The History of Vietnamese Traditional Culinary (Phở). 🇻🇳

Pho is a Vietnamese soup consisting of broth, rice noodles (bánh phở), herbs, and meat (usually beef) (phở bò), sometimes chicken (phở gà). Pho is a popular food in Vietnam where it is served in households, street stalls and restaurants countrywide. Pho is considered Vietnam's national dish.

Pho originated in the early 20th century in northern Vietnam, and was popularized throughout the world by refugees after the Vietnam War. Because Pho's origins are poorly documented, there is disagreement over the cultural influences that led to its development in Vietnam, as well as the etymology of the name. The Hanoi (northern) and Saigon (southern) styles of pho differ by noodle width, sweetness of broth, and choice of herbs.

Pho likely evolved from similar noodle dishes. For example, villagers in Vân Cù say they ate pho long before the French colonial period. The modern form emerged between 1900 and 1907 in northern Vietnam, southeast of Hanoi in Nam Định Province, then a substantial textile market. The traditional home of pho is reputed to be the villages of Vân Cù and Dao Cù (or Giao Cù) in Đông Xuân commune, Nam Trực District, Nam Định Province.

Cultural historian and researcher Trịnh Quang Dũng believes that the popularization and origins of modern pho stemmed from the intersection of several historical and cultural factors in the early 20th century. These include improved availability of beef due to French demand, which in turn produced beef bones that were purchased by Chinese workers to make into a dish similar to pho called ngưu nhục phấn. The demand for this dish was initially the greatest with workers from the provinces of Yunnan and Guangdong, who had an affinity for the dish due to its similarities to that of their homeland, which eventually popularized and familiarized this dish with the general population.

Pho was originally sold at dawn and dusk by itinerant street vendors, who shouldered mobile kitchens on carrying poles (gánh phở). From the pole hung two wooden cabinets, one housing a cauldron over a wood fire, the other storing noodles, spices, cookware, and space to prepare a bowl of pho. The heavy gánh was always shouldered by men. They kept their heads warm with distinctive, disheveled felt hats called mũ phở.

Hanoi's first two fixed pho stands were a Vietnamese-owned Cát Tường on Cầu Gỗ Street and a Chinese-owned stand in front of Bờ Hồ tram stop. They were joined in 1918 by two more on Quạt Row and Đồng Row. Around 1925, a Vân Cù villager named Vạn opened the first "Nam Định style" pho stand in Hanoi. Gánh phở declined in number around 1936–1946 in favor of stationary eateries.

In the late 1920s, various vendors experimented with húng lìu, sesame oil, tofu, and even Lethocerus indicus extract (cà cuống). This "phở cải lương" failed to enter the mainstream.

Phở tái, served with rare beef, had been introduced by 1930. Chicken pho appeared in 1939, possibly because beef was not sold at the markets on Mondays and Fridays at the time.

With the partition of Vietnam in 1954, over a million people fled North Vietnam for South Vietnam. Pho, previously unpopular in the South, suddenly became popular. No longer confined to northern culinary traditions, variations in meat and broth appeared, and additional garnishes, such as lime, mung bean sprouts (giá đỗ), culantro (ngò gai), cinnamon basil (húng quế), Hoisin sauce (tương đen), and hot chili sauce (tương ớt) became standard fare. Phở tái also began to rival fully cooked phở chín in popularity. Migrants from the North similarly popularized bánh mì sandwiches.

Meanwhile, in North Vietnam, private pho restaurants were nationalized (mậu dịch quốc doanh) and began serving pho noodles made from old rice. Street vendors were forced to use noodles made of imported potato flour. Officially banned as capitalism, these vendors prized portability, carrying their wares on gánh and setting out plastic stools for customers.

During the so-called "subsidy period" following the Vietnam War, state-owned pho eateries served a meatless variety of the dish known as "pilotless pho" (phở không người lái), in reference to the U.S. Air Force's unmanned reconnaissance drones. The broth consisted of boiled water with MSG added for taste, as there were often shortages on various foodstuffs like meat and rice during that period. Bread or cold rice was often served as a side dish, leading to the present-day practice of dipping quẩy in pho.

Pho eateries were privatized as part of Đổi Mới. Many street vendors must still maintain a light footprint to evade police enforcing the street tidiness rules that replaced the ban on private ownership.

________________
Admin_MZA
©️ Respective Owner(s)

越南海防隊訪問美國海岸防衛隊(USCGC)，在西雅圖登上巡防艦「約翰.米克」號(USCGC John Midgett, WHEC-726)參訪

Let's start off the Lunar New Year right with some good news.

Last week on January 14th, personnel from the Vietnam Coast Guard arrived in Seattle to familiarized themselves with the USCGC John Midgett (WHEC-726). The Americans are planning to decommission this Hamilton-class cutter on March 26st before handing it over to the VCG thus making the Midgett the second Hamilton operated by the VCG after the former USCGC Morgenthau which is now serving in Vietnam as the patrol ship 'CSB-8020'.

The handover of the Midgett will fulfill 2 out of 3 Hamilton cutters that the VCG requested. If Vietnam can obtain one more Hamilton after the Midgett, the original request for three cutters will be complete. However, rival countries such as the Philippines, Nigeria, and several others are also vying for the leftover Hamiltons as the United States works to phase them out in favor of their new National Security Cutters.

The transfer of coast guard vessels was made possible following US President Barrack Obama's decision to remove the arms embargo on Vietnam (though not without certain restrictions) in 2016. Not only have US-Vietnamese relationships improved over the decades but Vietnam has proven itself to be one of the most resistant countries against the expanding Chinese presence in the South China Sea while other nations are simply bowing to Chinese influence. Although not true allies, Vietnam is seen as a vital strategic partner to counter China's militarization of the SCS. Strengthening the ability of Vietnam to directly enforce & protect Vietnamese sovereignty in the SCS directly opposes Chinese goals.

Images sourced from DVIDSHub.

#USVietnam #25nămMỹViệt 🇻🇳🇺🇸 #US_VN25

#VietDefense #CảnhsátbiểnViệtNam #Cảnhsátbiển #CảnhsátbiểnVN #Vietnam #hoangsa #truongsa #biendong

If you’re from northern Vietnam you must have familiarized yourself with bánh cuốn, a rice noodle roll made from a thin, wide sheet of steamed fermented rice batter, filled with seasoned ground pork, minced wood ear mushroom (or cotton meat as a variation), and minced fried shallots ;)