How a rivalry over pho both divides and unites Vietnam

Australia Broadcast Center

17-05-2025

The history of pho is a nation in a bowl; the very story of Vietnam itself.
"Traditionally Vietnamese don't eat beef."
That's according to Vu Hong Lien, the author of Rice and Baguette — A History of Vietnamese Food.
"When the French came to settle in Vietnam in the middle of the 19th century, they brought with them a lot of new things," she said.
"One of them was raising herds of cows."
French colonisation famously led to the creation of the banh mi.
Less widely known is the European role in the invention of its beloved national soup.
Prior to the French arrival in Indochina, "cows were not slaughtered for food", said Tess Do from the University of Melbourne's School of Languages and Linguistics.
A popular explanation for how pho — pronounced "fuh" — got its name, is that it was derived from the French stew pot-au-feu, meaning "pot on the fire".
Parts of the cow unwanted by the Europeans were used to make broth.
The addition of Vietnamese herbs and spices such as star anise, cinnamon, coriander seed and black cardamom made pho.
Pho was popularised in the city of Hanoi in Vietnam's north — today the national capital.
Back in 1954, the country was divided into two: a communist north and anti-communist south.
Many northerners fleeing the communist regime moved south and many set up shops in Saigon, now Ho Chi Minh City.
"It was the exodus of 1954 that really brings the pho to the south, and turned pho into the beloved dish of all Vietnamese," Dr Do said.
Northern pho is typically considered to be simpler — subtle and light with less toppings.
"In the north, we eat it for breakfast so it's a bit more petit," said Melbourne chef Ha Nguyen, who grew up in Hanoi.
Pho from the south is sweeter, bolder and fattier.
Climatic differences between north and south Vietnam have also shaped how pho is served.
"In the south, where the land is fertile and a lot of things can grow there, with a bowl of pho you get a big plate of bean sprouts and all kinds of herbs like sweet basil mint and this long herb called sawtooth coriander," Dr Vu Hong said.
So which is better?
"There's a little bit of rivalry within the Vietnamese community and they all think that their food is still better than the others," said Mr Nguyen.
"I'm from the north, my partner is from the south and quite often we have to not [necessarily] argue, but we'll say that, 'OK, that's what we're going to have'."
The Vietnam War, which ended in 1975, sent Vietnamese people, and with them pho, across the world.
Some 80,000 refugees made Australia their home.
"In the early days of the diaspora, in the 70s and 80s, I think pho was clearly more than just a dish," said Dr Do, who herself has lived outside of Vietnam for four decades.
In Australia and other countries Vietnamese refugees fled to in the 1970s after the Vietnam War, people are more accustomed to eating the southern style.
But that's changing.
More Vietnamese from the north like Mr Nguyen have joined existing diaspora communities — bringing northern cuisine with them.
The Vietnamese government in 2024 named the dish part of the country's intangible cultural heritage, attributing its origin to the northern cities of Hanoi and Nam Dinh.
Pho had proven to be "a national dish for Vietnamese across borders, across political divisions", Dr Do said — meaning it had the potential to help reconciliation and heal the deep wounds of civil war.
"The southerners and the northerners are both very proud of their pho," she said.