Pork rinds used to be a very common food in Vietnam before the Doi moi program in 1986.
Due to various economic difficulties in the pre-Doi moi era, cooking oil and meat were still considered “luxury goods”, and consequently fat liquid and pork rind became excellent replacements in Vietnamese daily meals. Nowadays with a better economic situation for the country, pork rind is no longer a substitute food, but rather a special component in many Vietnamese dishes, such as cơm tấm, noodle and snails , noodle soup, etc. In Vietnamese, pork rind is called tôp mỡ, which translates to “dried piece of fat”.
