@JLeslie the thing about Cuba is strictly my personal opinion. I have yet to see any Latin American in my country. Well, maybe there are some in big cities like Hanoi or Ho Chi Minh, but not where I live, and most likely not in smaller places. Cuba is more recognizable because it’s the only Latin American country that has an extensive history with Vietnam. We learn about Cuba in our textbook. The media talks about our relationship. Fidel Castro and Che are the most famous Cuban in Vietnam and their faces can be seen occasionally in decorative. As far as I know though, there was actually a small wave of Mexican/Latin American media being imported to Vietnam in the 80s and 90s. But only a handful of older people know about this, most younger people have no clue about this. So I think that a random Latin American walking in the street wouldn’t be recognizable by a Vietnamese, but people may think of the Fidel/Che pictures and make a connection that was actually what I did a few years ago watching movies. To me Latin Americans just have this distinctive facial feature I can’t miss.
A weird thing is that despite the two countries’ relationship, I know nothing about Cuban food.
We are generally bad as telling Westerners apart though. If you are white and speak English, you are by default either an American or a British :D
@Patty_Melt I haven’t seen any Vietnamese thinking of Pho as something that makes you fat. It’s a hearty meal, but fat is a bit too much :) Though at least in my place, people, especially young people, don’t talk much about Pho anymore. There are other cheaper/more delicious dishes out there.
@Brian1946 I have eaten my fair share of octopus recently, and octopus is my new favorite food. I won’t turn down an offer to try that :D