Boabblog

I'm so Phở'ed up right now I don't even know how I'm typing this. My stomach is finely layered with salty hot beef broth. My head is swimming with thoughts of partially cooked meat soaked in hoisin sauce. My eyes are so glazed over that I can barely make out the words that appear at my fingertips. I feel like if I have another cigarette I will surely poop my pants.

And what is this wonder drug that makes me feel so wonderfully sick, you ask? I was first introduced to it back in 2005 as an after work tradition. Everybody at Spyder loved to get Pho'ed up right after work. Some people go out for some beers or head home to hit the bong but we headed straight to Broomfield, where the best stuff is made.

Pho originated in North Vietnam in the 1950s. The French tried extremely hard to bring it South to manufacture it for themselves. The Vietnamese feared that the French would take Pho and manufacture it for themselves in the South for export to the West. Vo Nguyen Giap ultimately defeated the French and blocked Western occupation of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam and kept the Pho market out of the hands of the Western oppressors. The DRV kept its monopoly on the Pho market in China and parts of the Eastern Soviet Union. North Vietnam continued to be prosporous and rich. The Communist markets in the North became so huge that the DRV had to expand production and began moving into the non-Communist South. The Northern government promised that the Phở trade would bring prosperity to Hanoi and the rest of the traditionally poor South. Vietnam looked as if it was on its way to joining the ranks of the Soviet powerhouses.

Unitil 1961. In its never ending quest to squash Communism wherever it was born, the United States attempted to covertly invade Southern Vietnam. The invasion was made public and it quickly became apparant that the US was involved in an attempt to get into the Phở market. Under the guise of Cold War tensions, military conflict quickly escalated. China and the USSR quickly offered military assistance through technology and man power in order to beat back the "Democratic" Hegemon. Both Communist nations had developed a need for its Phở supplies, as it kept their citizenry quite docile under a seeminly unhealthy regime.

In a series of offensive battles, it seemed that the US was falling to bitter defeat. At the same time, 1969 was littered with anti-war and anti-Phở protests. "Not in our backyards" proclaimed placcards across the US and Europe. It seemed the deaths of close to 60,000 Americans and nearly a million Vietnamese over a soup to be fart oo much for the collective conscience. The constituency seemed to have had enough. It was time for the US to pull out of Vietnam.

As troops were pulled from South Vietnam the United States managed to operate covertly in the neutral neighbor of Cambodia. By sneaking North along the border several US Marine platoons were able to secure a small Phở production facility deep behind enemy lines. They were able to steal specific intellegence, and thus the recipe made it out of Vietnam. In the name of Freedom, Pho can now be enjoyed worldwide.

I'm here to say, "My name is Andrew Oren and I am a Phở addict."