Com is made from different kinds of rice. Typically fragrant rice is used, such as tam thom and Nang Huong . Consists of dishes of pork, fish, shrimp, and vegetable stirred in fat, as well as vegetable pickles, ect. In the pastt several years people in urban centres have begun to go out for lunch at pavement food stalls. Consequently there has been a proliferation of temporary food stalls along many street pavements or in other public places in cities.
Some stalls are open until late in the morning to cater for regular customers.
Around noon owners can be seen arranging tables and benches along the pavement to form makeshift shop floors. After two or three hours when there are no more customers they begin to remove all the wooden furniture so that the place resumes its former appearance. A well served lunch for one costs very little money, about VND 5,000 to VND 7,000. In September when the first cold winds begin to blow gently, bringing with them clouds of early morning fog, it is the time when local inhabitants begin to notice women peddlers going from street to street selling com with two baskets of com hanging on either end of a small bamboo stick on her shoulders, a com vendor walks slowly along the street calling her wares. Local inhabitants are sure to know of her presence as they recognise the traditional melodic call of the com seller.