Vietnamese cuisine is famous for its use of sauces - fish, soy and hoisin. Vietnamese recipes also use many vegetables, herbs and spices, including lemon grass, lime, and kaffir lime leaves. Throughout all regions the emphasis is always on serving fresh vegetables and/or fresh herbs as side dishes along with dipping sauces. The Vietnamese also have a number of Buddhist vegetarian dishes.

Thai cuisine is known for its balance of five fundamental flavours in each dish or the overall meal - spicy, sour, sweet, salty and bitter (optional). Although popularly considered as a single cuisine, Thai food is really better described as four regional cuisines corresponding to the four main regions of the country: Northern, North eastern, Central and Southern.

Khmer Cuisine is similar to that of its South East Asian neighbours. It is similar to Thai cuisine, though not as spicy. Cambodian cuisine also use fish sauce widely in soups, stirred fired cuisine, and as dippings. Curry dishes known as kari show its ties with Indian cuisine. Influences from Chinese cuisine can be noted in the use of many variations of rice noodles.

Lao cuisine is distinct from other South East Asian cuisines. The staple food of the Lao is sticky rice with Galangal and fish sauce. The Lao national dish is laap, a spicy mixture of marinated meat and/or fish that is sometimes raw with a variable combination of greens, herbs, and spices.

Malaysian cuisine. Rice tends to be a staple food in Malaysia as in most countries in the region. Varieties of rice such as basmati, Japanese short grain rice and others are slowly entering the Malaysian diet as Malaysians expand their culinary tastes to new areas. Noodles are also big in Malaysia.