Hanoi pho is still delicious today, but the way it is cooked and served has changed somewhat due to many social changes, according to pho expert Trinh Quang Dung.
Mr. Trinh Quang Dung, a 71-year-old scientist working at the Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology, will launch the book "One Hundred Years of Vietnamese Pho" (Vietnamese Women's Publishing House) in 2022 after decades of collecting and researching valuable documents about pho from the past to the present.
During his research, Mr. Dung found that there were two opinions about the origin of pho: Hanoi or Nam Dinh. In the early 20th century, the "pho troop" of pho vendors from Nam Dinh traveled to Hanoi to practice. Also during this period, the pho lineage originating from Di Trach, Ha Dong province (now Hanoi) appeared.
A photo of a pho vendor on the streets of Hanoi was displayed at the "Street Vendors" event - an art exhibition organized by the French Institute in Vietnam and the French School of the Far East (EFEO) in late 2022 in Ho Chi Minh City. The photo was taken before 1950. Photo: EFEO
However, the researcher believes that Hanoi is the cradle for pho to develop because the market here is more abundant than Nam Dinh. Despite the large number of customers from Nam Dinh textile factories, pho is still a luxury for rural Vietnam, which does not have the habit of eating snacks. These are the findings of the researcher after a research trip on Nam Dinh pho and a conversation with an elder in Van Cu village.
"Van Cu village has the Co family with the most people selling pho, about 75% of the rural population sells pho. Gradually, other families also make pho and Hanoi is the most prosperous place for this profession," Mr. Dung told VnExpress.
The researcher believes that there are characteristics of the old pho bowl that the current generation can hardly perceive. During the war, Hanoians had to evacuate to the countryside many times. When they returned, they had more or less "ruralized", their eating habits were also more vulgar, no longer maintaining the elegance of the old Hanoians. Social changes through each period also directly affected the traditional pho bowl.
Mr. Dung said the most obvious sign of the decline of traditional pho is the rustic bowl of Bat Trang pottery village or many other traditional pottery kilns. This type of bowl has a flared mouth and a narrow bottom. The surface area gradually decreases, helping the pho broth to remain hot until the last spoonful. The bowl has a small capacity, not as much as the current pho bowls because the ancient Hanoians considered pho as a snack, not a full meal.
An antique demon bowl. Photo: Huonggombattrang
"Pho instead of rice appeared later when life gradually became more vulgar and social changes destroyed many quintessential things of Hanoians," said Mr. Dung.
According to researchers, the people of Hanoi in the past had a very sophisticated taste for pho. When going to a pho restaurant, many people brought green rice lime from home because they believed it would be more delicious than the lime sold at the restaurant. In the book "One Hundred Years of Vietnamese Pho", author Trinh Quang Dung wrote that Hanoians who are connoisseurs of pho must enjoy a bowl of blood broth from the restaurant. The blood here is not cow's blood but the broth of stewed beef bones, the marrow that is secreted, "very sweet and rich".
Mr. Dung said that the old pho noodles had to be large, about the size of a man’s little finger. Large noodles absorb more broth, so just by tasting the noodles, one can clearly feel the sweetness of the broth. When eating, people pick up pho noodles, thinly sliced meat, add a little water to the spoon. Just like that, eat each small piece, gently and elegantly.
Mr. Dung said that delicious pho must be eaten hot. Therefore, the temperature of the air conditioner has made the pho less delicious. When studying old documents, scholars said that the late writer Nguyen Tuan had affirmed this many times.
"The hotter the pho, the more delicious it is because it is not haunted by the strong taste of beef fat," said Mr. Dung.
One of the "quintessence" of Hanoi pho that has disappeared is the pho stalls. Pho stalls never prepare two bowls at a time, they only start to pick up the noodles and slice the meat when the customer orders, unlike now, where the meat is pre-sliced "industrially". The pho is always hot, and "extremely refreshing", he said.
What Mr. Dung does not like are the so-called "high-end" versions of pho, which use imported beef and a series of luxurious ingredients, making each bowl cost millions of dong. According to him, it cannot be called pho but is more like "selling meat" or "selling mushrooms". In his book, Mr. Trinh Quang Dung also mentioned the space to enjoy pho. According to the author, pho should be eaten in a common space, instead of "luxurious, 5-star, 6-star".
"To make delicious pho, you also need a setting. You have to eat pho right at the restaurant, and a dirty restaurant is best," the author quoted journalist Pham Chu in an article in Chinh Luan (a newspaper in Saigon before 1975). However, Mr. Dung also added that this was probably only true in the past. Nowadays, if the author wrote like that, he would be "stoned".
However, Mr. Dung said that in reality, pho lovers in Hanoi do not pay much attention to the appearance and decoration of the restaurant, but are more concerned with the quality of the pho. Old restaurants such as Thin Bo Ho and Tu Lun, although not "big houses, bright tables and chairs", still attract customers. In particular, pho restaurants originating from Nam Dinh in Hanoi and many other places often have a rustic style, sometimes sloppy. Mr. Dung confirmed this when talking with Mr. Co Nhu Hung, former chairman of the association of pho restaurant owners in Thanh Nam. Meanwhile, the "air-conditioned pho" movement, imported from Ho Chi Minh City, is not welcomed in Hanoi.
Mr. Dung also said that one of the factors that makes traditional pho no longer the same is the MSG and sugar used to create sweetness. This is a characteristic of pho during the subsidy period when the economy was difficult and people had to tighten their belts.
Photo of a bowl of pho taken in August 2023 at a restaurant in Dong Da district, Hanoi - where customers still queue like in the subsidy period. Photo: Quynh Mai
"There is such a shortage, where can we get meat and bones to ask for? So, when cooking pho, we can only rely on the savior, MSG," Mr. Trinh Quang Dung wrote in his book about pho.
However, at that time, MSG was also very precious, not something you could have if you wanted it. In 1979, a normal bowl of pho cost a few hundred dong, but a special bowl with MSG cost up to 1,000 dong. This is understandable because during the subsidy period, Hanoi had a type of "pilotless pho", which means pho without meat, only consisting of boiling water and MSG, served with pho noodles.
The subsidy period greatly influenced the way people in Hanoi used to eat pho. According to scholars, in addition to MSG, this period of shortage created "variants" such as cold rice with pho, pho with bread - Mr. Dung called this "pho stuffing". This type of pho is loved because people are always hungry. Therefore, it is still a "delicacy" compared to "fist" cakes, "cellar lid" cakes - cakes made from flour, rolled like a fist or flattened like a cellar lid. This style of eating has gradually disappeared, but there is still a version that is "preserved and promoted" which is pho with fried dough sticks.
"Pho connoisseurs never approve of the chaotic style of eating that destroys the noble flavor of the dish that their kings always revered," commented Mr. Trinh Quang Dung in the book "One Hundred Years of Vietnamese Pho."
According to Mr. Dung, the commercial pho during the subsidy period was an indication of the "ruralization" of the old Hanoians after being evacuated to the countryside to avoid American bombs. When eating commercial pho, customers had to serve themselves and line up to get their bowls. The store staff did not pay much attention to the customers. At that time, commercial pho restaurants did not have napkins - which were considered a luxury item of the "petty bourgeoisie". Many customers finished eating and put their chopsticks together, wiping their mouths like when eating at a feast in the countryside.
Mr. Trinh Quang Dung, photo taken in May 2023. Photo: NVCC
Mr. Dung said he would not eat at family-run restaurants that require customers to queue and serve themselves, no matter how delicious the pho is. The people of Hanoi in the past had a habit of eating in a quiet manner, and there was no need to queue to eat. However, he also emphasized that this was a personal preference, so he would not judge.
Society has changed and the old Hanoians like Mr. Dung are gradually disappearing. The traditional bowl of pho, the elegant way of eating of the old days is "a beautiful past that the young generation, even if they hear about it, will find it difficult to understand," he said.
Tu Nguyen
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