First Time Trying Pho

If anyone still even reads this blog, I got some great new pho you! Bad pun, I'm sorry, but for real I'm actually pretty excited to post about this one. Also before we get into it, I'm thinking of attempting to regularly update the blog Saturdays and Wednesdays. I have little faith this will remain in place too long, but I'll still try my best, beause I really don't want this blog to die out despite what it may seem. Food is something I enjoy so why not share the joy, am I right or am I right? Probably neither, but back on the topic of Pho, I tried my first bowl of Combination Pho at a restaurant called Pho 95. I am well aware this is a Vietnamese dish, but I still wanted to share a bit about Pho. Consisting of mainly of soup, rice noodles, and beef, this noodle dish originated in Nam Dinh/Hanoi during the 1880s in Vietnam. This was around the same time when the French had colonized the country, which is how it is believed the dish came by the name pho. The word pho is commonly thought to have ben a mispronunciation of the french word feu or fire, and the origins of the soup may have stemmed from the French's pot au feu, beef stew. It is also through the French that Vietnam came by the use of cows in food, as they were previously only used as load bearing animals. In Vietnam. pho has 2 main variants, pho bac, and pho nam, with pho bac being from the north and pho nam being from the south. Most people acknowledge pho bac however as the true version of pho being that this is also where the city of Hanoi is located. Pho bac sticks to basics you could say. It is not as lavishly garnished or spiced as you'd find with a bowl of pho nam. The focus is to simply make just about the most delicious broth you'll ever encounter. Pho nam came to be when the split of Vietnam occured into the communist north and democratic south. When the northerners fled to the south, pho was also introdruced into this region of Vietnam. South vietnam, being a bit more abundant in resources, used their wealth to experiment and heavily season their bowls of Pho. This development in pho brought about tons of new variations of the noodle soup. Later in 1975, when the migration of many vietnamese to the United States and other countries occured, these Pho recipes were brought along with the refugees and have integrated themselves into our society today. Pho has evolved and taken many different forms in modern culture, but I certainly must say that if you really want the best

pho, you should simply try the traditionally crafted noodle soups made by the Vietnamese themselves.