TO THE untrained eye it looks like a bowl of rice-noodle soup with the addition of beef, or perhaps pork or chicken, some fresh herbs and bean shoots.

But the Vietnamese dish pho — pronounced "fur" — is a metaphor for human resilience and cultural adaptability. It's a lesson in the complexity of seemingly simple things. And it's darned tasty to boot.

As a symbol of globalisation, pho is almost as significant as the Big Mac, and a great deal healthier. But the fast food of Vietnam, where street-side pho stalls are ubiquitous, is deceptively individual. No two restaurants, it is said, will make pho that tastes the same.

And this South-East Asian comfort food has been embraced by Melbourne.

The history of pho and its travels with the Vietnamese diaspora, plus pho-related poems and artworks and — perhaps most importantly — practical cooking and tasting demonstrations, are featured in I Love Pho, part of the Melbourne Food and Wine Festival, which includes more than 240 events across Melbourne and Victoria.

An anthropological exploration of a people through their food, I Love Pho celebrates one of the waves of immigrants who have contributed to Melbourne's reputation as a foodie heaven. The local Vietnamese population numbered only 1000 in 1975, the year of the fall of Saigon (now Ho Chi Minh City), and has reached about 60,000, with Nguyen the second most common surname, after Smith, in the phone book.

Around one of Melbourne's several "Little Saigons", on Barkly Street in Footscray, there are about a dozen dedicated pho shops, with another 30 restaurants carrying the soup, with its famed fragrant broth.

Pho lovers transcend barriers of race, sex and class. Mario De Pasquale, co-owner of Brunswick Street institution Mario's Cafe, is one of the pillars who started the city's love affair with its Italian-based cafe culture. But for more than 25 years he has also been a Footscray pho shop habitue.

"Pho is my solitary meal. I often have pho when there is no one else at home," says De Pasquale, who is also chairman of the Footscray Community Arts Centre, which is hosting I Love Pho. "For me it's partly about the speed with which you get it and how filling and great it is, and how cheap. You really can't do better than go pay $7.50 for a bowl of pho, and you can be in and out in 25 minutes."

The Melbourne Food and Wine Festival begins today and runs until March 8. I Love Pho is at the Footscray Community Arts Centre this Sunday and March 2. The festival is presented by The Age.