Phở or Pho is a Vietnamese soup dish consisting of broth, rice noodles, herbs, and meat, sometimes chicken. Phở is a popular food in Vietnam where it is served in households, street-stalls, and restaurants country-wide. Residents of the city of Nam Định were the first to create Vietnamese traditional phở. It is considered Vietnam's national dish.
A bowl of phở in Hanoi served with quẩy (fried dough, on the right)
Southern-style phở served with basil and Mung bean sprouts
A phở and bánh cuốn restaurant in Paris
Bags of bánh phở tươi at an American grocery store
Vietnamese cuisine encompasses the foods and beverages originated from Vietnam. Meals feature a combination of five fundamental tastes : sweet, salty, bitter, sour, and spicy. The distinctive nature of each dish reflects one or more elements, which are also based around a five-pronged philosophy. Vietnamese recipes use ingredients like lemongrass, ginger, mint, Vietnamese mint, long coriander, Saigon cinnamon, bird's eye chili, lime, and Thai basil leaves. Traditional Vietnamese cooking has often been characterised as using fresh ingredients, not using much dairy or oil, having interesting textures, and making use of herbs and vegetables. The cuisine is also low in sugar and is almost always naturally gluten-free, as many of the dishes are rice-based instead of wheat-based, made with rice noodles, papers and flour. Vietnamese cuisine is strongly influenced not only by the cuisines of neighboring China, Cambodia and Laos, but also by French cuisine due to French colonial rule over the region from 1887 to 1954.
Phở bò (beef noodle soup) from the city of Hội An – different regions have different recipes for their phở.
Bún chả, a dish of grilled pork and noodle and herbs
Bún bò Huế, a spicy, lemongrass rice vermicelli noodle soup served with fresh herbs and vegetables
Mì vằn thắn (wonton noodles soup) influenced by Southern Chinese migrants