This week I came across a chicken pho (pho ga) recipe online from HalfBakedHarvest that really bothered me. It bothered me so much I felt compelled to write something detailing the inaccuracies in her recipe and to provide some suggestions on how to pay homage to cultural recipes the right way.
For those of you who aren’t familiar with the blog, HalfBakedHarvest (or HBH) is known for its accessible, weeknight recipes and beautiful photography. The person behind the blog is Tieghan Gerard.
I first came across this recipe when a friend of mine sent me her Instagram post depicting the dish. When I looked at the image, I could already see inaccuracies in the styling of the dish. Food styling, from my perspective, is used to make the dish look appetizing but also to tell a story about the dish. Therefore, the ingredients used in food styling should be in the dish. My main issue here is with the shallots. Raw shallots are never used in pho. I was discussing this with my parents and they said, “We have eaten pho our whole lives, and there is no way you would include shallots in pho.”
After my reaction to the Instagram photo, I went ahead and checked out her recipe. To her credit, Tieghan does try to talk about the inspiration behind her chicken noodle soup, but there are inaccuracies in her description. Seen above, she says that a classic Vietnamese pho is made with thin slices of beef and noodles in a hot broth. While true, this is not entirely accurate. The pho most people in the Western world know is made with beef, but in Vietnam, pho is also traditionally made with chicken. Pho Bo is beef pho, and Pho Ga is chicken pho. Both are important to Vietnamese people.
There are also a lot of variations of pho depending on the region of Vietnam. For example, Vietnamese people in the north like a broth that is a bit salty while people in the south like a sweeter broth. Northern Vietnamese also prefer using chicken and keeping the add ons simple while Southern Vietnamese prefer beef and using additions like hoisin sauce, sriracha, and sliced chilis.
Moving onto the method that is used in her recipe. Her first step is to roast the chicken in soy sauce and honey. Adding the soy sauce immediately makes this not pho. I told my mom this part and she said, “NOOOOO way. Vietnamese people never use soy sauce in pho. There is no broth in Vietnamese culture with soy sauce. She ruined the dish.” When you add soy sauce to a broth, that makes it more of a Chinese noodle dish, not Vietnamese. Honey is also an ingredient that is never used in pho.
Why does this all matter?
The age old question. Why does this all matter? It matters because this food is our culture. Pho is one of the most important dishes to Vietnamese culture, and for a Western blogger to post a recipe without doing enough research is doing damage to the history of the dish. What if someone who is not familiar with Vietnamese cuisine took this dish as accurate? Wouldn’t that be erasing some part of Vietnamese culture? So much of our culture is in our food, and it’s what we pass on from generation to generation. It matters because this is who we are.
There was also a lot of conversation in my online community about this particular blogger and the influence she wields. There were many people who commented and reached out to her about the inaccuracies in her dish. Eventually, she did quietly change the title of the recipe, so it is now called “easy sesame chicken and noodles in spicy broth”. However, the damage may already be done. Because of the domain authority and popularity of her blog, her recipe now ranks above some Vietnamese bloggers with the same recipe. In the screenshot above, her recipe ranks above a popular Vietnamese blogger named Hungry Huy. Is it fair that a Western blogger’s faux pho recipe ranks above one from a legit Vietnamese blogger?
It is absolutely about power and money. How people from countries like Vietnam have not gotten their fair share of both. It is even more frustrating this is happening right now while Asian Americans are experiencing an increase in hate crimes.
All of this is part of a larger discussion on cultural appropriation. There is a lot of great research around cultural appropriation. I am not an expert in this area, but here are some resources if you want to read further:
- Understanding Cultural Appropriation — Studio ATAO
- Food That Talks: Soleil Ho on Authenticity and Appropriation
- C Is for Colonialism’s Effect on How & What We Eat
- A Tweet thread about cultural appropriation from Krishnendu Ray
How do you do this the right way?
There are so many different ways you can pay homage to a recipe’s origins, and there are so many resources you can use to do that. It just takes the will.
Talk accurately about the cultural origins of a recipe. Don’t just take what you know from common knowledge like she did. Her perspective was a very Western perspective of pho. If she did a simple Google search, she would’ve come across tons of articles that would have given her the correct story. Or maybe even Wikipedia?!
You can also link to recipes you drew inspiration from, which gives exposure to those people. If you are not from that culture, chances are you did read a recipe before you created your own. Linking to recipes is a way to share your wealth and power and to use your privilege in the right way.
How can she make this right?
Like I mentioned above, she did take steps to try to make it right, but I think more needs to be done because of the influence of her blog and social accounts. This is what I would suggest.
- Make sure “the inspiration” section is accurate. If you are going to write about a dish, do it right. Go back. Do the research. Correct that part of the blog post.
- Publicly apologize with an Instagram post or an Instagram story. In this post, she should acknowledge the helpful comments she received and say it was a learning opportunity. This is necessary because quietly changing the title of the blog post is equivalent to sweeping it under the rug. Changing the blog post title is important, but the fact that she has 2.7 million followers and has said nothing makes it look like she hasn’t learned anything at all.
If you want to check out some awesome Vietnamese bloggers, I listed a few below.
- Bryan Vu—https://www.hungryhuy.com/
- Andrea Nguyen — https://www.vietworldkitchen.com/
- Vicky Pham — https://www.vickypham.com/
- Hong and Kim — https://theravenouscouple.com/
- Lisa Le — https://thevietvegan.com/
