"Vietnam is the land of heat and noodles". That is what an American friend wrote to me in an email when he said he missed Vietnam. While in English, there may be only some words "noodles", "vermicelli" or "noodle soup", in Vietnamese, we have various names "Phở, Bún, Miến, Bánh đa, Bánh canh, Mỳ" to describe our noodles. The Vietnamese noodles have different colors (white, red, yellow), shape and thickness, depending on the types and regions. Each of the said noodles has one more word next to it, like beef, chicken or other material, or name of a location to emphasize their specialty. For example, Phở gà (noodle soup with chicken), Phở bò (noodle soup with beef), Bún bò Huế (Huế city's beef noodle soup), Mỳ Quảng (Quảng Nam province's noodles) etc. We often eat noodle
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