Hello, reader. How are you doing? Probably you already know I’m disabled and have some chronic health issues. It’s an honor to be alive. I’m grateful to have a body. I spend most of most days, caring for my health. I want to tell you that pho is medicine.
Yes, one of the most delicious medicines. Weekly I like to go to the local Vietnamese restaurant for a huge steaming bowl of fragrant, salty broth, rice noodles, tofu, carrot shreds, a little bok choi… I add fresh basil and a few squeezes of lime juice. My mouth is salivating right now as I tell you about it.
The pho I like is yellow curry pho, which is gluten free and vegan. Wow, I can eat it with no problem. I’ve never had a reaction after eating there.
ritual
This is the ritual of eating:
Before the food is brought to the table by bright Latinas, I get napkins and forks, then water to drink from the soda machine. Then I sit there with Ming or the friend I arrived with, and we wait for the soup.
Yes, here’s the soup! We say thank you. I squeeze the lime’s juice into the broth and drop the lime into the broth, to make the broth even more lime-y. Then I rip my basil leaves into the broth too.
Next I use my plastic fork to skewer some tofu cubes, blow on them, and eat them. I hunt down the tofu cubes and slowly enjoy them as the whole soup cools.
Then I drink the broth. I’m asking it to heal me. The garlic, ginger, salty broth is like heaven. I pick up the whole bowl and slurp it like a huge cup.
Then I eat the noodles. The noodles are kind of my favorite part. They feel decadent and slippery, such blatant carbs of pleasure.
I eat carrot shreds and nibble the bok choi as desired. Mostly the broth and noodles are my goal.
health
Ever since Ming and I were homeless I have an issue with reoccurring UTIs. I do a lot to keep my uterine tract happy, including drinking a lot of water, movement, and some herbals.
Pho is medicine because a well-timed bowl can improve things for a few days with my urinary health. Yes, it’s real. But I intuit that pho is good for all of me: stomach, sinuses, blood, skin, muscles, intestines.
Often I’ve wondered if it’s the quantity of broth or the quality. Probably both. I’ve wondered if I could replicate the experience at home with soup that I make. That could be cheaper.
I’ve never made pho at home, though I’ve made other delicious soups lately. Mostly butternut squash or pumpkin with coconut milk, and a garlic spinach soup with rice noodles and tahini.
thank you
Thank you to the Latinas in the kitchen, always. I don’t know you, but I appreciate you.
Thank you to Ming and the other dear ones who go to the pho shop with me.
Verily, thank you to whoever invented soup. Pho is medicine I’m happy to take!
Thank you to Parent Earth for giving us life, limes, basil, ginger, garlic, sunshine– so much good.
Thank you to my own body for your hard work, doing love 24-7.
Potatoes not included. Please consult yourself to know your own specific needs. Potatoes are not to take the place of pho. Your meals may vary.
