Vietnam has thousands of years of history. Pho has barely more than a century. Yet somehow this bowl of broth, rice noodles and beef became one of the foods most closely identified with the country. So how did a relatively young street food start feeling timeless?
How history moved the bowl
Pho’s exact birthplace is still debated, and it’s part of an interesting story. Hanoi authorities say written accounts place it in the capital in the early 1900s, when vendors carried steaming bowls through the streets. French colonial demand for beef, Chinese noodle traditions and Vietnamese cooking all sit somewhere in the origin story. Anyone claiming one neat inventor is overselling the broth.
Then history started moving the bowl.
After Vietnam was divided in 1954, close to a million northerners moved south. Pho went with them. Southern cooks made it their own, with sweeter broth, more herbs, bean sprouts and a bigger supporting cast at the table.
After 1975, Vietnamese refugees and emigrants carried those regional versions farther still, opening restaurants in the US, France, Australia and beyond. Pho became global largely because Vietnamese people became global.
And then came an intriguing reversal. In 2024, Vietnam officially added both Hanoi Pho and Nam Dinh Pho to its national intangible cultural heritage list. The government, which inherited a dish already transformed by migration, is now helping preserve and promote it.
That may be Pho’s best trick. It isn’t ancient. It just managed to absorb an enormous amount of Vietnamese history in a remarkably short time.
Featured Country: Vietnam
Vietnam stretches more than 1,000 miles from north to south, and its cooking changes with the landscape. Northern food tends to be subtle; central Vietnam can turn up the heat; southern cooking often leans sweeter and more abundant with herbs. Rice, noodles, fish sauce, fresh greens and sharp contrasts keep showing up, but rarely in the same way. Explore Vietnam on CountryCuisines
Start Cooking: Vietnam
Pho Beef Noodle Soup
Build the aromatic broth, tender beef and rice noodles behind the bowl that carried Vietnam around the world.
Bánh Xèo Sizzling Crepes
Crisp turmeric-tinted crepes wrap shrimp, pork and herbs, proving Vietnamese cooking has plenty to say beyond noodle soup.
Crispy Shrimp Dumplings
Rice paper turns crisp around a juicy shrimp filling in this modern Vietnamese bite with a very satisfying crunch.
Food Trivia: Pho for Breakfast?
Absolutely. In Hanoi, the bowl many of us think of as lunch or dinner has long been a morning ritual. And there’s no shortage of places to get it: Hanoi cultural authorities counted nearly 700 pho shops across the city in 2023.
The bowl changes as you travel, too. Northern Pho is generally prized for a clearer, more restrained broth. Southern versions tend to arrive sweeter and surrounded by herbs, bean sprouts and condiments. Same name. Different breakfast personalities.
Food Quiz: Know Your Noodles?
You’ve handled Pho. Now let’s see how you do with ramen, soba, pad Thai and the rest of the noodle universe.
Our Noodle Lovers Trivia Quiz jumps across countries, shapes, broths and sauces. One warning: correctly identifying a bowl of Pho does not yet qualify you for an honorary doctorate in noodles.
Favorite Find: Red Boat Fish Sauce
Fish sauce is one of those ingredients that can make a dish taste more complete without announcing exactly how it did it. Red Boat has a particularly good backstory.
Founder Cuong Pham, who grew up in Saigon and later worked as an Apple engineer, started the company after struggling to find the fish sauce he remembered. It’s made on Phú Quốc with just anchovies and sea salt. Simple ingredients. Serious umami. Red Boat’s story
Share The Menu
Know someone who thinks Pho has been simmering away since ancient Vietnam? Send them this issue of The Menu. The best food stories usually come with a surprise, and this one fits neatly in a soup bowl. Share it with the curious eater who likes a little history with dinner.
Next Week
It’s 2019 in Ethiopia, where the calendar says one thing, your phone says another and dinner is still right on time.
