Pho is in top 5 dishes by Google in 2021 alongside Italian, Australian, Malaysian and Thai cuisines.
Google usually displays different avatars on its home page during special days. This is a funny and sometimes random change to interact with users, celebrate ceremonies, holidays and commemorate artists, pioneers and eminent scientists,... In the last 5 years, there are 5 special dishes including Vietnamese Pho were honored.
Yee Sang
On 18th February, Google honored Yee Sang - a Malaysian style raw fish salad. This Malaysia’s traditional dish is savored on the 7th day of the Lunar New Year. Family members will use their chopsticks to toss the dish’s ingredients while shouting “Lou Hei” (Luck Tossing) en masse and wishing others all the best. The Malaysians believe that the higher the toss is, the more prosperous the new year is.
This ritual originated from the Nuwa of Chinese mythology who is supposed to “devise” mankind on the 7th day of The Lunar New Year. Chinese sailors and fishermen celebrate this specially sacred day by combining junk food to create Yee Sang (yu sheng) - a palatable and economical salad.
By 1930, Chinese brought Yee Sang to Malaysia and sold fish salads as well as lettuces on nomadic vehicles. In 1940, chef Loke Ching Fatta added and adjusted to create Yee Sang as we are eating today. Fatta mixed about 30 ingredients with his own sauce to make an indispensable dish for the Lunar New Year in Malaysia.
Pizza
Pizza is among the most popular dishes in the world. It was honored by Google on 6th December - marking 4 years of Art of Neapolitan ‘Pizzaiuolo’: an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO.
This cuisine has been favoured for centuries from ancient civilizations like Egypt and Roman. However, Napoli, which is located in southeast Italy, is deemed to be the homeland of present-day pizza with tomatoes and cheese. This is the reason why we have the term “Art of Neapolitan Pizzaiuolo”.
Nowadays, there are approximately 5 billion pizzas consumed daily all over the world. In America, about 350 pizzas are eaten every second.
Thai papaya salad
Thai papaya salad (a.k.a Som Tum) is a speciality of not only Thai people but also in Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam. On 14th December 2012, Som Tum was registered to be a national intangible heritage by Thailand Department of Culture Promotion.
Like several dishes in the world, the origin of this dish is still a mystery. Almost all food historical researchers believe that this salty salad originated from Laos as it may stem from Isaan. The famous recipe includes Thai chilli, sugar, garlic, shrimp, sauce, lemon, papaya,...
Pho
Since the beginning of 2018, 12nd of December has been “the day of Pho” in Vietnam and this year, Google commemorated this dish. What made Pho distinct from other dishes is the process of making the dish in which cooks invest all of their effort. Therefore, they created a special taste, transparent broth which suit everyone’s demand.
Traditionally, Pho is savored for breakfast by most Vietnamese people. Nowadays, it is sold around the world and has many variants like Pho tron, Pho cuon. Historians claimed that Pho originated from Nam Dinh province in the late 19th century or the beginning of 20th century.
Fairy Bread
13rd of September is the day of “Fairy Bread” by Google. This is a well-known dish in Australia and New Zealand. Scotland scholar Robert Louis Stevenson is the first person to coin this dish in a poem called “Fairy Bread” from “Child’s Garden of Verses” in 1885.
This bread consists of 3 simple ingredients: a slide of white bread in triangle shape, butter and rainbow sprinkles. Many people believe that it is inspired by hagelslag - a Holland baked bread covered with chocolate. Meanwhile, New Zealanders and Australians claimed that this is their bread.
