merryb > wrote:

> Last week I decided to attempt Pho for the first time, so I went to a
> local Asian market for ingredients. It was not as nice as H-mart, but
> closer to my house. As I was cooking later, it struck me that I never
> saw any cheese- not that I was looking for any. I really never thought
> about it before, but I can not think of any cheese used in that type
> of cooking- true or not? BTW, the Pho was very good, but oxtails are
> spendier than I thought they would be!

That must have been a South-East Asian market. The rate of lactose
intolerance in South East Asia is higher than anywhere else in the world
and consequently no dairy food culture developed. Elsewhere in Asia
dairy products have always been widely produced and consumed.

Victor