Naengmyeon, the Korean style cold noodle soup
By Haerim Lee
Green are the thinly sliced cucumber,
white are the sugar dissolved radish.
She picks them and mix them with the beef slices.
Thin, chewy potato starch turns into fresh noodles,
they are mingled with the green, white, and the meat.
The combination of beef and dongchimi(Korean Kimch during summer) broth makes a clean finish.
I and my sister are on the table, keeping eyes on each other,
we are ready to eat more, worrying that it will soon be gone.
The sunshine from the window brightens the broth like gold ,
the colorful slices of green and white make us lick our lips.
The noodle stripes go through my throat and just melt away.
I urge to my neighbors and offer them Naengmyeon,
at the same time, worries about my Naengmyeon left along in the table.
Now, living far away from my home,
alone in a strange land,
just one bottle of Naengmyeon is all I need.
Late in the day when I am done with all the work,
this flavor of my country is all I need.
- I chose to imitate the poem “Cold noodle soup with Sophora leaves” by Du Fu.
- I firstly liked the flow of the poem. The way the poet unfolds the story of “old noodle soup with Sophora leaves” was methodical as he first describes about the basic ingredients of the food and then moves on to a broader perspective in connection with people who enjoy the cold noodle soup including the ruler. Not only that, I loved the part “Emerald freshness shines in my chopsticks, fragrant rice along with reed shoots. Passing my teeth it is colder than snow” as it shows the vivid description of the food itself as well as his feelings when he actually tasted it. When I read this part “I eat more, worrying that it will soon be gone”, I could form a bond of sympathy with the author as I also eat the food involuntarily when served with delicious dishes, but at the same time, worry about the food that will take to itself wings. Then, I was reminded of my childhood when I and my sister fought over our favorite food Naengmyeon, the Korean style cold noodle that my mom made.
- While imitating the poem by Du Fu, I could learn about the distinctive Chinese food culture and connect it with the aspects of food especially noodles that we discussed during the class. The poet only mentions about the cold noodle soup with Sophora leaves in the poem, but China actually has many different kinds of cold noodles depending on what ingredients they use when making them. The ingredients also vary from region to region mainly affected by the different climate of each region. By reading the poem, I could also tell that how important the food culture is to Chinese people. The author is not the only one who enjoys eating the cold noodle, but he also offers it to other people. They have the culture of sharing food with their neighbors treating the dish as important as ‘a pearl’. Most importantly, it was interesting to find out that the cold soup noodle was loved by all the Chinese people at that time from ordinary people to the ruler of a country. The cold noodle definitely was and has been the national dish of China.
- By imitating the Chinese poem about food, I could also learn about the food culture of my own country, Korea. As I explained in the poem, the ingredients used in making the cold noodle are very healthy such as radish, potato starch, and cucumber. The traditional Korean food Kimchi is also famous for its health and nutrition. Furthermore, through the story of giving food to neighbors when making delicious dishes, I could learn the culture of sharing that exists in my country. In Korea, when people make delicious food, they usually share it with their neighbors and we think this attitude comes from the love and affection that we have towards people which we call it “Jung”. As a somewhat extreme example, while people in other countries have their own bowls when eating food and put soup into their own bowls separately, in Korea, we have just one big bowl and everyone shares it together. We also have a tradition of giving rice cakes to neighbors when you move to a new place to live. I think all these instances show the distinctive culture of Korea.
- The cold noodle soup is popular dish in both China and Korea. By reading the poem by Du Fu and writing my own piece followed by his writing style, I could find some common features between the Korean and Chinese food culture. One of the cultural DNAs embedded in both pieces was the sharing of the food. I think this cultural DNA exists in almost every country, but China and Korea are the countries that are born with the culture of sharing. According to the book called “Introduction to Chinese food”, the author claims that Chinese people make many kinds of dishes when they make food so that everyone can eat to their fill and this culture started from a long time ago. In Korea, there is a special word called “Jung” to describe the sharing culture of food as mentioned before. For example, when my mom makes Naengmyeon, the Korean style cold noodle, she makes a whole bunch of noodles and gives it to the neighbors.