A thousand miles away, Vietnamese pho

1. After more than two legs of my journey, totaling approximately 30 hours of flying, not including transit time in South Korea, I finally arrived in Boston on the East Coast of the United States at noon. My first meal, my first dish in America, was... pho.

While waiting for my meal, I thought to myself, coming all the way here just to eat a bowl of pho is like traveling thousands of miles. I'm not speaking in literary terms; in reality, the equator, the longest line of latitude on Earth, is 40,000 km long. Vietnam and the United States are located at the eastern and western poles of the hemisphere, so the distance is approximately 14,000 to 20,000 km (depending on whether you're on the West or East coast). Each mile is roughly 1.8 km, so the bowl of pho I'm about to eat is thousands of miles from home, isn't it?

The "Train" style pho in Philadelphia - Photo: XH

It goes without saying that many people know that the world's culinary map frequently mentions Vietnamese dishes such as street banh mi, Vietnamese filter coffee, Hue beef noodle soup, Quang noodles, etc. But pho is the most well-known dish abroad. Along with the ao dai (traditional Vietnamese dress) and conical hat, pho is a unique brand of the Vietnamese people; mentioning pho is mentioning Vietnamese people.

In the United States, where over 2 million Vietnamese people reside, accounting for 40% of the Vietnamese diaspora, finding a pho restaurant is very easy. Even in densely populated Vietnamese neighborhoods, almost every street has a pho restaurant. Because Americans who speak English don't pronounce the "question mark" tone, many restaurants frequented by locals simply display the word "Pho" on their signs, which everyone understands to mean a Vietnamese pho restaurant.

The first bowl of pho I ate was at the rather famous "Pho Pasteur" restaurant in Boston, and it tasted very similar to pho back home. The broth was clear and sweet, the beef was rare, and it came with a plate of fresh herbs and blanched bean sprouts, along with lime and chili peppers. However, since the customers weren't all Vietnamese, the seasonings were adjusted to some extent; for example, it lacked a bit of finely ground black pepper and a little bit of chili sauce to suit my taste.

However, that alone was enough for me to savor the flavor of a dish considered the "national soul and essence" of my homeland, enough to make me proud that the dish called pho has traveled thousands of miles to contribute to the "identity" of this land on the other side of the globe, the United States.

2. The story of pho is a long one; it would take all day to tell. From Boston, I traveled through bustling New York, Washington D.C. on the East Coast, to the Midwest like Philadelphia in Pennsylvania, up to the gambling capital Las Vegas in Nevada, and then back to California on the West Coast, where the largest Vietnamese population in America is located. Thanks to this, I've been to and enjoyed many pho restaurants and many different types of pho. Some examples include Pho Bang in New York, Pho Bosa in Las Vegas, Pho Kim Long in Los Angeles, and Pho Viet in Little Saigon...

The owner of "Pho Bosa" (in the red shirt) in Las Vegas is Vietnamese - Photo: XH

First, anyone who has been to America knows that most bowls of pho there are very large, often called "train" pho. There's plenty of noodles and a generous amount of meat. For Vietnamese people who come to America, only those with a hearty appetite can finish a whole bowl; women and children can sometimes share one bowl between two people and still feel satisfied. I asked the restaurant owners, and they said that this "serving size" of pho has to be appropriate for the locals.

There are several explanations for why it's called "Train Pho." Some say that pho originated in northern Vietnam, and during the war, there was a type of "driverless" pho—a subsidized pho with only broth and noodles, but no meat. This "driverless" pho somehow evolved into "airplane" pho. And since there was "airplane" pho, "Train Pho" was born. Others say the large size of the pho bowl is called "Large" pho, similar to how people refer to clothing sizes XL (large), and then customers jokingly turned XL into "Train"!

Vietnamese pho in the US is also diverse. In terms of meat, there's chicken pho, beef pho, meatball pho, bone broth pho, and even lobster pho. It's worth noting that lobster, especially on the East Coast of the US, is quite affordable compared to the average income, costing only around $5 per pound (approximately 240,000 Vietnamese dong per kilogram). Many pho restaurants cater to diverse tastes by adding various mushrooms, shellfish, and vegetables, making the "train-style" pho even more abundant.

Of course, no matter what, Vietnamese pho in America can't compare to Vietnamese pho in... Vietnam. At least, that's my opinion. I feel like it's due to the quality of the rice or the family recipe that the noodles here aren't as soft and smooth as the noodles back home. Some places don't use the thick rice noodles but use other types of noodles instead. Or the herbs, the stems are very long, the leaves are very large, dark green, and thick, but the flavor is a bit pungent. The bean sprouts are also like that, large and long but not as crispy and sweet as back home. As for the broth, only a few restaurants serving a large Vietnamese community have the full aromatic and spicy flavor from cinnamon and star anise; most others only achieve a clear and moderately sweet taste.

Regarding prices, they vary from place to place. In the US, average income and the value of hourly or daily wages differ across states. Therefore, the price of a bowl of pho, besides variations in ingredients, quantity, and brand (beef is different from chicken, a large bowl is different from a regular bowl, high-end restaurants are different from budget eateries), also varies according to market prices. The price of a bowl of pho ranges from $9 to $14, but if it's "premium" pho using "high-quality" beef and lobster, for example, the price can go up to several tens of dollars per bowl.

3. Vietnamese pho is famous in the US in particular and the world in general, to the point that there are many websites dedicated to writing about pho, introducing different types of pho, and providing directions to good pho restaurants. From being little known, today almost every American is familiar with and has even eaten pho many times.

I asked, and many Americans replied that pho is a great choice because it's low in fat, not greasy, and definitely healthy, especially in places with high rates of overweight and obesity. It's also worth mentioning that in the past, Vietnamese pho was often found in other Asian restaurants, but now restaurants and eateries officially label their establishments as "Pho" or are part of "Vietnamese Cuisine" chains.

Pho Viet proudly features in "Vietnamese Cuisine" - Photo: XH

The history of Vietnamese pho's entry into the American market could fill a book. It's said that the first Vietnamese pho restaurants opened in the early 1980s. Within just two decades, at the beginning of the 21st century, thousands of pho restaurants had sprung up across the United States. In 2000, a statistical organization reported that revenue from Vietnamese pho restaurants in the US reached half a billion US dollars. Currently, many Vietnamese pho brands have made their mark with diners, such as Pho Hoa, Pho 79, Pho 24, Pho 2000, etc. Four years ago, in 2019, a Vietnamese pho brand even won the "James Beard Foundation Award," considered the Oscar of the culinary industry (the prestigious Oscar of the film industry).

Many Vietnamese living abroad have confided in me that eating pho is not just a habit, but also a way to reconnect with their homeland. To put it poetically, it's a way of eating that evokes memories and nostalgia. And rightly so; I've only been away for a few weeks and already miss the taste of home, so imagine how my brothers and sisters who have settled here for months or even years will.

Many times, holding chopsticks and watching the steam rise from a bowl of pho in a foreign land, I'm reminded of the writings of Nguyen Tuan, Vu Bang, Bang Son... What is it about a single dish that can soften one's heart? The sparkle of literature, no matter how beautiful or vivid, cannot compare to real life, when people confront it, like pho for example, from the vast distance of a thousand miles. Only then do I understand that happiness in life isn't far away; sometimes it's just a fleeting moment, a scent rising from a dish called pho.

Memoir : Pham Xuan Hung

Source: https://baoquangtri.vn/van-hoa/van-dam-duong-xa-pho-viet-nbsp/183354.htm