The bowl of noodles engraved in my soul
Noodles of Suzhou, please don’t seize to shine in my heart!
All the wanderers have come back to your bosom, and all the ingredients are ready to serve.
Fresh flour made of wheat mixed with egg and water;
Fish, chicken, pig bones and beef stewed thoroughly to make the soup, with a touch of black peppers to better the seasoning;
A table spoon of Shaoxin wine, with Chinese five spices that enrich the flavor;
Bamboo shoots, fried fish, pan fried eel, pork cutlet; all the toppings that goes upon the thin and long noodles, with a sprinkle of green onions.
Noodles with hot Biluochun tea, cold green bean soup, and sweet and sour plum juice that make my summer a dream come true.
1.I chose The Summons of the Soul from Chu Ci by Qu Yuan.
2.The title, summons of the soul, and the content shows that it is a poet that reflects the writer thinking about food of his hometown, which reminds me of my own experience when I am studying abroad.
3.Through reading and imitating this piece, I learned that Qu Yuan is from a place with rich produce of agriculture. His hometown must be rich and that people don’t really worry about food. Through his poet, it’s obvious that people of his hometown are considering about the beauty and that only happens when food is plenty. Also, I think people of Qu Yuan’s hometown must have lived a peaceful life before, but is now experiencing trouble.
4.Through my own writing, I now have a better understanding of the noodle tradition of Suzhou, and the whole process of making it. It becomes more obvious that the noodles mean much more than a dish to the people of Suzhou, but a bond that keeps the people close to our deepest food culture. In the hot summer days, we like to have a bowl of noodles for breakfast, along with sweet and sour plum juice to cool us down. Noodles came to Suzhou after the economic center of Chine moved to the south east, so this dish being so popular now is also a sign of the prosperity of Suzhou. People of my city don’t have such a rapid life pace like that of Shanghai or Beijing, and they have time to enjoy the noodles in the morning.
5.I think in the piece that I imitated shows the deepest love from Qu Yuan to his home, and the love is expressed through food. It feels like that his hometown is no longer what it was like in the poetry, but he has the strongest belief that things will be just like before, and his strong faith moves me with his expression of the food of his hometown. As for my piece, my DNA is that no matter how tough life becomes, or how far away I am from my hometown, the food of my hometown will calm me down and give me hope. Through food, my family and my hometown give me the strength I need to overcome any barrier. My love for noodles of Suzhou is in my soul, and the hope and strength is in my DNA, to make me stronger and be ready for all the challenges.