Know · Ingredients

The delta pantry: what the kitchen is built on

Coconut, fermented fish, palm sugar, rice and a long list of field greens hold the delta kitchen together. This page explains each one, where it comes from, and which of them you can sensibly carry home.

By Mekong Cuisine editors · Published 2026-10-12 · Last reviewed 2026-10-12 · Corrections

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kinds of mắm counted at Chau Doc market (2013): ≈30
Khmer palm-sugar craft announced as national heritage: 2024
OCOP products of 3 stars or more in the delta: 3,900+

Coconut

Coconut runs through the southern kitchen: coconut milk in bánh xèo batter, coconut water in the broth of Khmer bún nước lèo and in braised cá linh, coconut meat in Ben Tre's candy. Ben Tre, now part of Vinh Long province, had nearly 40,000 hectares of coconut in 2021, according to Báo Pháp luật, and its green Siamese coconut (dừa xiêm xanh) holds a 2018 geographical indication.

In Cau Ke, in the former Tra Vinh province, growers raise dừa sáp, a wax coconut whose flesh is dense rather than watery. It is usually blended into a smoothie. Palm heart — củ hủ dừa — appears in Can Tho's bánh xèo.

Sources: Báo Pháp luật — Khám phá sản vật miền Nam, Kỳ 14 (May 2021); Thời báo Tài chính — Bến Tre đặc sản chỉ dẫn địa lý (Dec 2021); Zing — Một lần đến Trà Vinh (Nov 2014); Znews — món ăn miền Tây (Oct 2016) · checked 2026-10-12.

Mắm: fermented fish

Mắm is fish fermented with salt, and in the delta it is a family of products rather than one. At Chau Doc market, VnExpress counted about 30 kinds in 2013, named after the fish: mắm thái, mắm sặt, mắm trê, mắm lóc, mắm rô, mắm trèn and mắm cá linh among them. VNAT calls Chau Doc the kingdom of pickled fish. SGGP adds mắm cá linh from Chau Doc and Tinh Bien, made in the flood season.

Mắm goes into hotpots (lẩu mắm), noodle soups (bún mắm, bún nước lèo), dips, and the sweetened mắm thắng đường served with bún cá. The Khmer mắm bò hóc — prahok — is made from snakehead, catfish and shrimp and fermented for at least six months, according to VietnamPlus.

Sources: VnExpress — Xách giỏ đi chợ Châu Đốc (Aug 2013); Vietnam National Authority of Tourism — Dining in the Delta; SGGP — Cá linh mùa rộ (Sep 2017); VietnamPlus — Bún nước lèo Sóc Trăng (Dec 2023); Znews — Lẩu mắm, thốt nốt sữa và món ngon An Giang (Mar 2019) · checked 2026-10-12.

Palm sugar from the Seven Mountains

Sugar palms are common in the mountain areas of An Giang — the Bảy Núi, or Seven Mountains, around Tri Ton and Tinh Bien. Nhân Dân reported in December 2024 that An Giang had announced the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism's decision recognising the Khmer palm-sugar craft of Tri Ton and Tinh Bien as national intangible cultural heritage. In Tri Ton, Znews also describes thốt nốt sữa, a milk drink sweetened with the sugar.

Bought dry and in a sealed pack, palm sugar is one of the easier delta foods to carry home, far easier than mắm or fermented pork.

Sources: Nhân Dân — nghề làm đường thốt nốt của đồng bào Khmer (Dec 2024); Znews — Lẩu mắm, thốt nốt sữa và món ngon An Giang (Mar 2019) · checked 2026-10-12.

Rice, noodles and rice paper

Rice is the delta's base, and it is also a story of plant breeding. ST25, developed in Soc Trang by Hồ Quang Cua's team over about 20 years from a cross of ST3 and Tiến Vua, won the World's Best Rice title in 2019, 2023 and 2025, according to Vietnam News Bizhub.

Most rice ends up as noodles. My Tho's hủ tiếu is cut from dried rice sheets made with fragrant local rice, and the My Phong and Ward 9 workshops produce more than 40 tonnes a day. Bánh tằm noodles are still piped by hand at Ngan Dua. Rice paper is the wrapper you meet at the table: diners wrap fried elephant-ear fish in it, and Ben Tre candy makers wrap each piece of coconut candy in a thin sheet.

Sources: Vietnam News Bizhub — ST25 rice (Dec 2025); SGGP — Miền Tây có hủ tiếu Mỹ Tho (Jan 2023); Tuổi Trẻ — Bánh tằm Ngan Dừa (Jan 2011); Vietnam National Authority of Tourism — Dining in the Delta; Znews — Kẹo dừa Bến Tre (Sep 2024) · checked 2026-10-12.

Field greens and flowers

A delta meal comes with a pile of leaves, and many of them grow wild in fields and canals. In the flood season SGGP lists yellow điên điển flowers, kèo nèo and water-lily stems (bông súng) for hotpots. Znews adds rau nhút (water mimosa) and diếp cá (fish mint) to the Long Xuyen lẩu mắm. VnExpress describes đọt choại, curled young fern shoots eaten raw, blanched or stir-fried with shrimp, in the former Hau Giang. Bún nước lèo uses ngải bún, an aromatic rhizome, alongside lemongrass, and is served with banana blossom and water spinach.

Sources: SGGP — Cá linh mùa rộ (Sep 2017); Znews — Lẩu mắm, thốt nốt sữa và món ngon An Giang (Mar 2019); VnExpress — Thưởng thức ẩm thực Hậu Giang (Dec 2019); Vietnam News — Bún nước lèo, the pride of Sóc Trăng (Mar 2021) · checked 2026-10-12.

Preserved meat and seafood

Nem Lai Vung, from Lai Vung in Dong Thap, is fermented pork with pork skin wrapped in vông and banana leaves. Nhân Dân reported in April 2026 that the craft dates from around 1960 and is national intangible heritage, with more than 20 producers making hundreds of thousands of pieces a day. In Ca Mau, the salted ba khía crab of Rach Goc became a national heritage craft in 2020; the crabs are harvested in the 7th to 9th lunar months. Ca Mau's mud crab comes from about 386,000 hectares of farming, according to Đại biểu Nhân dân; it has a geographical indication, though the paper notes counterfeiting is a problem.

Sources: Nhân Dân — Làng nghề nem Lai Vung (Apr 2026); Báo Pháp luật — Muối ba khía ở Cà Mau (Jul 2021); Đại biểu Nhân dân — Chỉ dẫn địa lý cua Cà Mau (Nov 2025) · checked 2026-10-12.

Buying to take home: OCOP stars

Packaged delta foods often carry OCOP stars, the national One Commune One Product rating. At the 2025 regional OCOP forum, Đại biểu Nhân dân reported more than 3,900 delta products rated three stars or higher, 82.3% of them foods; An Giang alone had 14 five-star and 52 four-star products. The stars tell you a product has been assessed under the programme; they do not tell you it will survive a flight.

Sources: Đại biểu Nhân dân — Diễn đàn OCOP vùng ĐBSCL 2025 (Sep 2025) · checked 2026-10-12.

When carrying food home is a bad idea

Mắm and fermented pork smell, leak and keep fermenting. Pack them only if they are factory-sealed, and never in cabin baggage.
Fresh fruit and meat products are restricted by many countries' import rules. Check your destination's customs website before you buy.
Coconut candy softens in heat; palm sugar and dried noodles travel better.
Unlabelled products from an open counter have no date and no ingredient list. Choose labelled packs if you have allergies.

Common questions

Questions readers send

What is mắm?

Fish fermented with salt. In the delta there are dozens of kinds, each named for its fish, used in hotpots, noodle soups and dips. Chau Doc's market is the best-known place to see them.

Can I take mắm on a plane?

Only factory-sealed packs in checked baggage are sensible, and some countries restrict fish products. Check your airline's and your destination country's rules first.

What is đường thốt nốt?

Palm sugar from sugar palms in the mountains of An Giang, around Tri Ton and Tinh Bien. The Khmer palm-sugar craft there was announced as national intangible cultural heritage in 2024.

What does an OCOP star rating mean?

OCOP is Vietnam's One Commune One Product programme. Products are assessed and given a star rating; the delta figures on this page count products rated three stars or more.

A riverside market town on a wide river with boats moored along the bank

Food towns · Chau Doc

Chau Doc

Mắm, bún cá, palm sugar and flood-season cá linh on the Cambodian border.

Small silver river fish in a woven basket next to a bunch of yellow flowers at a market

Eat · Seasonal

Flood-season food

Mùa nước nổi: cá linh, điên điển flowers, lẩu mắm and low-water years.

A large golden pancake folded on a plate beside a basket of fresh green leaves

Eat · Cakes and sweets

Rice cakes and sweets

Bánh xèo, bánh pía, bánh tằm, bánh cống, coconut candy and the folk-cake festival.

Baskets of tropical fruit — rambutan, mangosteen and pomelo — at a riverside market

Know · Fruit

Fruit calendar

Harvest months, growing areas and geographical indications for delta fruit.

A spread of Mekong Delta dishes on a table: noodle soup, a crisp yellow pancake and a plate of herbs

Reference · Dishes

Dishes by town

The dish table: origin town, new province, when to eat, source.

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