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Pho Viet Nam

Pho is one of Vietnamese typical food and it is very famous among foreigners. In Vietnam, there are many provinces that are famous for “pho” such as Hanoi, Namdinh, etc. Every place has its own unique characteristics.


Pho is really Vietnamese daily food, so we can eat it everywhere. It is so popular that there are such “pho” restaurants each province. Especially, Hanoi has good “pho” restaurants, which does not take us a long time to choose where to enjoy it. You can enjoy “pho” at home if you are good at cooking because it’s not difficult to cook “pho”. “Pho” is completely delicious, that’s the reason why Vietnam people have it every meal if they’d like. Usually, we have it at breakfast or dinner.

That’s very interesting when you said that the soup would be poured on the rice. In fact, “pho” is made of rice powder. It looks like vermicelli, but it is thicker and wider. The cooker usually boil it, then put in a bowl with beef, onion, salt, and pour the soup which is made of beef-boiled water at last. At restaurants, based on people’s taste, they can add chili, vinegar or lemon before enjoying a “pho” bowl. Of course, to save time or money, we have instant “pho”. In my opinion, it is not as delicious as “pho”, even it’s much worse. In Hanoi, we only spend only 25-40 thousand Vietnam dong enjoying a delicious “pho” bowl. However, we can have instant “pho” instead with 4-5 thousand Vietnam dong.

New Year's special food

Hi! Nice to see you! Have you hear of Osechi? Osechi is traditional cuisine in Japan. Many　kinds of foods are placed beautifully in boxes which are piled up. It is prepared to celebrate coming of New Year. Also each of foods has special meaning.

Osechi was born one thousand years ago. Most families prepare Osechi wishing their family’s happiness and prosperity because New Year’s Day has the greatest significance in Japan. All foods are cooked in order not to go bad, so women don’t have to cook during New Year’s holiday.　In this point, I think the purpose of preparing Osechi is same as that of making banh chung in　Vietnam.　Each of osechi’s components represents special meanings. Here I will show you some of them.

Kamaboko:　a steamed fish paste. Its color is red and white.
It stands for sunrise. Red and white are traditional New Year's color.

Ebi: steamed shrimp.
It represents longevity because the shrimp curves when it is heated and people wish that they can live until they become bent with age.

Kazunoko: a salted herring roe
It represents the prosperity of their families.

Osechi is essential for New Years’ celebration in Japan, and every one loves it.


How about Vietnam? Does your country have any traditional food especially for New Years’ celebration?

Questions about pho

Could you answer these questions, if you know about the question.
1, Where do you usually eat pho?
2, Do you eat pho for lunch or dinner?
3, how do you eat pho? Do you pour the soup on the rice?
4, Do you eat instant pho? if you know this, would you tell me about that?
5, how much does pho usuallly cost? if you know the cost of the instant pho, would you tell me.

I posted questions asked by my students

Dear Vietnamese students,
Thank you for your reading our blog and commenting on my students' essays.  I hope you are learning a little about us as much as we are learning from you. 

My students are now collecting information to create a presentation about different aspects of Vietnamese culture.  I really appreciate if you could read their questions below and respond to them.  Thank you.

Questions about food

1. Have you eaten Balut ( an egg with a baby chicken)? When do people eat it?
2. What kind of dish do people make out of rice?

Questions about honeymoon

1. Where is the popular destination for honeymoon in your country?

2. How about Nha Trang or Dalat?  What kind of places are they?