Kim Thai’s ‘Mom Dish’: Vietnamese Vermicelli Soup
What's your favorite “mom dish”?
We all have that “mom dish” that gives us a taste of home (wherever that may be) and instantly comforts us. In our chat with Kim Thai (an Emmy-award winning producer, writer, and founder of Ganeshspace), we learned that her mom’s Vietnamese Vermicelli soup is delicious, elusive, and can’t be found anywhere else but her mom’s house.
Kim’s mom makes a one-of-a-kind vermicelli soup that can’t be replicated, but we were able to source
this amazing and authentic pho recipe
from Andrea Nguyen,
author and teacher at vietworldkitchen.com.
We haven’t tried it yet, but we’re sure that it will
have you slurping away to your heart’s content.
And even though we can’t give you Kim’s mom’s recipe (yet), we still love learning more about Vietnamese style soups, and found a Pho recipe that will warm your belly and fill you up.
Made with chicken or beef broth, rice noodles, meat, and herbs, Pho, pronounced “fuh,” is a daily part of life throughout Vietnam, and is the national dish (1). Pho originated in Northern Vietnam in the late 19th century alongside the start of French colonization (2)
Culinary experts suspect that the source of the term ‘pho’ is actually from feu - the French word for fire - and that the dish itself was adapted by the Vietnamese after being introduced by their French colonizers to their signature beef stew, called pot au feu. The Vietnamese pronounced 'feu' as pho and over time this adapted term entered the culinary lexicon as the dish we know today (2).
Pho has evolved over time, and this evolution reflects the political changes in the region. When the French colonization period ended in 1954, the country was split into Northern and Southern Vietnam. To avoid communism, an estimated 1,000,000 people fled to Southern Vietnam, both with help from the US Navy and French military and on their own (1, 3, 4). These people, called the Bac54, brought their pho with them, and the dish was transformed due to the cooks having access to different ingredients (2, 3, 6). Today in Vietnam, you typically find two major types of Pho: pho bac in the north, and pho nam in the south. They differ in noodle texture, broth, types of meat, and garnishes (5, 6). The globalization of Pho by Vietnamese refugees after the Vietnam war has led to endless variations in the US and around the world (1, 2).
We love to eat pho for breakfast, lunch or dinner, and in Vietnam is the breakfast dish of choice. The slippery noodles, aromatic broth, and tender meat combine to create the ultimate comfort food.
For more inspiration and mom-dish recipes, check out our
Modern Minorities Recipe board!