Published:  16:15 Tuesday - November 08, 2011

Vietnam’s Pho has been added to the list of the world’s 50 most delicious foods by the CNN GO website of the US CNN television channel.

Nowadays, "Pho Hanoi" (Hanoi noodle soup) is not only a popular dish but also a national dish of Vietnam. As a culinary ambassador, Hanoi’s Pho promotes the city's culture around the world.

Famous Vietnamese writers such as Nguyen Cong Hoan, Thach Lam, and Bang Son have praised the Vietnamese national dish in their literary works. Nguyen Cong Hoan affirmed the 100 year history of pho in his autobiography, recalling a memory from 1913 when he occasionally had the chance to enjoy pho sold by a street vendor. Thach Lam said in his "Hanoi-36 Streets of the Old Quarter" that pho is a daily nosh of all Hanoians, especially public employees and workers, and, although it is available in many other places, it is at its best in Hanoi.

Pho is one of the most popular dishes in Hanoi, but there are many different theories about its origin. Some people say that pho is a Vietnamese adaptation of the French "pot-au-feu" (beef stew) while others think that it comes from Vietnam's neighbor, China. However, it is the probably most accurate to say that it comes from Vietnam's capital city of Hanoi.

A traditional Pho restaurant in Bat Dan street.

In the early days of the 20th century, pho was sold by street vendors who carried it to every corner of the city. Then famous pho restaurants opened in the 1910s, such as the Cat Tuong restaurant in Cau Go and Truong Ca restaurant in Hang Bac. At that time, there was only one kind of pho called "pho bo chin" (well-done beef soup), but people later created more kinds such as "pho bo tai (rare beef pho) and "pho ga (chicken noodle soup).

Khanh, the owner of a pho restaurant in Trieu Viet Vuong Street, told Huy Cuong, VOV’s reporter that he sells as many as 500 bowls of pho a day so he has to get up very early to prepare it.

He said enthusiastically that his Pho business helped him support his family and even bought some houses and the car. But when Cuong asked him about how to make a good bowl of pho, he smiled and said that was his own secret.

Inspite of eating pho every morning, Cuong did not know how to really "enjoy" a bowl of pho until he met Chris, an English teacher from New Zealand, whose first question when he met him at Noi Bai airport was, "Where can I have pho?". He was the one who taught him how to "lower my head down to the bowl and let the steaming scent cover it before starting to slurp with lips poised just inches above the bowl". When he asked him how he knew the pho culture in Vietnam so well, he told him that all his friends who had been to Vietnam advised him to try Pho so he looked for information on the internet before going to Vietnam.

The millennial capital city is developing very fast with modern buildings, a modern lifestyle and the proliferation of foreign dishes. Hanoi’s cuisine is also changing and there are many restaurants serving fast-food from western countries. People now can even enjoy their favorite Pho in deluxe air-conditioned restaurants.

However, many Hanoians enjoy eating Pho in a crowded restaurant where they have to wait for a long time to be served because they think, if the restaurant is crowded, that means its Pho is particularly delicious.

Thanks to global integration, people can now enjoy Pho all over the world. It has become an outstanding trademark of Vietnam promoting the country through thousands of Pho restaurants worldwide.

If you, a foreigner wants to have a tour to Vietnam, please come to Hanoi and enjoy Hanoi’s Pho, you will feel a part of Vietnam’s culture in it.

 Source: VOV

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