After which war did refugees help popularize pho worldwide?

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After which war did refugees help popularize pho worldwide? After the Vietnam War, Vietnamese refugees helped spread pho internationally.

In the war’s aftermath, Vietnamese refugees settled in countries across Asia, Europe, North America, and Australia. They opened restaurants and brought regional food traditions with them, helping pho move from a primarily Vietnamese dish into a globally recognized noodle soup.

The dish’s international growth was gradual. Vietnamese communities established restaurants in places such as Paris, California, Texas, Canada, and Australia. In the United States, pho entered the mainstream more strongly during the 1990s, as Vietnamese restaurants expanded and U.S.–Vietnam relations improved.

A common mix-up is confusing this migration with the earlier 1954 division of Vietnam, which also carried pho from northern Vietnam into the South. That movement helped popularize southern-style variations inside Vietnam, while postwar refugee communities drove pho’s worldwide expansion.

Source: Wikipedia · fact-checked Sept. 2026

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