After rice. fruits and vegetables make up the bulk of the Vietnamese diet. It given the choice of abandoning vegetables or abandoning meat virtually all Vietnamese would eschew flesh and keep the vegies. Rau muong (water spinach) is a staple.Considered a weed in many countries, it tastes divine with garlic and oyster sauce (rau muong xao). Other constant's include succulent eggplant (aubergine) and meaty mushrooms, as well as bamboo shoots and bean sprouts. The Vietnamese would not be the inveterate snackers and grazers that they are were it not for the gift of fruit. For more on the flourishing fruits of Vietnam.