Bun bo Hue in particular and the above dishes are included in the list of National Intangible Cultural Heritage in the category of folk knowledge, meeting all the following criteria: Representative, expressing community and local identity; reflecting cultural diversity and human creativity, inherited through many generations; capable of recovery and long-term existence; agreed upon by the community, voluntarily nominated and committed to protection.
"Folk knowledge about Hue beef noodle soup" has been officially listed as a national intangible cultural heritage, a type of folk knowledge. PHOTO: GIANG VU
Why is Hue beef noodle soup worth it?
People who have lived in Saigon for a long time often joke that as long as they cook delicious broken rice, Hue beef noodle soup, pho, hu tieu, and bread, they will never have to worry about "starving" for the rest of their lives.
If you have the opportunity to go to Da Lat, in the cold weather here, the delicious beef noodle shop is always crowded with tourists and locals.
In Hue, "it goes without saying", beef noodle soup is a substitute for rice, people can eat it for breakfast, lunch, afternoon, evening, and late at night.
According to culinary artist Mai Thi Tra (91 years old, Hue native), beef noodle soup probably originated from the dish of stir-fried rice. In the ancient village ceremonies, the meat offered was processed into a dish of stir-fried rice and eaten with sticky rice. When vermicelli became popular, people replaced sticky rice with vermicelli to make it easier to eat and more economical, from which the dish was born, gradually perfected and shaped into the Hue beef noodle soup as it is today.
Chao is a very interesting dish, by definition, it is cooking animal meat with a lot of water, vegetables, spices, for example, duck with bamboo shoots, eel (Nghe An), intestines, fish, banana. Originally, the Chao did not have much water, which is very likely the origin of the noodle soup with all kinds of meat in the world. Many scholars also believe that Pho may have originated from buffalo stew in Nam Dinh . Buffalo stew can be eaten with rice at first, when vermicelli and pho noodles were invented, people tried it and gradually formed Pho.
Hue beef noodle soup in Da Lat PHOTO: GIANG VU
According to many documents, Van Cu village in Hue has a history of making vermicelli for about 400 years. Perhaps, the combination of vermicelli with a dish called "xao" gave birth to beef vermicelli, which at first was just beef shank (hence the name beef vermicelli), later added pig's feet and crab cakes, blood... Hue has beef xeo, cooked only from thinly sliced beef with lemongrass, shrimp paste, and a few slices of pineapple, considered a "shortened" beef vermicelli dish, often cooked at home.
Bun bo, it seems, was born in Hue and nowhere else. The unique ingredient that makes up a bowl of bun bo is mam ruoc, a type of fish sauce made from sea shrimp. In other places, shrimp is processed into shrimp paste, but in Hue, it has a different flavor called mam ruoc. Therefore, Hue people are also jokingly called "mam ruoc people".
This special fish sauce helps beef and pork to harmonize perfectly in a bowl of beef noodle soup, preventing the flavors of the two meats from clashing, while also providing a deep umami flavor (also known as "meat sweetness") that helps the bowl of noodles reach its peak. Without shrimp paste, imagine what it would taste like to cook beef with pork. In addition, the smell of lemongrass mixed with shrimp paste creates an alluring aroma that holds the feet of anyone who happens to pass by the beef noodle stall.
Hue beef noodle soup has become a famous dish throughout the country. PHOTO: GIANG VU
Writer Tran Kiem Doan in his book Hue Monograph wrote: According to legend, in a certain year, Me Luu's beef noodle soup with pig's feet won first prize at Gia Lac market and was rated as "Thap toan - Ngu dac" (Gia Lac Tet market has existed since Minh Mang's reign, held on December 23 every year). Thap toan are ten perfect qualities of a delicious dish, roughly: sweet, fragrant, rich, nutritious, pure, eye-catching, skillfully selected, skillfully cooked, skillfully presented, Hue beef noodle soup is also highly appreciated because of its popular and common nature: Everyone knows it, everyone can eat it, everyone can cook it, everyone can find the ingredients locally, everyone can have the opportunity to buy it (ngu dac). Thus, although there is no document recording the history of beef noodle soup, we can still imagine that a bowl of Hue beef noodle soup has reached its peak in more than 100 years.
Bun Bo Hue and variations
Although they have the same name, each person can make a different flavor, good or bad, even when using the same ingredients. Some people only cook beef shank and do not add pork leg, herbs, only Vietnamese coriander, green onion and onion. Some people cook beef noodle soup using both beef bones and pork bones, but some people only cook pork bones, beef shank, pork leg but do not use beef bones. Crab cakes added to beef noodle soup have only appeared recently. There is a school of thought that shrimp paste is mixed to settle to get clear water to cook noodles, but some people prefer cloudy water. Even though there are thousands of "tricks", beef noodle soup must always have lemongrass, shrimp paste, dried onions (or onions).
In the past, beef noodle noodles in Hue were big (about the size of a pitchfork, according to legend, people used pitchforks to punch holes to create molds for rice flour to pass through to create noodles), but now in Hue, thin noodles are popular, and Hue people who migrated to Saigon have kept the big noodles to this day. In Hue, beef noodle noodles are also spicier than in Saigon, even Hue people believe that beef noodle noodles must be spicy to be considered beef noodle noodles. The spiciness of beef noodle noodles comes from chili powder stewed with fat and minced lemongrass to create a fragrant and very spicy taste. The fish sauce served with Hue beef noodle noodles also comes with sliced chili.
Hue beef noodle soup in Hue PHOTO: GIANG VU
In the list of "Top 100 best breakfasts in the world" published in April 2025, TasteAtlas ranked Hue beef noodle soup at number 53, based on votes from global readers, along with Vietnamese beef stew and broken rice.
If we consider regions, perhaps each region has its own representative and quintessential dish. Mentioning Nam Dinh and Hanoi is pho, mentioning Quang region is Quang noodles, Hue is represented by beef noodle soup, Saigon is represented by broken rice, these are delicious dishes that cannot be denied.
On July 5, 2025, Mr. Phan Thanh Hai, Director of the Department of Culture and Sports of Hue City, said that the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism has issued a decision to include two typical cultural heritages of Hue City in the list of national intangible cultural heritages, including the new rice festival of the Co Tu people and folk knowledge about Hue beef noodle soup. The Ministry also listed folk knowledge about Hue beef noodle soup as a national intangible heritage, belonging to the category of folk knowledge.
Source: https://thanhnien.vn/bun-bo-hue-tu-mon-xao-dan-gian-thanh-di-san-am-thuc-quoc-gia-185250715110825718.htm
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