Mì Hoành Thánh – Wonton Noodle Soup

It would be fair to say that China and Chinese people are not well liked in Vietnam. The much larger northern neighbor has a history of interference in Vietnam. 

Most recently, at the end of the American War in 1975, the new Vietnamese government did not trust the ethnic Chinese living in Vietnam, and they kicked many out, while others fled. In 1979, Deng Xiaoping had another go to, in his words, “teach Vietnam a lesson.”

The result was a 27-day war and the death of at least 10,000 people.

Throughout that troubled history, the Vietnamese made sure to nab a useful recipe when they found one. One result of that is mì hoành thánh, a very Vietnamese version of a Chinese wonton noodle soup, which is now a staple throughout Vietnam, particularly in the south of the country, where most Chinese settled.

The mì in the dish are flash-fried yellow cylindrical noodles, slung into a slightly sweet soup with a few wontons (hoành thánh—get it?), some chives, a single lettuce leaf, sliced pork, minced pork, and a greasy rice cracker.

Like so many great, seemingly simple Vietnamese dishes, mì hoành thánh is a bowl born of conflict.