Bun bo Hue: From a traditional dish to a national culinary heritage

Recently, the folk knowledge of Hue beef noodle soup was recognized by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism as a national intangible cultural heritage, 'standing shoulder to shoulder' with other culinary heritages such as Hanoi pho, Nam Dinh pho, Quang noodles...

Bun bo Hue in particular as well as the above dishes are included in the list of National Intangible Cultural Heritage in the category of folk knowledge, fully meeting 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, delicious beef noodle shops are always crowded with tourists and locals.

In Hue, "needless to say", beef noodle soup is a rice substitute, 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-fry. In the ancient village ceremonies, the meat offered was processed into a dish of stir-fry 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, and banana. Originally, the Chao dish did not have much water, which is most likely the origin of the noodle dish 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 noodles for about 400 years. Perhaps, the combination of vermicelli noodles with a dish called "Xo" gave birth to beef noodle soup, which at first was just beef shank (hence the name "Bun Bo"), later added pig's feet and crab cakes, blood... Hue has beef noodle soup, cooked only with thinly sliced ​​beef with lemongrass, shrimp paste, and a few slices of pineapple, considered a "shortened" beef noodle soup, 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 the beef and pork to harmonize perfectly in a bowl of beef noodle soup, preventing the smells of the two meats from clashing, while also providing a deep umami flavor (also known as "meat sweetness") that helps the bowl of noodles to sublimate to its fullest. 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 attractive 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 trotters won first prize at Gia Lac market and was rated as "Ten perfect - Five merits" (Gia Lac Tet market has existed since the Minh Mang period, held every December 23). Ten perfects are ten perfect qualities of a delicious dish, roughly: sweet, fragrant, rich, nutritious, pure, eye-catching, skillfully selected, skillfully prepared, 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 (five merits). 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 cook can have 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 only appeared recently. Shrimp paste is mixed to settle to get clear water to cook noodles, but some people like cloudy water. Although there are thousands of "tricks", beef noodle soup must always have lemongrass, shrimp paste, dried onions (or onions).

In the past, the beef noodle in Hue was big (about the size of a pitchfork, according to legend, people used a pitchfork to punch holes to create molds for the rice flour to go through to create the noodles), but now in Hue, the noodles are popular with small noodles, while the Hue people who migrated to Saigon have kept the big noodles to this day. In Hue, beef noodle is also spicier than in Saigon, even Hue people believe that beef noodle must be spicy to be considered beef noodle. The spiciness of beef noodle comes from chili powder simmered with fat and minced lemongrass to create a fragrant and very spicy taste. The fish sauce served with Hue beef noodle 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 Bun Bo Hue at number 53, based on votes from global readers, along with Vietnamese beef stew and broken rice.

If we consider by region, perhaps each area 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