Building blood
Iron-deficiency anaemia is the commonest thing that goes wrong in a pregnancy. Dishes that also carry vitamin C come first, because vitamin C multiplies how much plant iron the body takes up.
Cooked with alcohol — it does not all boil off. Cooking does not remove alcohol. The USDA retention table: about 40% of it is still there after 15 minutes of simmering, 25% after an hour, 5% after two and a half hours, and 75% in a dish that was flamed. The NHS says no level of alcohol is known to be safe in pregnancy. Everything below is simmered rather than splashed in at the end, but the figure is not zero. The call is yours.
Contains an ingredient tradition avoids in pregnancy. A few ingredients — green papaya, pineapple, mugwort, Vietnamese coriander, bitter melon — are traditionally avoided in Vietnamese pregnancies. Only green papaya has a reasonably clear pharmacological basis (the papain in its latex); the rest is custom rather than trial evidence. They are labelled here so you can see them, not removed.
Dishes for this stage
These suggestions follow published nutrition guidance from the WHO, the Vietnamese Ministry of Health, the NHS, the FDA/EPA and ACOG. They are not medical advice and do not replace a doctor or a dietitian. With an existing condition, a food allergy or a high-risk pregnancy, ask a doctor before changing how you eat.
Only the first 120 are shown. The list is generated from each dish's ingredients; nobody has read every one of them by eye.