The other day I saw a vendor selling 鱼翅 (sharkfin) at exorbitant prices at a market in Saigon.  My friend and I decided that although we couldn’t afford shark fin, we should still learn a little about Vietnamese 烹饪 (cuisine).  We took a cooking class, and it became clear as soon as I made my 沙拉 (salad) that I wasn’t too concerned with the cooking concepts of 色香味 (color, fragrance, and flavor).  By chance, I was able to make a very 正宗 (authentic) tasting 酸甜 (sweet and sour) soup.  Perhaps the next step will be to learn how to cook some good Mekong 鲇鱼 (catfish)!

鱼翅 yu2chi4 – sharkfin
烹饪 peng1ren4 – cuisine
沙拉 sha1la1 – salad
色 se4 – color (Chinese cuisine is known to focus on ‘color, fragrance, and flavor’)
香 xiang1 – fragrance/fragrant
味 wei4 – flavor (in its single-character form)
正宗 zheng4zong1 – authentic/original
酸甜 suan1tian2 – sweet and sour
鲇鱼 nian2yu2 – catfish