Today’s Doodle, illustrated by Hanoi, Vietnamese artist Lucia Pham, honors phở, Vietnam’s national dish that is served as an aromatic soup brimming with savory broth, soft rice noodles, fresh herbs, and thinly sliced meat.

Pho illustrated on Google Doodle

On this day in 2018, December 12 was selected as the official day to celebrate Vietnamese phở, in honor of the beloved culinary treasure and the cultural fusion it represents.

What makes phở distinct is a mindful cooking process to achieve multi-layered flavors and a clear broth. From ingredients like roasted ginger, fennel seed, star anise, and cinnamon for the simmered stock, the broth serves as the foundation for aromas and tastes for every palate.

While its exact origins are unknown, most historians think phở was born in northern Vietnam’s Nam Dinh province between the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Some believe that “phở" comes from the word phấn, a rice noodle dish. People started to use beef consommé to make an early predecessor to phở—a simple but very popular noodle soup called xao trau which consisted of buffalo meat cooked in broth and rice vermicelli.

Traditionally, phở is a breakfast dish sold in street food stalls but phở consumption has moved into everyday comfort food. Today, phở is eaten worldwide in countless variations such as phở trộn (dry phở), phở gà (chicken phở), phở cuốn (phở rolls) and many more. Everyone can agree that the noodle dish is a treasured element of Vietnamese heritage. Although current events have slowed the food markets, people are hopeful for their return where phở can be enjoyed as a shared, culinary moment in daily life again, reported by Google Doodle.

According to VnExpress, Google Doodle has presented an illustration of the noodle soup not just in Vietnam but in 16 other countries: Austria, Bulgaria, Canada, the Czech Republic, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Israel, Lithuania, Poland, Thailand, the U.K., and the U.S.

Lucia Pham said "Let's eat phở tomorrow morning! Haha, because the weather in Hanoi is very nice right now, perfect for an early morning with a bowl of phở and a cup of hot coffee, so I always think about eating phở in the morning when making this Doodle. In addition, I also hope that the illustration and motion design in the Doodle will help those who do not understand the ingredients and how to make phở better. Phở is a very precious Vietnamese dish, so I would like to cherish and recommend it."

Top five Miss Universe 2018 H' Hen Niê Pho. Photo T.T.D

Pho is made and served over Vietnam though it originated in Hanoi and was taken to the south, where people added their own touches to the dish. The noodle soup has been getting rave reviews from global travel magazines for decades, and no visitor to Vietnam fails to mention it.

In March, CNN ranked pho second among the world's 20 best soups in a list that also includes French Bouillabaisse, Spanish Gazpacho, Chinese Lanzhou beef noodle soup and Thai Tom yum goong.

In 2019, Lonely Planet recommended it as one of the best hangover cures on the road. The U.K.-based travel site Rough Guides named the soup among the world’s 15 best foods that are easy on the pocket.

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