When someone thinks pho, they don’t necessarily connect it with something you can drink. Just like soup, someone eating it probably prefers using chopsticks or a spoon to get in and get a bite. Not many North Americans would ever want to drink soup and especially in a cocktail. It just doesn’t sound natural and nice.

A Hanoi bartender is changing the way things are done with pho and has come up with a pho cocktail, or pho-in-a-glass. Believe it or not, it’s become a hit. He works from a Vietnamese beef noodle soup recipe, eliminating the meat though so you’re not getting any bites as you take in a sip. Featuring cinnamon, star anise, cardamom, and coriander, needless to say, this is an amazing cocktail that has to be tasted to be truly appreciated.

Read more: Would you Try a Pho Cocktail? This Hanoi Bartender has Hit Upon a New Recipe!

Pho is a Vietnamese soup with many health benefits, herbs and spices, and ingredients to enjoy. Regardless, a worry that some pregnant women have is whether these sort of soups are safe to eat while pregnant. There’s a lot of misinformation out there on whether it is or it isn’t. Through sharing this information, we hope to clear up the misconceptions about pregnant women and pho.

As to whether it’s safe or not, one must look to what’s in it. Pho is usually made simply from broth, rice noodles, some herbs, and a meat or protein source. Of these, the only real thing that could pose a threat would be the meat and that’s only if it’s uncooked. If you’re experienced with making pho or are at a pho restaurant where the pho has been authentically prepared, you’re not going to run into any trouble as it relates to meat.

Read more: Is Pho Safe to Eat when You’re Pregnant – read here!

A restaurant in St. Paul, Minnesota is offering a challenge to its diners to eat 10 pounds of Vietnamese pho in 45 minutes. The restaurant is known as iPho by Saigon and for competitive eaters in the region, it’s a well-known establishment.

Many people have tried and succeeded in the challenge. In an article for the Minnesota StarTribune, one man who succeeded in the challenge is competitive eater Kai Chan. Having completed numerous food eating challenges around the world, his Instagram @kaieatsworld is popular within the competitive eating community. For those that want to see more about what he’s up to, there you have it.

Read more: Could you Eat 10 Pounds of Vietnamese Pho in 45 Minutes – this Guy Can

Pho is a dish enjoyed by people of all different backgrounds and cultures all over the world. Although it’s a Vietnamese dish, there are several pho restaurants all over Canada, including in cities like Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Regina, Winnipeg, Toronto, Montreal, and Halifax. Vietnamese pho is not only filling and well-balanced but also, very affordable. Usually, anyway. Today, we’re not talking about affordable pho though. Instead, we’re highlighting a bowl of what might be the world’s most expensive pho.

Read more: What would you Pay for the World’s Most Expensive Pho – see the number here!

The Vietnamese are a very caring people, oftentimes offering home cooking to guests and treating food as a kind act or service to provide to others. Vietnamese-Canadian Kim Thuy’s book Secrets From My Vietnamese Kitchen highlight some of these flavorful Vietnamese homemade recipes. The significance of this cooking is not lost on the Vietnamese who have drawn from recipes like these for decades and generations.

Thuy is a former interpreter, lawyer, and restaurant owner, having gained international acclaim within the literary world in the past decade. She’s won awards in Canada and abroad, and her novels have been published in more than a dozen countries. Although she doesn’t typically publish traditional cookbooks, this is an exception. For Thuy’s audience, it’s a preview into what it’s to be Vietnamese-Canadian and the foods that make the culture.

Read more: Spotlighting Vietnamese-Canadian Kim Thuy’s ‘Secrets from my Vietnamese Kitchen’

East Asian cuisine is commonly made for all sorts of income levels, from royalty down through the working classes. A little different from Chinese, Japanese, or Korean, Vietnamese cuisine is one food made for the people and by the people. Vietnamese cuisine is street food, through and through. For some of the most vibrant Vietnamese street food there is, you can see it featured alongside other Asian cuisines on the new Netflix documentary Street Food.

Street food has a strong history in Vietnamese cuisine. For years, street food was what fed the population. The nameless cooks and vendors lost to history were the ones who fed Vietnamese families and workers from all backgrounds, cultures, and belief systems. Although this was also the case in some regions of Thailand, Singapore, and Japan as well, for the Vietnamese it’s something held even closer to the heart.

Read more: See some Favourite Vietnamese Cuisine in Netflix’s Latest Documentary ‘Street Food’