Bowls of phở. — VNA/VNS Photo Ngọc Liên

HÀ NỘI — According to Australia’s tourism website traveler.com.au, phở is surely Việt Nam’s greatest culinary gift to the world.

An article posted on the web said people can argue long into the night about the world's best soup. Maybe it's ramen, laksa, bouillabaisse or caldo verde or even Moroccan bessara. What people can't argue, however, is that Việt Nam’s most famous soup, the phở, is in the conversation.

It said phở is a fragrant, subtly powerful dish that's even greater than the sum of its considerable parts. Its broth is a gently simmered stock of beef bones with onion, ginger and spices; it arrives pooled around bánh phở, or flat rice noodles, and rare beef slices, topped with bean sprouts, fresh herbs, lemon and chilli. The aroma is transcendent. The taste is perfection.

Phở was said to have been developed in the north of the country during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The phở obsession spread to the south in the 1950s, when the country was divided and millions of north Vietnamese brought their soup recipe with them to the south.

December 12 has been marked as the Day of Phở in celebration of the nation's most well-known dish.

Earlier, the prestige food website TasteAltas included phở among the world’s 100 most popular dishes. — VNS