Vietnam is perhaps my greatest love affair of them all. I spent several months working at a nonprofit just outside of Hanoi. So for a brief moment in time, Hanoi felt like a place I would call home. I fell in love in between almost being ran over by motorbikes in the middle Old Quarters. Skipping the streets on a Sunday morning with an iced Vietnamese coffee (recipe to come) was my literal love language.
Every street was not so neatly organized by what it was selling. You had silk street down one row and medical street down another. Maybe that’s what I loved so much, the pure chaotic energy that still functioned as a well oiled machine. I didn’t curse at the sky when I almost became a pancake on Hang Be Street, but rather marveled in its unique ability to make me the best version of myself.
Bourdain’s Impact
I often recall the late great stories Anthony Bourdain, his words forever ring like an anthem in my mind. Fondly was how he spoke of Vietnam. He infected me with the ideal of eating spicy noodles on a low stool on the side of bustling streets. Often times he claimed it was his favorite place in the entire world. One walk through Old Quarters on a Sunday morning, and you would never question that claim. Vietnam is the portal to another universe, and I feel honored to have spent even a moment in its presence. In some tragic serendipity, I was in Vietnam when Anthony Bourdain died.
There’s a quote that goes, “All of my heroes die all alone.” How silly to feel such sorrow for a soul you didn’t even know, but nonetheless a million knives in my heart was what I felt when Anthony Bourdain died.
As I walked the normally chaotic streets, a palpable calmness washed the crowds. I made my way to all his favorite restaurants over the next few days, one of which required me to get on a plane on head south to Ho Chi Minh. Down a back alley, every table sat full at Bourdain’s favorite restaurant. There is nowhere else in the world I could have been when I made peace with his death. His ability to become a vessel or messenger for peoples stories around the world was something greater than we could ever begin to understand. I sincerely hope that he’s at peace, raging on some mountain top that he surely complained the whole time climbing up.
Pho Toppings
You simply couldn’t ever create a pho as good as the pho you eat on the side of the streets of Vietnam… but we can try! You see, pho isn’t just a soup or a spicy noodle dish. Pho is a car horn blaring in your ear. Pho is a thousand slurps in between cracks of beer cans opening. It is the smell of a warm spring night air and motor petrol. It is the smells of the city mixed like a bottle of cheap perfume with anise star and steamy mint. The best part? You can make it any way you wish. Just don’t skip the red chilies because they make this dish a form of art. Some of my favorite traditional toppings include…
- Cilantro
- Vietnamese Mint
- Red Chilies
- Lime
- Bean Sprouts
- Yellow Onion
- Bok Choy
- Sriracha
- Jalapeño
- Hoisin
- Green Onions
