Yeah, can’t say it that way...

Vietnamese food is very yummy.

I usually get beef over vermicelli. I think it's called Bun Bo Xao, but Pho is good too.

The fish sauce is excellent. If you aren't adding the fish sauce, then you're missing out. Just don't ever look up how it's made.

Portland has a large and talented Vietnamese population that give a pretty great choice of Pho.


My favorite had a waiter a few years ago with a similar hairstyle to the guy from Flock of Seagulls, if that makes sense. Food was great, his hair made it even better.

:D Makes complete sense! Not that I was a fan of FOS though...

Campbell’s Soup make Pho broth you can buy in the grocery store, pretty bland, but you can spice it up and add any goodies you want.

I've heard that Vietnamese cuisine is divided into North, Middle and South. But it seems like central highlands vs. lowlands near the coast would make more sense.

Anybody know about this?

The cuisine of Vietnam is usually divided into thirds, as you suggest. Topography is one factor, but the locations of capital cities in the old days as well as the numerous countries that have colonized Vietnam also play an influence.

Like most of the world, until recently, the average Vietnamese probably didn’t eat anything that came from more than five or 10 miles from where they lived. If you look at tribes from neighboring countries, there are many similarities in what they eat and how they prepare it, as compared to their Vietnamese neighbors just over the border.

Exactly. And it’s more than just food that’s different between north, middle, and south. Even the dialect is different, for a small country it’s a very diverse place. We were planning to go spend a few weeks there this year, but it looks like that trip will have to wait a while.

Never seen that in the store!

wow - one world (ready or not)

https://www.campbellsoup.ca/product/campbells-new-ready-to-use-pho-broth/

That crap is less than worthless. It has no meat in it, therefore no meat flavor. The first two ingredients, after water, are sugar.

You want to make a broth for pho, be prepared to cook all day and spend about 50 bucks.

Amazon is full of pho base products.

I ordered a beef based one - we'll see. Maybe it'll knock me off the daishi thing for a while...

There isn’t a canned or boxed broth that’s worth using...

you left out jars...

If your broth didn’t start with some oxtail being cooked until the bones release all their goodness, it’s going to suck.

Pho is normally eaten for breakfast in Vietnam. The street vendors have big pot of it on the sidewalks before the shops open.
Next up, find yourselves a good banh mi shop.http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1593404193.jpg

Say hi to Thuy from all of us. :)

I like Pho King!

Don't tell Tweeze all of yer grandma's secrets ;)!

I've never had Pho ... seems like there are quite a few local places, and since I don't know what the FU oxtail is.... I'll visit one of them :D

if you ate at a Vietnamese Pho joint..i bet dollars to donuts you were not vegan. they dont make a whole lot of broth versions.

I have never seen vegetarian pho...

the thing is, decades ago people would toss any meat they could find into the pot

happens all over the world, tho the Cajun "What's for dinner?" line is my classic

"What's for dinner?"

- Anything slower than us.

quite a lot of options.

I often find the broth way too salty - The Mrs had Tofu and veggies a few days back. She was a fan. Me, not so much...

Unless you’re a Buddhist monk, there is no vegetarian pho.

It’s like ordering spaghetti Bolognese, without meat in it.

The fact that we can expect such things in the western world irritates me.

Perhaps its just me - but I'd much rather have spaghetti in a light olive oil sauce with garlic and veggies - maybe some shrimp if it were a weekend night...

Not any lovers of the heavy red sauce here. My daughter would rather have pasta, butter, cheese. Perhaps a grind of black pepper.

pasta with butter or olive oil (some salt if olive oil), some garlic and parmesagne.

pasta with tomato sauce, meat and parmesagne

They are both very yummy. The second version will give you umami overload (which is not a bad thing).

Spaghetti Bolognese is not a heavy red sauce, it’s mostly meat. There’s very little tomato in it at all.

The point was, pho is all about the broth; the noodles and garnishes are no big deal. The flavor you get from a well-done batch of beef pho cannot be duplicated in any vegetarian dish. Nothing wrong with eating vegetarian, if that’s your thing, it’s just not the same.

I personally love Thai food because of the strong flavors and spiciness, but I can't imagine eating it too often because it's too rich and sometimes greasy. I choose restaurants through https://nicelocal.co.uk/london/restaurants/type/thai/ . Vietnamese food, on the hand, feels lighter and cleaner to me (not all dishes, but most) and usually comes with tons of veggies. For example, the Vietnamese canh chua seems a lot lighter than the Thai tom yum. So, generally I pick Vietnamese because at least I can eat it everyday without getting the sick greasy feeling that makes me nauseous, but I love Thai food too!

Javadog's point was that spaghetti is a type of noodles and that Bolagnese is a cultural preparation of how spaghetti is presented that involves lots of meat.
He wasn't saying it was the only way to present spaghetti; but rather that it isn't Bolagnese without meat.

Point being that in a similar fashion he sees Pho not as a soup with noodles but a cultural preparation that specifically revolves around meat as a key item to the flavor.
Take away the meat, and the cultural dish is removed from being what it is.