Streetfood is a fast and uncontrolled phenomenon, a spontaneous and temporary rural migration towards an on-demand, 24-hour food service. Everyday in Hanoi, more than 2,000 women flow through the streets selling a special kind of noodle soup – Pho Bo – a mixture of soy, spaghetti, vegetables, pork or beef in a hot broth.
We quantify the physical daily consumption at more than 120,000 litres, or twice the amount of water a football pitch needs every day in summer to prevent it from drying out.
The single unit consists of a woman with a pole balanced across her shoulders: hanging from one side is a soup pot with chopsticks, spoons and whatever else you may need for eating; on the other side, stacked in order, are tiny, 10-centimetre-high, coloured stools. These kinds of micro-stools produce temporary spatial occupation, like parasitic restaurants directly in the road, for a maximum of ten people.