Chả giò is ground meat, usually pork, wrapped in rice paper and deep-fried.
Pork is the standard meat associated with chả giò, although the filling is not rigidly fixed. A typical mixture may combine seasoned ground pork with mushrooms, rice vermicelli, carrots, jicama, kohlrabi, and other vegetables before it is rolled in moistened rice paper and fried.
Regional and modern versions can use crab, shrimp, chicken, snails, tofu, or no meat at all. That variety means pork is the usual answer to a general trivia question, not an absolute requirement in every recipe. Vegetarian chả giò is often called chả giò chay.
The rice-paper wrapper helps distinguish traditional chả giò from many American Chinese egg rolls, which generally use a wheat-flour wrapper. However, restaurants outside Vietnam sometimes use wheat wrappers because they are easier to handle and stay crisp longer. Chả giò may be eaten with nước chấm, wrapped in lettuce, or served over rice vermicelli.