What is "banh"

In Vietnamese, the term bánh ( or ) translates loosely as "cake" or "bread", referring to a wide variety of prepared foods. With the addition of qualifying adjectives, bánh refers to a wide variety of sweet or savoury, distinct cakes, buns, pastries, sandwiches, and other food items, which may be cooked by steaming, baking, frying, deep-frying, or boiling. Foods made from rice or wheat flour are generally called bánh, but the term may also refer to certain varieties of noodle and fish cake dishes, such as bánh canh and bánh hỏi.

Each variety of bánh is designated by a descriptive word or phrase that follows the word bánh, such as bánh bò (literally "cow cake" or "crawling cake") or bánh chuối (literally "banana cake"). Bánh that are wrapped in leaves before steaming are called bánh lá (literally "leaf cakes").

In Vietnamese, the term is not limited to Vietnamese cuisine: it applies equally to items as varied as fortune cookies (), pudding, caramel custard (), and sacramental bread ().