The packaging also meets other requirements such as creating an environment suitable for preserving the product. Packaging materials of vegetable origin maintain the right temperature and humidity and emit substances that act as sterilisers and insecticides. For example, even with an ambient temperature of 40°C, raw meat can be kept fresh, uncooled, for around two or three weeks. Plant-derived raw materials are used for a wide variety of packaging, ranging from transport packaging to ‘quick lunch tableware’. For instance, fast food can be served on a banana leaf, inter alia. Besides the astonishing multiplicity of uses of these materials, the sheer resourcefulness of the Vietnamese is also fascinating.

Vietnamese packaging solutions also have another advantage: because the raw packaging materials decay easily, mountains of rubbish cannot pile up. The use of naturally renewable raw materials and the resultant maintenance of a cyclic economy is still a self-evident philosophy in Vietnam. However, as a result of the country opening up its economy, Western products are now reaching Vietnam. The ‘plastic era’ is beginning, which will soon push traditional products from everyday life, turning them into intriguing museum exhibits.