Touring Vietnam’s Wet Markets

At an open-air wet market in Vietnam’s Ho Chi Minh City, vendors line the streets, selling a rainbow of flowers and produce, fresh meat, and fish. As fast-moving mopeds weave in and out of traffic, Washington Grown hosts Kristi Gorenson and Tomás Guzmán stroll through the colorful stalls, stopping to admire rows of Asian-grown fruits like jackfruit, lychee, dragon fruit, and durian.

“It’s so fresh, so colorful,” says Gorenson. “So many, many items that I’ve never seen before!”

A few minutes later, Gorenson and Guzmán are delighted to come across a familiar sight amid the array of enticing yet unfamiliar produce: a bright, colorful display of Honeycrisp, Gala, and Golden Delicious apples.

In Vietnam, wet markets are the traditional way to shop for fresh food, and in Ho Chi Minh City, 11 fresh markets feature thousands of vendors that draw locals and tourists to sample the delicious, fresh food grown in Asia and imported from all over the world, including Washington.

In Vietnam, the most popular Washington-grown food is by far the apple, according to the Washington State Department of Agriculture, followed by dairy, wheat, seafood and fish, fresh sweet cherries, and frozen french fries. In 2023, the country spent $157 million on Washington-grown foods, and Vietnam was one of Washington’s top 10 countries for exports.

Washington apples are especially beloved by the locals for their sweetness, color, and crispness. One vendor that Washington Grown spoke with at the wet market said she eats a Washington apple every day, and another woman said apples and pears are especially popular to give as gifts for the Vietnamese new year, and also to decorate for the holiday.

But how does a Washington-grown apple even end up at a colorful, bustling, open-market stall in Ho Chi Minh City?

First, the apple is harvested at a Washington farm over 7,000 miles away, where it is sorted and packaged for shipping, then loaded onto a shipping container on a cargo ship headed to Vietnam. After the ship docks at a Vietnamese port like Cat Lai Port in Ho Chi Minh City, the containers of produce are unloaded and sent to distributors and wholesalers in Vietnam and across Asia, who sell to the market vendors. At these markets, customers can load their shopping bags with a crunchy, delicious taste of the Pacific Northwest.

In the heart of Ho Chi Minh City, as Guzmán takes in the display of apples from his home state, he begins to laugh.

“Here we are, so far from home across the globe, but look, there’s Washington state represented right there,” he says. “Home is always with us, no matter where we go.”