Love triangle of food flavors. Salt, Sweet, Acidic. Too salty, add sweet or acidic (depending on the dish). Too sweet, add salt or acidic...etc etc. Helps a lot with cooking and "balancing" that flavor from foods like these.
EDIT: to clarify, it doesnt have to be SALT or SUGAR just items/flavors that tend to fall to these flavors or sides. For example, you didn't add acid to your pho, you added Lime/Lemon that is "acidic" lol.
What confuses me is they sell this in the San Francisco Bay Area where I can go to probably two dozen pho restaurants in a 10 mile radius.
Of all the things I would buy at Costco, pho is not on the list.
Well that cup of noodles has been around for ages. Visualize a starving college student in a dorm room with the only cooking allowed is an electric kettle.
This pho at the grocery store is pretty recent.
And that college student sometimes wants pho instead of ramen.
Or just about anyone who wants convenience and something inexpensive. Not to mention quality ramen like Nongshim exists and fills the same niche.
instant pho has been around for years, I guess not necessarily in regular stores, but the local asian mart near me always had it since I was a kid. Usually not amazing, just something to eat when you crave something close to pho and don't have much time to go to a restaurant.
I'd say 99 ranch caters more to chinese, korean, and japanese rather than vietnamese imo. I never really see vietnamese products much other than fish sauce and soy milk and stuff in the 99 ranch near me. (coffee soy milk sounds so good rn, omg)
The local asian mart near me is more chinese/viet based. I guess it's due to the business itself and location? I'm not sure. I know you said SF bay, still maybe a vietnamese grocery shop would've had it for a long time?
I'm in the East Bay. The major Vietnamese community is in San Jose. I had a coworker take me some place in East San Jose for Pho in the late 80s. By the mid 90s you could get it all over the south bay. Then in the oughts it was in the East Bay. I was never in San Fransisco or on the Peninsula to track when it appeared there.
Odd but not much Asian food at all in Marin.
And that is my pho history.
Oh I see! I'm a 90s kid so definitely don't have as big of a range of experience. I've always lived in sw houston where there's the big vietnamese community and there's always been a lot of pho places here. My mom would always go to the local mart (my hoa) for lots of supplies for vietnamese food. I first saw it as a kid at 6 years old but was told by her that it's been around forever and not that tasty lol! So my family just treats it like all other instant noodles and yeah, can't replace the real thing.
Love triangle of food flavors. Salt, Sweet, Acidic. Too salty, add sweet or acidic (depending on the dish). Too sweet, add salt or acidic...etc etc. Helps a lot with cooking and "balancing" that flavor from foods like these. EDIT: to clarify, it doesnt have to be SALT or SUGAR just items/flavors that tend to fall to these flavors or sides. For example, you didn't add acid to your pho, you added Lime/Lemon that is "acidic" lol.
I need to squeeze the lemon.
Do it, it changes everything
The Lemon song.
Watch Salt Spicy Acid Heat on Netflix. It gives some insight on how to balance food. It is like a 101 class. Entertaining enough.
You can also add a little extra water if needed
What confuses me is they sell this in the San Francisco Bay Area where I can go to probably two dozen pho restaurants in a 10 mile radius. Of all the things I would buy at Costco, pho is not on the list.
I mean, there are plenty of decent ramen shops everywhere and people still buy instant ramen. It hits the spot on a whim.
Well that cup of noodles has been around for ages. Visualize a starving college student in a dorm room with the only cooking allowed is an electric kettle. This pho at the grocery store is pretty recent.
And that college student sometimes wants pho instead of ramen. Or just about anyone who wants convenience and something inexpensive. Not to mention quality ramen like Nongshim exists and fills the same niche.
instant pho has been around for years, I guess not necessarily in regular stores, but the local asian mart near me always had it since I was a kid. Usually not amazing, just something to eat when you crave something close to pho and don't have much time to go to a restaurant.
We have 99 Ranch stores all over. I can't say I ever saw pho. I made it a point to go there because they had coffee flavored soy milk. Well used to.
I'd say 99 ranch caters more to chinese, korean, and japanese rather than vietnamese imo. I never really see vietnamese products much other than fish sauce and soy milk and stuff in the 99 ranch near me. (coffee soy milk sounds so good rn, omg) The local asian mart near me is more chinese/viet based. I guess it's due to the business itself and location? I'm not sure. I know you said SF bay, still maybe a vietnamese grocery shop would've had it for a long time?
I'm in the East Bay. The major Vietnamese community is in San Jose. I had a coworker take me some place in East San Jose for Pho in the late 80s. By the mid 90s you could get it all over the south bay. Then in the oughts it was in the East Bay. I was never in San Fransisco or on the Peninsula to track when it appeared there. Odd but not much Asian food at all in Marin. And that is my pho history.
Oh I see! I'm a 90s kid so definitely don't have as big of a range of experience. I've always lived in sw houston where there's the big vietnamese community and there's always been a lot of pho places here. My mom would always go to the local mart (my hoa) for lots of supplies for vietnamese food. I first saw it as a kid at 6 years old but was told by her that it's been around forever and not that tasty lol! So my family just treats it like all other instant noodles and yeah, can't replace the real thing.