Vietnamese cuisine among top 10 most popular on Instagram

There were 2.84 million #Vietnamesefood tags posted on Instagram, the world’s largest photo sharing network, last year, according to the study released this week by New York-based foodie magazine Chef's Pencil.

It analyzed Instagram tags to reveal what cuisines and foods were trending around the world as shared by millions of foodies via the online platform.

Research showed Japanese food ranked highest with about 15.5 million related tags, followed by Italian dishes with 14.7 million tags and Indian cuisine with 8.5 million.

Apart from Italian and Mexican cuisine, which came sixth, the top 10 Instagram hits comprised Asia staples.

A survey conducted among 250 chefs by Chef's Pencil last year ranked three Southeast Asian countries including the Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam among the world's five most underrated foodie destinations.

"The chefs we interviewed felt these three cuisines, and pretty much all of Southeast Asia, deserve more respect and higher recognition in the culinary world," the magazine stated.

Vietnamese cuisine has become better known in the world over the past few years, with international chefs and prestigious food magazines praising several national dishes.

Some of the dishes found on street corners here have made it to all corners of the world, like the banh mi which was listed among the world's top 20 street foods by Fodors Travel, a U.S. travel site.

Vietnamese iced coffee with condensed milk has also been lauded by publications like NatGeo and The New York Times.

A sweet soup stall in HCMC's Ho Thi Ky flower market. Photo by VnExpress/Huynh Nhi.