Some 10,000 visitors joined the Vietnam Phở Festival 2024 on Saturday, the first day of the event in Seoul, South Korea, savoring the symbolic phở and various Vietnamese specialties.

The two-day fest features a performance stage, along with nearly 70 booths including more than 40 offering phở and other Vietnamese and Korean delicacies.

The Vietnam Phở Festival 2024, which is taking place at Pie Factory, 441 Gwangnaru-ro, Gwangjin-gu, is co-organized by the Embassy of Vietnam in South Korea, Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper, and Saigontourist Group under the direction of the Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the People’s Committee of Ho Chi Minh City.

With the slogan 'Enjoy Phở, Discover Vietnam,' the organizers aim to use the fest to promote people-to-people diplomacy, strengthen the friendship between the two nations, and highlight their culinary cultures.

The event had drawn much attention from not only Vietnamese citizens, but also South Koreans and international tourists a few days before it kicked off.

Professor Bae Yang Soo, head of the Korean Institute for ASEAN Studies at the Busan University of Foreign Studies, took ten students to the festival early on Saturday morning to enjoy Vietnamese food and learn about Vietnamese culture.

Park Ra Gyeong, a freshman in the university's Vietnamese Faculty, said that she got up at 5:00 am and took a train to Seoul to join the culinary fest.

"I'm most impressed by the lively atmosphere here and the aroma of food coming from the stalls,” Park expressed her emotion.

As for the Vietnamese community in South Korea, the festival helps ease their homesickness.

Many Vietnamese people who live in other localities outside Seoul covered a long distance to attend the festival.

“The atmosphere of the event seems to bring me back to the homeland as I have left Vietnam for 10 years,” Pham Trang confided.

“I have eaten phở at several restaurants in South Korea, but today [Saturday], I was treated to the real flavor of the familiar phở."

Distinctive flavors of Vietnam's iconic national dish

The festival drew large crowds of South Koreans and international visitors, captivated by the enticing flavors and aromas of Vietnamese cuisine.

Park Seo Rin, one attendee, said she was enchanted by the vibrant atmosphere and the mouthwatering scent of the Vietnamese dishes.

Hyeongjo Kim, an office worker from Seoul, said that his family had enjoyed bowls of phở made with Ngoc Linh ginseng.

“Vietnamese phở is so tasty, and its flavor is distinctive," he observed.

“I thank Vietnam for bringing such a wonderful festival to Seoul."

A family hailing from Portugal visited Seoul to participate in the fest after they had toured Da Nang City and Hoi An in Quang Nam Province, central Vietnam.

These Portuguese people did like phở served by Ngoc Vuong, one of Vietnam's long-standing brands.

Other Vietnamese dishes such as banh mi (a Vietnamese baguette filled with paste, cold cuts, herbs, cucumber, chili sauce, and pickles), cha gio (spring rolls), banh xeo (Vietnamese sizzling crepes), and bun bo (spicy beef noodles) also bewitched visitors at the festival.

Nearly 500 loaves of bread were sold in just a few hours on the first day of the event.

The stalls offering phở and Vietnamese delicacies saw long queues of visitors from the early morning of Saturday.

Space for cultural experiences

Kim Yong Gong from Seoul said that besides phở, banh mi is strongly favored by most South Koreans.

He was enchanted by banh mi served with thit nuong (grilled pork) at the fest, he said.

At the stalls operated by Saigontourist Group, chefs coming from Grand Saigon, Saigon Morin Hue, and Majestic Saigon restaurants and hotels were busy serving visitors.

These chefs also performed their cooking skills, exciting revelers during the festival.

Their performances contributed to introducing the essence of Vietnam’s culinary culture to international friends.

In addition to offering Vietnamese dishes, the festival is meant to share cultural stories through food.

There are spaces for cultural experiences, exhibitions, showcases of Vietnamese cuisine and tourism, and folk games.

Flying Vietnamese flavor to the world

The Vietnam Phở Festival 2024 provided some 5,000 servings, mainly bowls served by renowned brands such as Pho Dau, Pho Phu Gia, Pho Sen, Pho Thin Bo Ho - 1 Hang Tre, Pho Ngoc Vuong, Pho‘S, and Pho Ta, among others, on the first day of the event.

Most of the stalls ran out of phở broth at around noon on Saturday, while throngs of visitors gathered at the fest in the afternoon, which featured a wide array of cultural performances and folk games.

“South Koreans do like phở,” said Vu Ngoc Vuong, owner of Pho Ngoc Vuong. 

At the fest, many highly-skilled chefs also instructed South Korean housewives to cook phở.

Quach Thi Tinh and her husband, Alan McGreevey, Deputy Head of Mission of the Embassy of Ireland in Seoul, spent Saturday joining the festival to savor Vietnamese phở.

“Phở at the festival is delicious, bringing me back to Hanoi, where I had previously eaten the dish,” McGreevey said.

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