi center on ancestor worship; for dining etiquette, China follows hierarchical seating arrangements, while Vietnam retains floor-sitting customs in traditional settings. This study enriches academic discourse in Sino-Vietnamese cultural comparison and offers practical implications for cross-border tourism and catering cooperation.