Banh Mi or Po-Boy...which came first?

It's a marketing gimmick to sell more of them at festivals, etc. in NOLA...

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Bánh mì is referred to as a "Saigon Sub"[2], "Vietnamese Po' boy" in the New Orleans community (USA), a "Vietnamese Hoagie" in other parts of the United States, or a "Vietnamese Sub" in Canada.

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www.wikipedia.com


Who cares which one came first? Down here it's a vietnamese poboy or Banh Mi.

Is there some guy on a Philly food board wondering if a hoagie was invented first?

You guys just never let up.

Vietnamese Po boy > Bahn Mi in 99% of the cities in America


It's inclusion in the Oak St. PoBoy Festival was great...I loved watching people experience it for the first time, and I loved the inclusion of another culture into one of our festivals celebrating a NOLA food.

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I said who cares which one came first...

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so do you care about where the banh mi started? i don't really care where the term "Vietnamese Po-Boy" came from, as it seems obvious.

I am curious as to the origins of the banh mi versus the origins of the po-boy.

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I think it sucks that I never know when I eat sheepshead b/c restaurant shy away from that term to sell more fish, but I get over it.

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see that is my primary point. Call a banh mi, a banh mi. It prevents us from having a bunch of Gomers on vacation in San Fran or NYC asking for them there Vietnamese Po-Boys at a great Vietnamese spot. Just like we snicker when somoene calls a Po-Boy a hero, calls gumbo stew, or pronounces jambalaya incorrectly.

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Vietnamese Po boy > Bahn Mi in 99% of the cities in America

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huh? where are you going with this one?

you seem steeped in NOLA food history, when did the Po-Boy start and where?

Martin Bros. during a 1920's streetcar strike.





Around 1940's-1950's, the 'French sandwiches' ("banh mi Tay", litterally 'French bread') became a status symbols among the wannabees, and cheaper versions of them started to show up in Vietnamese stores.

The sandwich was a small loaf of about 4"x3"x3" french bread, split along its length, almost always coated with a thin layer of mayonaise. The garnish depends on what you order, and almost always includes a short stem of raw green onion.

Then came the poor version that you see today, primarily sold in 'mobile sandwich restaurants' (Xe Banh Mi, litterally 'vehicle selling bread').
The mobile restaurants are essentially a 3'x4'x5' box on tricycles.
The bread is an 8" cut of a longer French baguette. But they added a lot more Vietnamese accentuation to it, all of them inexpensive items: green pepper, cucumber, pickeled vegetables, herbs (South Vietnamese love herbs).

In the 1960's, the original 'French sandwidches' -catering to the French- have disappeared, may be gone with the French.

At the beginning of 1980, with the immigration of the Vietnamese into the US, the signs in the shops said "French Sandwidches", a direct word-by-word translation of the vietnamese "sandwidch on French bread".

The first successful sandwidh shop was BA-LE on Santa Clara avenue, in San Jose, between 6th and 7th, who delivered a huge sandwich for $0.50.
BA-LE was the name of a very popular sanwidch stand in Saigon, who started as a tricycle, then became a multi-story building. Probably no relationship with the people in San Jose.



Excuse me...I have to go have a vietnamese poboy for lunch...I will be back to read your comments after....

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Excuse me...I have to go have a vietnamese poboy for lunch

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Keep it real - go get it either on the Bestbank or in the East.