Pho ( ) is a Vietnamese soup dish consisting of broth, rice noodles (), herbs, and meat â usually beef (), and sometimes chicken (). Pho is a popular food in Vietnam where it is served in households, street-stalls, and restaurants nationwide. Residents of the city of Nam ÃÂá»Ânh were the first to create Vietnamese traditional pho.
Pho is a relatively recent addition to the country's cuisine, first appearing in written records in the early 20th century in Northern Vietnam. After the Vietnam War, refugees popularized it throughout the world. Due to limited historical documentation, the origins of pho remain debated. Influences from both French and Chinese culinary traditions are believed to have contributed to its development in Vietnam, as well as to the etymology of its name. The Hanoi (northern) and Saigon (southern) styles of pho differ by noodle width, sweetness of broth, and choice of herbs and sauce.
In 2017, Vietnam made December 12 the "Day of Pho".
Phá» originated in Northern Vietnam in the early 20th century. It either evolved independently from, or shares a similar origin with, beef noodle soups found in neighboring countries, where dishes such as kuay teow reua of Thailand or ngau naam ho fun () and niu pahu () of Guangdong and Yunnan provinces of China, are common. While the rice noodles and the spices used in the broth of phá» have a connection with Chinese culinary traditions, beef consumption was not widespread among the Vietnamese because they traditionally used water buffaloes for farming. The demand for beef only appeared under French colonial rule, leading some to attribute phá»ÂâÂÂs origins to French, Chinese, or a combination of both influences. However, its exact origins remain a topic of debate.
During French colonial rule (1887âÂÂ1954), the French introduced pot-au-feu, a slow-cooked beef stew, and the use of beef bones for broth mirrors French consommé techniques. However dishes with a similar preparation to phá» using water buffalo meat, such as xáo trâu have long been staples to the rural cuisine. Villagers in say they ate phá» long before the French colonial period. The modern form emerged between 1900 and 1907 in northern Vietnam, southeast of Hanoi in Nam ÃÂá»Ânh Province, then a substantial textile market. The traditional home of phá» is reputed to be the villages of and (or ) in ÃÂông Xuân commune, Nam Trá»±c District, Nam ÃÂá»Ânh Province.
Cultural historian and researcher Trá»Ânh Quang Dà ©ng 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 beef noodle similar to phá» called (çÂÂèÂÂç² or çÂÂè ©ç²Â) or ngau juk fun. The Yunnan-style herbal beef soup is called niupahu (çÂÂæÂÂå¼) or ngau paa fu in Cantonese. 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.
Phá» was originally sold as a snack at dawn and dusk by street vendors, who shouldered mobile kitchens on carrying poles (). 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 phá»Â. The heavy was always shouldered by men. They kept their heads warm with distinctive felt hats called .
Hanoi's first two fixed phá» stands were a Vietnamese-owned Cát Tðá»Âng on Cầu Gá» Street and a Chinese-owned stand in front of Bá» Há» tram stop. They were joined in 1918 by two more on Quạt Row and ÃÂá»Âng Row. Around 1925, a Vân Cù villager named Vạn opened the first "Nam ÃÂá»Ânh style" pho stand in Hanoi. Peddler declined in number around 1936âÂÂ1946 in favor of stationary eateries.
In the late 1920s, various vendors experimented with , sesame oil, tofu, and even Lethocerus indicus extract (). This "" failed to enter the mainstream.
, served with cooked 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. Phá»Â, which was relatively less consumed 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 (), culantro (), cinnamon basil (), Hoisin sauce (), and hot Sriracha sauce () became standard fare. also began to rival fully cooked in popularity. Migrants from the North similarly popularized sandwiches.
Meanwhile, in North Vietnam, private phá» restaurants were nationalized () and began serving phá» 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 and setting out plastic stools for customers.
During the so-called following the Vietnam War, state-owned pho eateries served a meatless variety of the dish known as pilotless pho (), in reference to the U.S. Air Force's . The broth consisted of boiled water with MSG added for taste, as there were often shortages of 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 (deep-fried wheat flour dough) in pho.
Pho eateries were privatized as part of ÃÂá»Âi Má»Âi. Many street vendors must still maintain a light footprint to evade police enforcing the street tidiness rules that replaced the ban on private ownership.
In the aftermath of the Vietnam War, Vietnamese refugees brought phá» to many countries. Restaurants specializing in phá» appeared in numerous Asian neighborhoods and Little Saigons, such as in Paris and in major cities in the United States, Canada, and Australia. In 1980, the first of hundreds of phá» restaurants opened in the Little Saigon in Orange County, California.
In the United States, phá» began to enter the mainstream during the 1990s, as relations between the U.S. and Vietnam improved. At that time Vietnamese restaurants began opening quickly in Texas and California, spreading rapidly along the Gulf and West Coasts, as well as the East Coast and the rest of the country. During the 2000s, phá» restaurants in the United States generated US$500 million in annual revenue, according to an unofficial estimate. Phá» can now be found in cafeterias at many college and corporate campuses, especially on the West Coast.
The word "pho" was added to the Shorter Oxford English Dictionary in 2007. is listed at number 28 on "World's 50 Most Delicious Foods", compiled by CNN Go in 2011. The Vietnamese Embassy in Mexico celebrated PhỠDay on April 3, 2016, with Osaka Prefecture holding a similar commemoration the following day. PhỠhas been adopted by other Southeast Asian cuisines, including Lao and Hmong cuisine. It sometimes appears as "Phô" on menus in Australia.
In recent decades, phá» has evolved beyond its traditional form, with new variations emerging to cater to modern tastes and preferences. One notable innovation is phá» cuá»Ân, where the ingredients of phá» are wrapped in fresh rice noodles, creating a new dish that has gained popularity in Hanoi.
Phá»Â's influence has even extended into the cocktail scene, with bars like Nê offering phá»Â-inspired cocktails that incorporate the soupâÂÂs signature spices.
Additionally, chefs such as Peter Cung have brought phá» into the realm of fine dining, as exemplified by his Michelin-starred restaurant Anan Saigon, where phá» is deconstructed into a multi-course meal.
Official recognition has followed suit, with the Vietnamese government designating December 12 as the 'Day of Phá»Â' in 2018, and in 2024, Hanoi and Nam ÃÂá»Ânh-style phá» were recognized as national intangible cultural heritage. These developments reflect the dishâÂÂs enduring relevance and its continued reinvention in both local and international culinary landscapes.
Reviews of 19th and 20th-century Vietnamese literature have found that pho entered the mainstream sometime in the 1910s. Georges Dumoutier's extensive 1907 account of Vietnamese cuisine omits any mention of phá»Â. The word appears in a short story published in 1907. Nguyá» n Công Hoan recalls its sale by street vendors in 1913. A 1931 dictionary is the first to define as a soup: "from the word . A dish consisting of small slices of rice cake boiled with beef."
Possibly the earliest English-language reference to pho was in the book Recipes of All Nations, edited by Countess Morphy in 1935: In the book, pho is described as "an Annamese soup held in high esteem ... made with beef, a veal bone, onions, a bay leaf, salt, and pepper, and a small teaspoon of nuoc-mam (fish sauce)."
There are two prevailing theories on the origin of the word and, by extension, the dish itself. As author NguyỠn Dð notes, both questions are significant to Vietnamese identity.
Some historians suggest a connection to the French due to the introduction of beef as a staple ingredient during French colonial rule. French settlers commonly ate beef, whereas Vietnamese traditionally ate pork and chicken and used cattle primarily as beasts of burden. Gustave Hue (1937) equates to the French beef stew (literally, "pot on the fire"). Accordingly, Western sources generally maintain that is derived from in both name and substance. However, several scholars dispute this etymology, pointing to the significant differences between the two dishes. Another suggestion of a separate origin is that phỠin French has long been pronounced rather than : in Jean Tardieu's Lettre de Hanoï àRoger Martin Du Gard (1928), a soup vendor cries "Pho-ô!" in the street.
Many Hanoians explain that the word derives from French soldiers' ordering "" (fire) from , referring to both the steam rising from a bowl of phá» and the wood fire seen glowing from a in the evening.
Food historian Erica J. Peters argues that the French has embraced phá» in a way that overlooks its origins as a local improvisation, reinforcing "an idea that the French brought modern ingenuity to a traditionalist Vietnam". The connection between phá» and the French culinary tradition remains widely debated but remains a prominent theory in discussions of its origins.
Another possible origin links phỠto Chinese influences. Hue and Eugène Gouin (1957) suggest that may be a shortened form of and that it is derived from (), which means "beef noodles". This dish was sold by Chinese immigrants in Hanoi. This etymology is supported by the 1931 dictionary definition of phỠand the influence of Chinese culinary traditions, including the use of rice noodles and spices in the broth. ( is an allophone of in some northern dialects of Vietnamese.)
Some scholars argue that phá» (the dish) evolved from , a Vietnamese dish common in Hanoi at the turn of the century. Originally eaten by commoners near the Red River, it consisted of stir-fried strips of water buffalo meat served in broth atop rice vermicelli. Around 1908âÂÂ1909, the shipping industry brought an influx of laborers. Vietnamese and Chinese cooks set up to serve them but later switched to inexpensive scraps of beef set aside by butchers who sold to the French. Chinese vendors advertised this by crying out, "Beef and noodles!" (). Eventually, the street cry became "Meat and noodles!" (), with the last syllable elongated. Nguyá» n Ngá»Âc BÃÂch suggests that the final "n" was eventually dropped because of the similar-sounding (). The French author Jean Marquet refers to the dish as "!" in his 1919 novel Du village-à-la cité. This is likely what the Vietnamese poet Tản ÃÂàcalls "" in "" ("Gambling"), written around 1915âÂÂ1917.
Phá» is served in a bowl with a specific cut of flat rice noodles in clear beef broth, with thin cuts of beef (steak, fatty flank, lean flank, brisket). Variations feature slow-cooked tendons, tripe, or meatballs in southern Vietnam. Chicken pho is made using the same spices as beef, but the broth is made using chicken bones and meat, as well as some internal organs of the chicken, such as the heart, the undeveloped eggs, and the gizzard.
When eating at phá» stalls in Vietnam, customers are generally asked which parts of the beef they would like and how they want it done.
Beef parts include:
For chicken phá»Â, options might include:
The freshly made rice noodles which are usually used are called , or for short, in Vietnamese, while the dried rice noodles are called , or for short, . In North America, the semi-dried pho noodles are labeled on the packaging as (fresh pho noodles). Pho noodles are usually medium-wide; however, people from different regions of Vietnam prefer different widths.
The soup for beef phá» is generally made by simmering beef bones, oxtails, flank steak, charred onion, charred ginger, and spices. For a more intense flavor, the bones may still have beef on them. Chicken bones also work and produce a similar broth. Seasonings can include Saigon cinnamon or other kinds of cinnamon as alternatives (may be used usually in stick form, sometimes in powder form in pho restaurant franchises overseas), star anise, roasted ginger, roasted onion, black cardamom, coriander seed, fennel seed, and clove. The broth takes several hours to make. For chicken phá»Â, only the meat and bones of the chicken are used in place of beef and beef bone. The remaining spices remain the same, but the charred ginger can be omitted since its function in beef phá» is to subdue the quite strong smell of beef.
The spices, often wrapped in cheesecloth or a soaking bag to prevent them from floating all over the pot, usually contain cloves, star anise, coriander seed, fennel, cinnamon, black cardamom, ginger, and onion.
Careful cooks often roast ginger and onion over an open fire for about a minute before adding them to the stock, to bring out their full flavor. They also skim off all the impurities that float to the top while cooking; this is the key to a clear broth. (fish sauce) is added toward the end.
Different regions have different ways of eating pho that suit their taste and practice. The Northern pho is typically served with scallions, onions, and cilantro (coriander leaves). The Southern variant also adds Thai basil and bean sprouts. Thai chili peppers, lime wedges, fish sauce, chili oil, hot chili sauce (such as Sriracha sauce), pickled garlic (Northern style), or hoisin sauce (Southern style) may be added to taste as accompaniments. The Central pho is more special. On the table, they prepare pickled papaya, and sate sauce.
Several ingredients not generally served with phá» may be ordered by request. Extra-fatty broth (nðá»Âc béo) can be ordered and comes with scallions to sweeten it. A popular side dish ordered upon request is hành dấm, or vinegared white onions.
There are several regional variants of pho in Vietnam, particularly divided between "Northern phá»Â" () or "Hanoi phá»Â" (phá» HàNá»Âi), and "Southern phá»Â" (phá» Nam) or "Saigon pho" (). Northern Vietnamese phá» uses a savoury, clear broth, blanched whole green onion, and garnishes offered generally include only diced green onion and cilantro, pickled garlic, chili sauce and quẩy. The Northern pho is often described as subtle and light on spices while having a deep savory taste from beef bones. On the other hand, southern Vietnamese phá» broth is sweeter and cloudier, and is consumed with bean sprouts, fresh sliced chili, hoisin sauce, and a greater variety of fresh herbs. Phá» may be served with either phá» noodles or kuy teav noodles (). The variations in meat, broth, and additional garnishes such as lime, bean sprouts, ngò gai (culantro), húng quế (Thai basil), and tðáng ÃÂen (hoisin sauce), tðáng á»Ât (chili sauce) appear to be innovations made by or introduced to the South. Another style of northern phá» is phá» Nam ÃÂá»Ânh from Nam ÃÂá»Ânh city which uses more fish sauce in the broth and wider noodles. Other provincial variations exist where pho is served with delicacy meats other than beef or chicken, such as duck, buffalo, goat, or veal.
Phá» has many variants including many dishes bearing the name "phá»Â", many are not soup-based:
Other local variances or dishes called phá»Â:
Vietnamese beef soup can also refer to , which is a spicy beef noodle soup associated with in central Vietnam.
After the Fall of Saigon in 1975, the Philippines welcomed refugees into its territories, resulting in thousands of Vietnamese from southern Vietnam taking shelter on the Filipino island of Palawan. The Vietnamese immigrants brought with them part of their culture which influenced the Filipinos of the island, and vice versa. A notable culinary legacy is a pho-like Filipino dish popular in Palawan island that locals call chao long (not to be confused with the Vietnamese porridge called cháo lòng). The Filipino chao long is a noodle dish, which is a combination of broth, protein (beef, pork, and/or chicken), rice noodles, mung bean sprouts, and basil leaves. It is accompanied by a Filipino citrus called calamansi and served with a bread similar to Vietnamese bánh mì, which the locals refer to as "French bread".
Famous phá» shops in Hanoi are Phá» Bát ÃÂàn, Phá» Thìn Bá» Há»Â, Phá» Thìn Lò ÃÂúc, Phá» 10 Lý Quá»Âc Sð. In 2016, BBC noted Pho 10 Ly Quoc Su to be among the best pho addresses in Vietnam. Phá» Thìn Lò ÃÂúc has also opened foreign branches in Australia, Japan and the U.S.
Famous phá» shops in Saigon included , , , , and . Pasteur Street () was a street famous for its beef phá»Â, while Hien Vuong Street () was known for its chicken phá»Â. At Phá» Bình, American soldiers dined as National Liberation Front agents planned the Tết Offensive just upstairs. Nowadays in Ho Chi Minh City, well-known restaurants include: Phá» Hùng, Phá» Hòa Pasteur, and Phá» 2000, which U.S. President Bill Clinton visited in 2000.
One of the largest phá» chains in Vietnam is Pho 24, a subsidiary of Highlands Coffee, with 60 locations in Vietnam and 20 abroad.
The largest phỠchain in the United States is PhỠHòa, which operates over 70 locations in seven countries. A similar restaurant named Pho 75 serves in the Washington, D.C., and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, areas in the United States. Numbers in the restaurant name are "lucky" numbers for the owners: culturally lucky numbers or to mark a date in Vietnam or their personal history.
Many phá» restaurants in the United States offer oversized helpings with names such as "train phá»Â" (), "airplane phá»Â" (), or "California phá»Â" (). Some restaurants have offered a phá» eating challenge, with prizes for finishing as much as of phá» in one sitting, or have auctioned special versions costing $5,000.