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What makes bar food (foods to have while drinking) great? Which country has the best? Canada/US, the UK, Vietnam, China? Why do half of Vietnamese bar foods seem like they were made up by drunks?

Note: we didn't include the European ones like tapas or German varietals, because we never had them before. We try to stay factual.

Whatever your favourite foods that go with drinks are, we hope you enjoy them this holiday season. Stay safe, stay warm and stay inebriated. Merry Christmas and Happy (western) New Year!

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Vinfast is Vietnam's only current domestic car manufacturer and part of the larger Vingroup of companies. Dennis and I go for a spin and cruise through the available information about the company.

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Stories of the Forest People (người rùng) were abound during the Vietnam (or American, depending on your perspective) War. Stories about these tall, powerful and hairy people stretched back to French colonial times. We hope Rolando Bautista found what he was looking for.

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Two Vietnamese have reached the highest heights, space. One under the USSR banner and under the Stars and Stripes. We have a chat about them, a failed back up pilot for the SRV cosmonaut and a failed attempt at having an F1 race in Vietnam.

PS: Amanda Nguyễn, an American social entrepreneur and civil rights activist (EN Wiki) was able to achieve her dream of reaching space on the Blue Origin New Shepard flight on April 14, 2025. This was after a devastating rape during her college years and due maliciousness or ineptitude in the legal system, her rapist was never charged and the evidence was destroyed. Amanda persevered, dedicated her life to social justice and has become the first Vietnamese woman to reach space. Unfortunately, her achievement was overshadowed by her co-passenger's [Katy Perry and Gayle King] actions and the media circus around it. A related article: https://joysauce.com/in-defense-of-amanda-nguyen-who-actually-did-something-on-the-blue-origin-flight/

PPS: The former last emperor of Việt Nam apparently like F1 or going to it because he was living high on the hog. Here is a photo of him attending the 6th F1 Italian Grand Prix after he abdicated the throne ending Nguyễn dynasty. https://www.instagram.com/p/DOge_Re3gLO/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

PPPS (26 Sept 2025): "Alex Sawer Hoang Dat clinched the F4 Southeast Asia Championship, becoming the first Vietnamese to win a Formula-level title sanctioned by the FIA." He's 17, hope his future is bright. https://www.instagram.com/p/DPAnjUTjPFd/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

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September 2, 1945 (Hanoi). Hồ Chí Minh declares the independence of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (Tuyên ngôn độc lập Việt Nam Dân chủ Cộng hòa) at the Ba Đình square. This is a major milestone on Vietnam's journey to freeing itself from French colonization and ultimately becoming a free and independent country. The shape that Vietnam would take came from decades more strife and pain.

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A question few have asked is, how many Vietnamese have ever gone to the coldest reaches our world, away from the typical hot and humid climate of Vietnam. Bear with us, as Dennis and I explore the questions while making our rounds to both ends of the Earth.

Link to the news article about the Vietnamese living on the remote Alaskan islands:

https://youtu.be/8oTmyQp-qAA?si=QcVaBdToW4-SlhCe

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Smelly, salty, savory, the life blood of the Vietnamese, Thais and other southeast Asian peoples. Also a few folks from China, Korea and Japan. We touch upon this crucial condiment in this episode.

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Forget the other lists you ever seen (I looked at most of them), this is the real list of what I think are the worst food (or food categories). Don't think for a second these aren't foods! They are popular for different people. As a bonus, we included some whack foods from neighbouring countries. And Dennis has found out about century eggs (Trứng vịt bắc thảo) and their long partnership with congee. Now who wants to eat some live octupi (thanks Korea)!