Top News

Vietnamese bread absent from CNN list of world’s 50 best

Samira Vishwas | October 21, 2025 7:25 PM CST

A banh mi is cut in half at a stall in Ho Chi Minh City. Photo by VnExpress/Quynh Tran

Vietnam’s popular banh mi, once praised world’s best by international travel magazines, is absent from this year’s list of world’s 50 best bread compiled by CNN.

In Asia, China’s shaobing, Hong Kong’s Pai bao, India’s Paratha, Indonesia’s Roti gambang, Japan’s kare pan and Malaysia’s roti canai appear on the list.

According to CNN, this list reflects diversity. Along with memorable flavor, these breads are chosen for their unique ingredients, iconic status and the sheer, homey pleasure of eating them.

However, Vietnamese bread, which was once defined by the Oxford dictionary and praised by CNN, BBC and Lonely Planet as “the best sandwich in the world”, is not on this list.

Vietnam’s banh mi a fusion of cold cuts and vegetables, such as coriander, cucumber, pickled carrots and daikon, combined with condiments from French cuisine such as pate and mayonnaise.

A wide variety of other popular fillings are also used, including cha lua (Vietnamese pork bologna), fried eggs, grilled pork, and meat balls.

A loaf of banh mi with full toppings mi costs from VND15,000 to VND50,000 (US$0.65-2.10).

In June, CNN listed Vietnam’s popular banh mi in a list of the world’s 25 best sandwiches, saying “it is widely loved well beyond the country’s borders.”