Heaven scent (+recipes)

Vietnamese food is light, fragrant and full of exotic herbs. Photo / Jim Eagles

Once upon a time, a son of Vietnam's King Hung-Vuong III, An-Tiem, disobeyed one of his father's orders and was exiled to a desert island. After building a shelter, he began fishing and hunting to feed himself when he came across a green fruit as big as a ball. He split it in two and found a juicy red interior, but dared not eat it in case it was poisonous. Finally, as the days passed into a hot summer that drained An-Tiem's water supply, he quenched his thirst with the fruit. It tasted delicious and he immediately began to plant the seeds he found within.

He carved the island and his name into the side of some of the fruit and threw them into the ocean, where they were soon discovered by seamen who took tales of the strange new fruit back to the mainland.

The king was so proud of his brave son overcoming adversity that he summoned him back to court and handed him his crown. From that day on, the melon dua hau became a symbol of luck and an offering often given as a New Year's gift.

It is this kind of wonderful folklore that lends so much to Vietnamese food. This jewel of Southeast Asian cuisine has evolved over centuries, and though in this part of the world it still seems to play second fiddle to Thai food, it is much lighter and more fragrant, filled with an abundance of fresh herbs such as saw-leaf coriander, fingermint and yute leaf.

Traditional food from near Hanoi in the north shows the heavier influence of Chinese cooking, with stir-fries and noodle-based soups called pho. In the mountainous area is the former imperial capital of Hue, which offers an abundance of fresh produce. It's known for elaborate, spiced side dishes developed by royal chefs. In the fertile south, near Ho Chi Minh City and the Mekong Delta, there is an abundance of rice paddies, coconut groves and river fish, though French colonists too have had an impact on flavours here.

Vietnamese cuisine is influenced by the Asian principle of five elements: spicy - metal; sour - wood; bitter - fire; salty - water; and sweet - earth. And five types of nutrients: powder, water or liquid mineral elements, protein and fat; plus five colours, white - metal, green - wood, yellow - earth, red - fire and black - water.

Celebrity travelling chef Anthony Bourdain pays tribute to the Vietnamese for their tradition of wasting nothing, and for their exotic dishes of silkworm, bull's penis and cobra's beating hearts. Probably the most famous dish of Vietnamese cuisine, though, is banh cuon, or fresh rice-paper rolls wrapped around minced pork, prawn, toasted rice powder, mung beans and spring onions, served with a dipping sauce of chilli, lime juice, sugar, garlic and fish sauce.

Green papaya, crispy pork, coconut and chilli salad
Lace pancake with crab, mushroom and mung beans