As much as food is our profession, it is also our passion. When we have the chance to travel, we follow our taste buds and learn as much as we can about the food, the ingredients and the role that food plays in the culture. As hardened Food Tourists, our mission to experience the cuisines of the world recently took us to Vietnam.

Like most travellers who have lingered for ages over dog-eared travel guides before actually embarking on the long-awaited trip, we were no different. It took four years of longingly gazing at our Rough Guide to Vietnam, unexpected delays and much planning before we finally were able to schedule our long-awaited trip to Vietnam.

The Rough Guide to Vietnam is a must for any visitor to the country. It's a neatly packaged way to approach a rather overwhelming topic. We picked our hotel and city destinations with ease, and then did a bit of research on our own. As devout Food Tourists, we're generally more interested in undiscovered food markets and unpronounceable ingredients, than the regular tourist attractions.

Hectic Hanoi
So in July, with the theme song of MASH ringing in our ears, we finally found ourselves flying to Hanoi, the exotic capital city of Vietnam, known for its wide boulevards and, surprisingly, excellent coffee.

Thanks to our trusty Rough Guide, we had already booked at the cool, serene Sofitel Metropole hotel, based in the 'Old Quarter' of the former French colonial city. With temperatures of 38?C and humidity at 100 percent, the air conditioning was absolutely essential. Outside, in hectic Hanoi, our senses were immediately bombarded with traffic, markets and, literally, millions of motor bikes, transporting cargoes, ranging from livestock to spare parts to bizarre looking fruit.

Dragon fruit for sale
Avoiding the cliched flurry of art galleries, tourist attractions and gift shopping, we explored the Old City on foot. No touristy bus trips for us. Happily, we discovered a culture strongly centred on food and cooking. Just what we were looking for! We had made a great culinary travel choice. The streets are lined with cafe's, Pho restaurants, vendors carrying bamboo baskets brimming with dragon fruit and Rhambutans and Vietnamese women tending their pork satays over small charcoal fires.

A world of ingredients
Following in the footsteps of the French Colonists, we soon left the feverish Hanoi and retired to the calmer outpost of Sapa for a few days, where we were met by a riot of colours in the Saturday market. We were amazed by the vast array of goods the hill tribes of the area had to offer, including ripe fruits, spices and various meats, all carefully displayed for shoppers to peruse, test and haggle over. The markets opened up a world of scrumptious new ingredients for us.

We returned to Hanoi inspired and ready for a cookery course at the Sofitel Hotel. The day began with an eye-opening shopping trip, where we were introduced to the freshest local produce, including snails, eels, prawns, crab and pork as well as an abundance of fresh herbs (Vietnamese mint is a new favourite of ours), pickled bamboo and vegetables, not to mention an immense range of noodles.

On a quest to saturate ourselves with gastronomic knowledge, we attended another two traditional cooking courses. The Red Bridge Cookery School in Hanoi provided another interactive market experience combined with a lesson on the intricate art of making rice paper rolls, a cornerstone of Vietnamese cooking and a culinary art.

Cafe 96, a river-side restaurant, offered an interactive cookery demonstration that rewarded guests with a deliciously spicy Vietnamese lunch, washed down with an ice cold beer ? another memorable way to spend a sultry Hanoi afternoon.

We worked with only the freshest and most authentic ingredients, like Nuoc Nam (a concentrated light fish sauce), hot chilli, lemongrass, tamarind, star anise and coconut milk. The result: we are converted. The cuisine is tasty, delicate and complex. The perfect food for summer. We have promised to practise everything we learnt in our summer cooking.

A bowl of 'fur'
Like any destination, it is impossible to reduce Vietnam to one anecdote. It is a country full of surprises. The Vietnamese love their coffee, which is probably the residue of the French Colonists? influence. The coffee is brewed slowly, served strong and sweet, and poured over a layer of condensed milk into the glass. As coffee lovers ourselves, we never tired of the delicious beverage.

Another deliciously good example of Vietnamese cuisine is Pho (pronounced 'fur'). A light broth is poured over a dish of noodles, with rare beef or pork, chilli, lime and a dash of black pepper. It's invigorating and fresh, and, understandably, the Vietnamese can be seen at the road-side restaurants, bent over their bowls of Pho, at any time of the night or day.

Having absorbed so much of Vietnam's culinary knowledge, we are fusing it with our own understanding of food. The only question is, where will we go next!

Angela Woodward and Elaine Rousseau are the co-founders of Cape-based catering company, Food Fanatics.