Noodle Narrative
Alex Shen
My interviewee is my neighbor’s mother, and I went to her house to conduct the interview. She is now 45 years old and is a mother of two sons. She is an accountant and cooks dinner for her family every day after she comes back from work. Because it was pretty late that night, she couldn’t show me her way of making noodles, which was a shame.
My second question(the one after introduction) was to ask her how frequent did she eat noodles, and had that frequency changed over time. She said she used to have noodles for breakfast every morning, which is quite common among people of Suzhou. And because there are so many famous and authentic noodle restaurants in Suzhou, she used to go out for noodles every morning before work. And when I asked her did she still do that now, she said she rarely have noodles for breakfast now, and instead, she would have juice, cereal, yogurt, and fruit. She explained that it was due to the shift of her concept for healthy eating, and noodles contain too much starch which is unhealthy when exceeded a certain amount.
I found this question interesting particularly because it shows how the concepts of eating among Chinese people are shifting from merely seeking good taste to maintaining good health, especially as the standards of living are boosting along with the growth of economy in China. It is a great example of people’s eating habit changing with the development of a country’s economy. Humans always think about fulling their stomachs before considering the quality of the food they eat. China used to be in such poverty after the Qing dynasty until recent decades, and it is no doubt that more people would join this rank and start to eat healthily than just seeking delicious food.
I also asked her about her awareness of the difference of noodles in different regions of China, especially between the north and the south. She was well aware of the fact that noodles are much thicker and wider in the north, while southern people enjoy thinner and longer noodles immersed in good soup. She concluded that this difference was the effect of difference in characteristics between northern and southern people, which results from difference in economy, climate, history and so on. In class we talked about the southern and northern pasta of Italy, and China is just bigger, broader than Italy, with greater difference in humanities, climate, environment and so on. Even a nuance would cause great difference in eating habit, and it’s not surprise that there are so many different kinds of noodles in China.
Her younger son just had his 13th birthday last month, and when I asked her what she did for him(outside the interview), the first thing that came out was making him birthday noodles. This was also mentioned in the interview, that birthday noodles is a sign of longevity, with the noddles that’s thin and long. These noddle-related cultural aspects show that noddles is such an important part of Chinese culture that it has become an indispensable item both in material and cultural life of Chinese people.
There are all different kinds of noodles in different places in China, and they each represent a city: Zhajiang noodle for Beijing, Dandan noodle for Sichuan, and Hot and Dry noodle for Wuhan. Noodles become an intermediary in China, one that people use to communicate, to make friends with, and to reveal social identity with. Noddles can represent one’s hometown in China, and the most famous Chinese noodles can represent China globally.
To conclude, noodles is an important dish to my interviewee, and she has her own opinions regarding noodles and Chinese society. I think noodles Chinese noodles, just like Italian pasta, will become more better known to the world and become an ID card for China.
https://youtu.be/fUf2vy0X6UU