Organising committee announces the Phở Week in Europe on November 14 in hà Nội. VNS Photo

 HÀ NỘI — The Phở Week will take place across Europe from 8 to 14 December as part of an effort to promote one of Việt Nam’s most iconic dishes to international audiences.

The event was announced in Hà Nội on 14 November by the State Committee for Overseas Vietnamese Affairs under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in collaboration with the We Love Phở Association.

"The event is an event to response to "Phở Day" which is held annually on December 12 in Việt Nam. It is also our desire to promote important culinary culture, contribute to elevating Vietnamese cuisine and spreading traditional Vietnamese phở around the world," said Mai Hải Lâm, chairman of We Love Phở Association.

Lâm said due to busy timetable of oversea Vietnamese restaurant owners, there would have no specific venue for the event but it would be organised in every eateries that served phở.

"Overseas Vietnamese people and international friends can enjoy our noodles in restaurants where they have opportunities to enjoy a variety of phở dishes such as traditional phở with beef, phở with chicken, phở rolls, vegetarian phở and mixed phở along with many modern variations to suit all customers' tastes," said Lâm, a Vietnamese businessman in Poland. 

Iconic phở will be promote in a Phở Week in Europe from December 8-14. Photo welovepho.org

 All restaurants are encouraged take part in the event and choose types of promotion and advertising their phở.

"Every action to popularise the event is welcome. They can only hang banners to introduce the week or offer discounts from 10 to 50 per cent depending on their scale and ability," said Lâm.

"In their places, they can set up spaces displaying images and documents about the history, development and recipe of the dish; simulate a rustic phở stall; perform live phở cooking; and hold interactions with chefs and culinary experts.

"Phở has been voted one of the delicious and most well-known dishes in the world many time. It was in the best 30 dishes of the world in 2018, the most delicious 10 soups in the world in 2021, and the 100 most popular dishes worldwide in 2022," said Lâm.

"Our event is an acitivity to popularise Vietnamese cuisine to world, contributing to strengthening connection among overseas Vietnamese communities abroad and introducing one of the country's iconic dishes to international friends.

Attending to announcing event, SCOVA Chairman Nguyễn Trung Kiên said culture always served as a strong bridge, connecting Vietnamese communities around the world and fostering mutual understanding and people-to-people exchange.

"Culinary culture in general, and phở in particular, is a source of national pride, helping shape Việt Nam’s identity in the eyes of the international friends. I strongly support the initiative to organise the week and hope that the event will be successful, creating wide-reaching impact across Europe and across the world."

As of November 14, the programme has recorded 12 restaurants registered to participate: one each in Romania and Czech Republic, three each in the UK and Slovakia, and four in Belgium. That number is expected to increase as the week approaches.

The We Love Phở network was established in Brussels in June 2025, gathering OVs from across Europe, including Austria, Belgium, Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, and the UK.

Its mission is to promote and preserve Việt Nam’s culinary culture, with phở as its central symbol. It works to connect the overseas Vietnamese community with local residents through cuisine.

At the meeting, We Love Phở and Ninh Bình Province's Culinary Culture Association signed a cooperation agreement to spread the value of Vietnamese cuisine, especially phở, to the Vietnamese community and international friends in Europe.

Culinary artisan Lê Thị Thiết, chairwoman of the Ninh Bình Association, attended the event. She is one of many artisans who has been persistently preserving and introducing the flavours of her homeland for many years, including renowned phở Vân Cù, one of the ancient pho origins of Việt Nam.

Thiết said that cooking phở is not just about making a delicious bowl of food, but also about preserving tradition – carrying the familiar scent of home so that Vietnamese people everywhere can find a part of themselves in it. VNS