Why FIsh Sauce?

Why Fish Sauce?

Today's topic is something that as perplex me, ever since I met my wife. She's Vietnamese and something that she loves to do as well as everyone else in her culture, is to dump everything into fish sauce. If you have not had fish sauce before, its a briny sweet sauce that may or may not contain hot peppers. It is made from fermented bony fish.

This sauce is often accompanied every dish that is served in a Vietnamese restaurant, whether it is a rice dish or their famous pho noodle soup. Most often I see it served especially with fried foods. Even before tasting the food to sample the inherent flavors, I see my wife and her family at times simply dip the food into the fish sauce automatically. This seems a bit foolish to me, as it compares to those that like to salt all their food before tasting. I often do not dip my food into the fish sauce and in turn get stares from my fellow diners. I like to taste the individual flavors before they get drowned out in the briny sweet liquid.

Perhaps it a cultural thing that I'm missing. Our perhaps everyone else is insane. Either case I just don't get it. I can see why you would put it with some foods. It does provide a bit of background flavor to most things, but somethings it can be a bit overpowering. Vietnamese cuisine is a mixture of French, Chinese and other Asian influences, yet this fish sauce thing is uniquely their own.

Perhaps someone in the audience can enlighten me. Once I figure out this love of fish sauce, perhaps I can turn my attention their their love of mint.