vietnanese beef pho with sriracha sauce shot from overhead view on wooden table. rez-art/iStock via Getty Images Plus
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Named for a small town in Thailand, created by a Chinese immigrant from Vietnam, and made in California, Huy Fong Foods’ Sriracha became the standard hot sauce for anyone eating Southeast Asian food in the United States in the 21st century. Vietnamese American food writer Andrea Nguyen holds a theory as to why that is: “It has the texture of ketchup.”
When David Tran started making the famous “rooster sauce” in the U.S. in 1983, few other hot sauces shared the space in North America, and Nguyen notes that Tran did his best to appeal to a wide audience by using multiple languages on the bottle. It worked: its ubiquity and lack of competition in the category helped propel it to viral popularity. Tran’s Vietnamese background meant that his version of sriracha landed on the table of restaurants specializing in pho, and for many non-Vietnamese people, it became the assumed topping for the dish—a fact that makes Nguyen sigh in despair. “I find that to be an insult to the pho broth,” she says.
The way that it sits in the broth without disappearing—thanks to that aforementioned ketchup-esque thickness—appeals to Americans, theorizes Selah Kendall, an account executive at Snuk Foods. “Unlike a traditional hot sauce, which is really runny and has that vinegary kick,” she
