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.

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台灣其實有很多種水蟲都難得一見，
其中主因當然是埤塘越來越少，
水汙染也越來越嚴重，
再加上耕作方法的改變，
農藥的使用增加等等因素。
而水蟲這個領域一般昆蟲愛好者也很陌生，
除了資料稀少，觀察不易也是主因，
儘管如此，我想許多會關注昆蟲的朋友們，
也一定會認識大田鱉。

第一次聽到這種蟲，
是看到日本的昆蟲雜誌有介紹，
體型大，水棲但是會趨光，
一想到平常在水裡游的會飛上天就覺得很有趣，
後來查資料知道台灣全台也有分布，
但目前數量極為稀有，
北部幾個棲地都是我平常會夜觀的點，
不過也從來沒見過，
只是隨著這幾年牠的消息漸漸曝光，
而我終於也有緣跟牠見上一面。

印度大田鱉(Lethocerus indicus)，
算是台灣大體型昆蟲之一，
目測體長約10公分上下，
在水底的等級大概就跟猛禽一樣，
甚至還會捕食小型的魚類，
平常都在水底活動，偶爾會趨光飛到路面，
不過牠有個習性讓我們有機會可以接近牠，
就是護卵。

在護卵時雄蟲會緊緊貼在卵面上不動，
就如同照片這樣，
在我初次發現時我還真不敢相信我的眼睛，
原本不解牠的習性，
我戰戰兢兢地靠近，深怕牠會逃走，
後來發現牠還真是不動如山，
所以我才能放心開始拍攝，
當初以為會空手而回的夜晚，
沒想到有如此的大禮可以帶回家，
真的是太開心了。

【拍攝資訊】
5D3 + Tokina 10-17mm F/3.5-4.5 DX Fisheye
17mm ISO400 1/40sec F/11.0