The history of Pho

Pho is one of the most popular dishes in Vietnam. Let’s imagine a hot bowl of pho, soft noodles, and sweet broth. Would you like to try it? Adding to it a little lemon, and a few slices of chili is extremely delicious. It sounds delicious, isn’t it? But pho in each region has different characteristics in form and a little taste. In this blog, I would like to share all about the history of this delicious bowl of Pho.

The history of Pho

There are a lot of myths and legends about Pho’s origin. One theory is that Pho was from Vân Cù village in Nam Dinh province. During the 20th century, people carried and sold Pho on bamboo poles to make a living. Another theory is that Pho was popularly rose in Hanoi due to a surplus of beef bones. In the late 1800s, pot au feu – a famous French dish – was similar to Pho sot vang. The French culture might have some influence on Pho. Many people believe that the name Pho was from the Chinese word Phan, in Nguu Nhuc Phan which is a Chinese cow meat noodle soup. In the 1900s, Chinese food vendors call the name of the dish from distant to attract customers “Nguu Nhuc Phan” and it was shortened to nhuc phan then phan.

During the Vietnam War, there were a lot of northern Vietnamese migrated to the south of Vietnam, and of course, they brought Pho recipes with them. After the Vietnam war in 1975, many people fled the country and they built their community and reserved the culture by cooking Pho.

That’s why you see there are a lot of Southern Pho in the U.S, Canada, and other countries. Nowadays, Pho is popular worldwide and it’s a beauty of many cultures and historical stories.