When it comes to a Vietnamese fresh spring roll, there are several meats you can use inside. Whether it’s beef, chicken, pork, or shrimp, here’s a quick breakdown of what we think is the healthiest.

Beef

Beef is an excellent meat choice for a fresh spring roll. First and foremost, beef is a high quality protein. It’s also rich in a wide variety of nutrients, including iron, zinc, vitamin B12, and selenium. Unfortunately, beef’s main drawback is that it also contains cholesterol-raising saturated fats. Palmitic acid and myristic acid are a few of the bad fats in beef that are worth avoiding.

So ultimately, it’s a conversation you have to have with yourself as to what’s right for your health. Contrary to a lot of what mainstream society says, red meat isn’t inherently bad. It helps to build muscle and repair tissue, increase red blood cell count, and strengthens the immune system. Cholesterol-wise though, if you have issues here, beef may be best avoided on most days.

Read more: What is the Healthiest Meat to Select for my Vietnamese Fresh Spring Roll – read here!

As one of the spicier salads out there, papaya salad may not have quite caught on in North America compared to other dishes. That said, papaya salad is an absolutely delicious meal originating from Thailand and it’s well worth giving a try.

So what is papaya salad – well, it’s a dish based around shredded unripe papaya. It’s eaten throughout Southeast Asia. What else thrown in varies but what’s most popular includes beans, chili, pla ra, brined crab, hog plug, and lime among other ingredients. Although there are variations, true blue papaya salad carries with it five main ingredients regardless of the type – savory fish sauce, hot chili, salt, sour lime, and sweetness which is usually the result of palm sugar. Ingredients are usually mixed and pounded into a mortar.

Read more: What is in Papaya Salad and Why This Could be your Next Favourite Salad

Toronto-wide, you’ll find several restaurants offering some version of pho. This very popular Vietnamese soup is a favourite among Vietnamese families and has grown to have an affectionate relationship with many Torontonians. That said, how to eat a bowl of pho authentic to the Vietnamese way is something not everyone has learned.

You don’t need an extensive knowledge of the history of pho, where it’s come from, or how it arrived in Canada. That said, there’s a certain way to eat pho that a lot of people don’t necessarily know when coming to the dish for the first time.

Read more: How to Eat your Pho Authentically Vietnamese-Style

For first-time Vietnamese cuisine partakers, if you’re wondering what to eat on the scope of Vietnamese, there’s so many unique foods you’ll want to try. Deciphering what’s most recommended can be a little overwhelming so we wanted to break it down for you here.

Seafood

Vietnamese cuisine has a strong attachment to seafood, as the country boasts a huge cost on the South China Sea. Seafood is a common choice among groups of Vietnamese and is a tradition that continues to be shared here in Toronto as well as abroad.

Egg coffee

Egg coffee is a Vietnamese dessert, very popular in cities like Hanoi. Made with egg yolks, sugar, condensed milk, and sometimes spice, it can be had hot or iced. You can also customize a Vietnamese egg coffee with chocolate, green beans, rum, and beer, as you like it of course.

Read more: Top Vietnam Foods you Don’t Want to Miss if You’re Looking for Something Delicious to Eat

Mango salad is a popular East Asian salad variety. For those that have never tried it and are looking for a new salad to add to their diet routine, it’s well worth a taste. Although it can come differently, mango salad from Vietnam is usually created from coriander leaves, lime juice, salt, spices including sometimes cayenne, yambean or yicama, and of course mangos.

If you’re looking for healthy eating, mango salad is a strong contender for an enjoyable healthy salad. Why it’s so healthy is, well, primarily because of the mangos. Not only are they juicy and refreshing but they’re packing one heck of a punch to them. They’re high in fiber and low in calories, are a good source of antioxidants, and they’ve been shown to have some unique additional health benefits relating to processes in the body.

Read more: How Many Calories in Mango Salad and How Healthy Is It – read here!

When you’re losing weight or wanting to maintain a healthy weight, light eating is a big help. Dishes like fresh spring rolls are filling just up to the right point and provide you all the nutrition you need to move forward with your day having been fed something deliciously nutritious. Although they do come fried, going with them fresh is an easy step towards keeping those inches off and stepping up your nutrition game.

Imagine like a shrimp salad in a roll. Now imagine peanut sauce on the table to dip them in. In a nutshell, this is the experience of eating Vietnamese-style fresh spring rolls. They’re visually pleasing, are made with fresh herbs, can even have some fruit in them, and are second to none. If spring and summer are seasons of growth and sunshine, fresh food and light meals like this are ideal for the adventurer in us all.

Read more: Choosing Fresh Spring Rolls over Fried is One Way to Go to Get on your Way to Healthier Eating