Remember the days when pho was far away
COVID-19 makes us realize how close and important pho is to life, not just a dish like millions of dishes.
Nostalgia, craving, hangover, excitement, longing, joy, excitement, joy... That's our mood for pho, when pho shops have to close due to social distancing requirements. conference for 20 days to fight the COVID-19 pandemic in August 2021. It's only been 3 years.
Turns out, people in this era of lavish pho were spoiled because they were pampered. Well, walking around Hanoi, there are countless pho restaurants that sell from dawn to dawn. People have headaches because they don't know which restaurant to choose to eat at or what pho to eat, making just going to eat pho sometimes becomes a foolish game for people with "many conditions".
Then, at some point, COVID-19 appeared. From being a pampered person who closed his eyes and spent the first day of Tet having pho to eat, suddenly found himself in a "starving" situation of being hungry and thirsty for pho for nearly a month.
Pho suddenly regained its powerful value, opening the eyes of that spoiled existential person to see that he is more than a dish and cannot be quantified with concepts such as calories, nutrition, fat... . just to fill empty stomachs.
Don't think that when pho disappears, people will still live well on rice, cakes, porridge and instant noodles. Because no matter what, we still crave a bowl of pho covered with shiny golden fat and brown pieces, sprinkled with green chopped onions and then submerged in hot, fragrant pho broth. complain.
See, people are full, do you understand what pho is? Do you find pho to be extremely valuable? Do you feel that when the streets of Hanoi no longer have pho restaurants, you immediately lose your soul? Do you realize that it's not just the "brown Phai street" or the "yellow cold rice tree and the red-leafed almond tree" that bring beauty to Hanoi, but also the cooked pieces, rare pieces, tenderloin, and corn? Are not?
Have you seen so many Hanoians wandering aimlessly on the streets, looking in despair at the cold, dry, closed pho restaurants, without any affection, without a date to meet again, and then the Pho smoke creeps into your memory, causing you to struggle and go crazy?
Pho is like a lover in a dream who is extremely loved and cherished, but once he has taken possession of her, he soon abandons her. Then, when that love suddenly disappeared, I felt regretful and realized that I had lost something precious because of its abundance and boredom.
The slammed door of the pho restaurant made Hanoians very hurt. The old restaurant is here, but where is the pho, where are the bunches of green hanging flowers, where are the gorgeous slabs of cooked meat, where are the warm, fragrant smokes, the sounds of sharp knives and chopping boards or the sound of slurping water? Where are you? Everything has flown away like a golden crane, leaving only the scent of cinnamon or anise.
It is impossible to forget the feeling of disappointment and loss when passing by the closed pho shops, with the coal furnaces still cold, bare of ash and slag that have already faded away. Pho Bat Dan , closed. Pho Au Trieu, closed. Pho Tu Lun, closed. Pho Bien, closed. Pho Hang Duong, closed. Pho Khoi, closed. Pho Suong, closed. Pho Vui, closed. Pho Hanoi, from now on don't call each other by name.
Someone asked: "If you crave pho so much, why don't you cook pho yourself?". Oh well, eating pho at home is boring, let alone cooking pho. Because at home, there's no space to create "intangible cultural heritage" like at a pho restaurant.
Meat, bones, noodles, onions, cooking utensils... can be bought "at a moment's notice", but you can't buy the atmosphere that has accumulated the smell of beef, ginger, broth and The bustling, bustling sound of the pho restaurant. And the conditions to cook a pho broth to produce pho broth.
Almost all standard pho addicts find that their home-cooked pho is never as delicious as the restaurant's pho. There's nothing missing, even the ingredients are ten thousand times better, but they can't be compared. Unfortunately, many people are unfairly accused of "liking to hang out and eat pho on the street".
Perhaps it's because pho cooked at home and eaten at home lacks an element - which unfortunately is extremely important - that is the "spirit of pho". As mentioned, pho is a living entity with layers of culture from its inception until now, so pho has its own spirit, not simply a dish.
So where does the spirit of pho lie? It is unfortunate that that spirit does not reside in the home, or the bowl of home-cooked pho, but in the streets, sidewalks, and restaurant spaces. Originating from a street food, the spirit of pho is imbued with the breath of the streets. Bunches of pho placed on the sidewalks, people eating pho standing and sitting in buckets on the sidewalks and porches have since early days injected street spirit into pho.
Later, when entering the restaurant, pho is still widely exposed to the street environment with stoves heating pots of pho broth placed on the sidewalk, slabs of meat hanging and shaking in the ceiling, and especially the pho making area. They are also placed closest to the street, never at the back of the room or deep inside the shop.
Sitting on the sidewalk eating a bowl of pho is always extremely satisfying. Eating a bowl of well-cooked pho on a morning filled with magical light, in the bustling sounds of car horns, the murmur of people chatting, the calls of pho, the sound of pho, the clatter of grits rubbing against the pan when sautéed or lightly grilled, the sound of the dish is spicy and hot.
Which is over. There's still a smell. The lingering smell of tea residue, the sweet smell of sugarcane bagasse, the smell of burning car exhaust, the lingering smell of beef, the smell of dust, the smell of human perfume, the smell of ripe coffee in the filter, the smell of a hastily gathered market. nearby... All of this creates the spirit of pho, making Hanoians happy: This is true pho.
Saigon people's flat coffee is sometimes delicious when you hold up the coffee cup, suddenly a wind blows past, causing the tamarind rows to shed their leaves like rain. And then, a few slender tamarind leaves accidentally landed in a cup of coffee, bringing a bit of deliciousness and poetry to the drinker. Then, when sitting on the sidewalk in Saigon drinking a glass of black, I longed for a rain of tamarind leaves. Those things gradually create the spirit of flat coffee, like pho.
Hanoi cannot be without pho
Then comes the day when quarantine and distance end. What a jubilant scene of "everyone going to eat pho", showing our great love for pho. On Facebook, people were talking to each other to see if they had time to eat pho, that this morning at Thin Bo Ho pho , there were many people eating pho, lined up in rows as long as the Truong Son range.
The dominant story of those days was just pho and pho. Because after many stormy days, we appreciate the peaceful times. Having passed the "twenty days" of fasting for pho, having pho to eat is already wonderful. Despite adding a lot of filtered water at the end of the pot, it is cloudy and salty, lacking the aroma of beef bones; Although there are not many options between greasy buckets or crispy buckets. Just love and love.
Sitting in front of a bowl of pho, inhaling the seductive smell of pho, letting the saliva flow out like a tidal wave; recite the verses for the child, the child urges "eat, eat now, eat now to be happy"; Forget about the latecomers missing out on the last bowl of pho, sighing deeply, their faces streaming with sadness, just enjoy the precious feeling of togetherness.
Fill your eyes, nose, and ears before you can fill your mouth and tongue. Oh my, how delicious the pho is, better than all the ordinary vermicelli, vermicelli, noodles, and porridge. The beef patties, floats in the hot water like a flower and is ten thousand times sweeter than tenderloin, sirloin or T-bone beef.
Wherever the piece of pho floats, revival blooms there. When the bowl of pho settles in the stomach, the aroma begins to radiate throughout the body. Standing up to leave, the smell of pho lingered in the nose forever, creating a proud fragrance for the owner like Chanel or Dior.
The pho of the return day is full of emotions and sublimation. Familiar pho restaurants gradually remove barriers and chains. Hai Ba Trung, Au Trieu, Bat Dan, Le Van Huu, Lo Duc, Trung Yen Lane, Hang Giay, Phu Doan, Hang Chieu, Hang Duong, Hang Leather, Ngo Tram, Lake Shore, Hang Dong, Hang Fabric... and all five corners of the city.
Pho, after a period of separation and slow living, has let Hanoi people know what their noble dignity is, a value that has been obscured by haste and excess crisis for so long. Pho is not only food for the stomach but also a source of water for the souls of Hanoi people.
Thang Long, a non-battlefield, was engulfed by the smoke and fire of war and disappeared. Hanoi was free from the epidemic, but it also struggled because of the epidemic and stood steadfast. But Hanoi will never be without pho. And Hanoi will never lose pho.
