Author: Ruiyue Hong

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The History of Chinese Instant Noodles (Final Paper)–Ruiyue Hong

Ruiyue Hong

CHN 375W

June 29, 2018

Final Paper

The History of Chinese Instant Noodles

Instant noodles are the noodles that could be cooked just by adding hot water. With the addition of flavoring powder and seasoning oil, people can get a hot bowl of noodles within just three minutes. Instant noodles help people save time from cooking and fill people’s stomach. Therefore, nowadays, instant noodles can be seen everywhere in the supermarket and its consumers include people from all classes. In this paper, I want to study the development of Chinese instant noodles from the perspective of history, economic, anthropology and culture. The paper is divided into three parts. The first part will describe the general development of instant noodles considering the economic and historic situation in China. The second part will focus on exploring the changing of ingredients and packaging of instant noodles in China. And the third part will reflect on the question of why instant noodles are more popular in the old times than nowadays.

 

Firstly, I want to examine the development of instant noodles considering the economic and historical situation in China. From research, Instant noodles were invented by Momofuku Ando of Nissin Foods in Japan. (Fijimini, 2012) They were launched in 1958 under the brand name Chikin Ramen. However, it was not until 1964 when instant noodles are finally introduced to China. In 1964, Beijing Food Factory tried to use duck oil to produce dried and fried instant noodles. However, they did not succeed. Four years later, the first instant noodles were invented by Shanghai YiMing Fourth Food Factory.(Du, 2017) It used the technology of high pressure in cooking fried noodles to produce almost 2 millions package of instant noodles to Chinese consumers, signifying the start of Chinese instant noodle production. During the 1978 to 1980, the scientists cooperated with Beijing Food Factory and designed an exclusive technology of producing instant noodles by steaming noodles with high pressure and drying them with infrared ray. Therefore, from the year of 1964 to 1980, China was in the period of exploring instant noodles.

 

From 1981 to 1986, China began its initial mass production of instant noodles. In 1981, Shanghai Yiming Food Factory and Beijing Instant Noodle Factory imported several assembly lines of instant noodle from Japan. During 1980s, with China opened its door towards foreign companies and embraced the idea of market economic, China had imported almost 100 assembly lines from Japan and put them into Shanghai, Guangzhou, Wuxi etc. to start the instant noodles production. (Du, 2017) With the introduction of instant noodles into Chinese market, people began to learn about instant noodles. However, the instant noodles at that time was rather expensive compared to rice because it involved foreign technologies. According to history document, people needed to spend a quarter and two food coupons(粮票) in order to have one instant noodles. But normal Chinese family do not have such spare money to buy things other than necessities. Therefore, instant noodles don’t have lots of consumers in the beginning. So during the period of 1981 to 1986, there were few profit in making instant noodles and instant noodles were not very popular among China.

 

The year from 1987 to 1991 was the transitional and developmental period for Chinese instant noodles. In 1987, China no longer used food coupon as a way for people to buy rice and oil. People have more freedom in buying food. Therefore, the limitation of producing and consuming instant noodles was reduced. Moreover, it was the time when Chinese economic were growing. Citizen’s life quality improved significantly and the pace of life quickened. Therefore, the efficiency and convenience of instant noodles were discovered by the public, making the industry of instant noodles boomed. Soon, the instant noodles industry expanded from urban to suburban and its price remained almost the same. The instant noodles change from luxury to affordable everyday product. In addition, during this time, a lot of foreign companies entered Chinese instant noodles industry, including the famous brand “kangshifu” from Taiwan. With their entrance, the variety and taste of instant noodles increased, making the instant noodle even more popular. (Du, 2017)

 

During the year of 1992 to 1995, instant noodles in China developed quickly. There were advertisements of instant noodle everywhere and people were made to believe that instant noodles were the necessity for traveling and for everyday life. (Du, 2017) During this time, lots of foreign companies were competing with each other. They released all kinds of instant noodles and attracted customers with its stretchiness, smooth, unique taste and pretty packaging.

 

The year after 2001 to now, Chinese instant noodles began to develop stably. The noodles nowadays strictly followed the food standards set by Chinese government. The industry now aimed to produce healthier and more nutritious instant noodles with more diverse taste and packaging. Moreover, the seasoning also began to change slightly. Before, it was comparably plain for it was only salty. Nowadays, people add more seasoning and oil inside so that it has the tastes of spicy, Unami and salty. In addition, there are more variety of instant noodles. For example, besides noodle with soup（汤面）, there are also lo mein(拌面) and crispy instant noodles(干脆面).

 

Therefore, with the history advancement and economic development in China, we could see the change of instant noodles in taste, packaging and cooking style.

 

Secondly, I want to explore the change of ingredient and packaging of the Chinese instant noodle. In order to show the change of taste in instant noodles, I will mainly compare the ingredient differences between Meat Noodles(肉蓉面) from old times and Kangshifu’s braised Beef Noodles with soy sauce(红烧牛肉面) nowadays. Meat Noodles were produced by Shanghai Yiming Food Factory. It was among one of the first instant noodles produced in China. It used to be popular in old times. By opening the paper packaging, there was only one powder seasoning and curved noodles. In the powder seasoning, it contains salt, sugar, flour and onion powder, pepper powder and rousong(肉松). After it is cooked, the noodles are stretchy and according to consumers, the noodle soup is mainly salty without other taste. Therefore, many people nowadays mainly used this noodle in the hot pot because it is very smooth and stretchy. (Cheng, 2017) On the other hand, Kangshifu’s braised beef noodles is completely different from Meat Noodles. Kangshifu is a Taiwanese company who was among the first foreign companies to produce instant noodles in China. When Kangshifu produced this kind of braised beef noodles, it soon became a hit. According to statistics, eighty percent of instant noodles consumed by Chinese people are Kangshifu’s braised beef noodles. Kanagshifu’s braised beef noodles in soy sauce is very different from Meat Noodles not only in ingredients but also on taste. For seasoning, it not only contains flavoring powder, but also contains seasoning oil. It was the first instant noodles in China to have seasoning oil. Moreover, it adds more ingredients in the flavoring powder too. For example, it contains monosodium glutamate(味精), curcumin and crocin that Meat noodles did not have. (Kang, 2000) With all these ingredients, people can experience more tastes in the noodles and the soup in the noodles is more delicious. The evolution of taste in Chinese instant noodles from Meat noodles to braised beef noodles reflects Chinese people’s evolution in taste too. During 1980s, Chinese did not have much food to choose. Therefore, the food people ate are rather plain and are not diverse. The main goal is to fill their stomach. However, as China progress, people tasted more and more delicacy, so people have more requirement for food. As a result, people would eat noodles like braised beef noodle to enjoy a variety of taste in noodles.

 

Thirdly, I want to discuss the reason why instant noodles are more popular during 2000s than nowadays. According to BBC report in 2000s, China sold over 46.2 billion instant noodles each year. (Atkinson, 2017) This is around one third of the world’s consumption of instant noodles, making China the biggest consumer of instant noodles. However, recently, lesser and lesser people choose to eat instant noodles. I want to address this phenomenon in four aspects. First of all, in nowadays, customers want better food than instant noodles. Cooking instant noodles are really easy: Just adding hot water and seasoning into the bowls and wait for three to four minutes. However, people nowadays have higher expectation than having dehydrated vegetables and meat and noodles with preservative. With all kinds of restaurants everywhere in the city, less people will choose to have instant noodles which are not nutritious. Just like Zhao Ping, the Academy of China Council for the Promotion of International Trade said “The decline of instant noodle sales shows a shift in China’s consumption patterns. Consumers are more interested in life quality than just filling their bellies these days.” Secondly, less people choose to have instant noodles because of the population shift (Atkinson, 2017). One of the big consumers of instant noodles are migrant workers because they are away from home, often living in cramped conditions with limited cooking facilities, and keen to save as much money as they can to send back to their families. Before 2010, a huge number of rural Chinese went to cities to work. But that trend has now reversed for the following years. It shows that more people choose to live in rural areas than before. Therefore, less people will take the train and eat instant noodles during their travels. Thirdly, less people consume instant noodles might be the result of Infrastructure improving and people’s habits changing during travel times. According to a passenger: “Travelling in China 20 years ago, I filled my stomach (and time) by eating pot after pot of instant noodles during cross-country train journeys, which sometimes lasted three days or more.” (Atkinson, 2017)However, this phenomenon is changing. Chinese trains and stations have improved. Journeys are quicker, and the range of food options are far more international. For example, there are McDonalds, KFC, and Starbucks in nearly all train station. Therefore, noodle sales on the railways have fallen. And then there is the boom in aviation as middle class Chinese people spend billions flying on domestic and international holidays instead of using trains. As a result, less people will buy instant noodles during travel. Fourthly, there is also the influence of internet and smartphones, which help promote food delivery everywhere. About 730 million people in China now have access to the internet according to government figures. And about 95% of those are using smartphones to connect. Among these smartphones, almost all of them would have food delivery app inside. Whenever people are hungry, they could just get the food by one click on their smartphones. After waiting for half an hour, the food will be delivered right to your home or office. Their menus are undoubtedly more expensive than a pot of instant noodles. But these meals can still be inexpensive. And arguably more tasty. So considering consumer’s expectation, population shift, infrastructure improvement and the commonality of delivery app, people can see why instant noodles are not as popular in nowadays as before.

 

In conclusion, the history of instant noodles in China really reflects China’s economic and culture development. From instant noodles, people can see the condensation of Chinese food culture. Because it combines the taste of general Chinese people into one seasoning powder. So by studying the change of Chinese instant noodles, people also study the change of taste in Chinese people. Moreover, by studying the popularity of instant noodles in China, people could also see China’s society change and technology improvement in China.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bibliography

“Inventor of instant noodles dies” BBC News. 6 January 2007, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/6237013.stm

 

Chinese earliest instant noodles (video) By CEO, 05 September, 2017

https://www.bilibili.com/video/av14173159/ Simon Atkinson

 

Atkinson, Simon Why are China instant noodle sales going off the boil? 20 December 2017

https://www.bbc.com/news/business-42390058

 

Cheng, Guang, From Coco Cola to Chinese instant noodles, 23, March, 2018

http://www.iheima.com/zixun/2018/0323/167644.shtml

 

“National Trends in Instant Noodles Demands”. World Instant Noodles Association (WINA). Archived from the original on 6 June 2012.

 

Asian noodles : science, technology, and processing. Hou, Gary G. Hoboken, N.J. ISBN 9780470179222. OCLC 907642187.

 

Li, Man; Sun, Qing-Jie; Han, Chuan-Wu; Chen, Hai-Hua; Tang, Wen-Ting. “Comparative study of the quality characteristics of fresh noodles with regular salt and alkali and the underlying mechanisms”. Food Chemistry. doi:10.1016/j.foodchem.2017.11.020.

 

“Asian Thai Foods”. Asian Thai Foods. Retrieved 7 November 2012.

http://www.asianthaifoods.com/main/

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Noodle Narrative-Ruiyue Hong

 

The person I interviewed is the chef in Bank of China, Shanghai. I chose to interview him because he has always been the chef in my mom’s company. I remembered when I was young, whenever I was early from school or during the summer vacation, I would go to my mom’s office and went to have lunch in their cafeteria. In my memory, the food in their company was really diverse and delicious. There are all kinds of staple dishes like noodles, rice, fried rice with eggs and dumplings etc. Moreover, their chef always surprised me with his variety of dishes. For example, there are crab powder with Toufu(蟹粉豆腐), Shanghainese smoked fish（熏鱼）, Borscht（罗宋汤） and Shanghai bok choy etc. When it’s in the right season, they would also provide the employees with crayfishes, and steamed crabs. In additions to these dishes, their cafeteria also had great dessert, including fried rice patties(粢饭糕), Radish crisp cake（萝卜酥）and egg tarts(蛋挞). Without doubt, my mom’s cafeteria was the dining place that brought me up. I had a strong affection towards their cafeteria as well as their chef who cooked all these wonderful meals. Therefore, i thought this interview provides me with a great opportunity to actually meet with the chef whom I enjoyed his cooking from a little child and ask him questions about cooking.

 

In our interview, he mentioned that he is born and raised in Shanghai, China. He has been the chef for Bank of China for almost twenty years. He mainly chose to become a chef because of his father’s opinion. At that time, it was around 1980s. China has just opened its door towards foreign companies and embraced the idea of market economy. Tour guide, chef and hotel managers are all popular for people who did not manage to go into universities. Among these careers, he chose to become a chef because Chinese culture values eating a lot and Chinese people could not live without food. Therefore, he became a chef and got a relatively high salary compared to other workers at that time. He told me that after he became a chef, he learned to cook a lot of different dishes. Among these, his best dishes are shredded pork with fish flavor(鱼香肉丝), Kung Pao Chicken(宫保鸡丁), Stir fry shrimps and crab powder with Toufu (蟹粉豆腐) too. When I asked him about his relationship with Chinese noodle, he told me that his most unforgettable noodle was Yibing burning noodles(宜宾燃面). When he was young, his friend had a bet with him about whether the burning noodles could actually burn. He took the bet without hesitation because he believed it was impossible for a person to set the noodles on fire. However, he lost the bet because that night, his friend took him to a restaurant and the Yibing noodles did burn amazingly. After he consulted with the chef, he learned that the Yibing burning noodle had a secret in cooking that is the chef need to put less water while cooking. Therefore, when it was served on the table, it could be set on fire immediately and tasted stretchy and spicy. From Yibing burning noodles, he saw the diversity of Chinese culture because before the burning noodle, he would never know that Chinese had so many cooking styles for noodles. Yibing noodles opened his horizon and made him marveled at Chinese knowledge in cooking. Moreover, he taught me his little tricks of cooking noodles. He would normally prepare a delicious soup that might get from chicken soup or pork bone soup. Then he would cook the noodles with lots of water and wash it in cold water twice. He told me that only in this way, the noodles would be stretchy and smooth.

 

When I asked him about the meaning of noodles in his mind, he answered this question with a saying in China that goes “Eat dumplings for returning home and eat noodles for going away from home.” Therefore, this person could remember that his family member missed him as always. From this quote, people could see that noodles in China is not just a food. It has lots of culture aspects inside of it. It may contain a person’s love and wishes in noodles.

 

At last, I asked him to compare the difference of Shanghai noodles he had in childhood and the noodles he had nowadays. He told me that the noodles he had in childhood was rather plain. There were not much ingredients inside. There was no meat of vegetables because at that time, China was lacking food. There were not such variety of foods for citizens. However, with the development of China, people had more and more to eat. And Shanghai experienced a lot of western influence on food too. Therefore, the taste of noodles in Shanghai is different nowadays, and the ingredients people put in noodles are different too. For example, people will add shrimps, tomatoes, pepper and beef into the noodle so that the noodles are more nutritious and more diverse. Thus, from the development of noodles, people could discover how China have grown over the twenty years. Moreover, it also reflected Shanghai’s inclusive culture because it can combine both the western and Chinese influence on food into one dish. In addition, although the difference in noodles is notable, people still preserve the basic routine of cooking noodles. For example, people would also add scallions into the noodles and always use cold water to wash noodles. Therefore, Chinese people would feel the combination of culture, tradition and innovation in the society within in one noodle dish.

Interview Questions:

  1. Hi，Could you introduce yourself, including your relationship with food?
  2. Why did you choose to become a chef?
  3.  What are some of your best dishes?
  4. Could you describe the most memorable story with you and noodles?
  5. How many different kinds of noodle can you cook?
  6. How would you normally cook noodles?
  7. To you, what are the meanings of noodles?
  8. Do you think there is a big difference between the noodles you had in childhood and the noodles you have nowadays?
  9. What are aspects of Chinese culture you can see from noodles?
  10. What do you think is the essence of Chinese food and Shanghainese food?

And here is my youtube video for my interview

 

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Yangchun Noodles(阳春面)

When chef mom made Yangchun noodle in clear soup,

She would fry scallions in pig oil,

She would add boiling water with salt and soy sauce,

With a little spoon she would taste the soup.

She cooked the thin noodle using hot water,

Then she closed the fire and wash the noodles with cold water,

In thin strings,

Clean as the winter snow.

In the bowl of soup with scallions and garlic,

We would be attracted by the smell,

After two bowls of in a row,

A little fragment of onion will appear on the teeth and the stomach would be satisfied.

 

I chose to imitate Hong Junju’s Noodle in the Broth. I chose to imitate this poem because I want to write about Yangchun noodle（阳春面）, which is a very simple kind of noodle with not much meat or vegetables in it. This poem is not very long, which is very suitable to describe the procedure of Yangchun noodle. Also, this poem describes the eagerness, enjoyment and satisfaction after people had the noodle, which resembles my satisfaction and love for Yangchun noodle made by my mom. Therefore, I chose to imitate this poem.

 

I learn that in ancient times, the noodles they eat are cooked very simply. And the ingredients for noodles are limited because there is just noodles and onions. However, different from our nowadays, in ancient times, they also add tea infusion into the noodle soup, so that maybe help the noodles taste better and make them more delicious. And most commonly, they will make the noodles themselves from dough while nowadays, we usually bought noodles from supermarkets.

 

Moreover, I also learned some knowledge for my own culture. For example, nowadays, we still follow the standard method of making noodles, like we would make noodles and soup separately because making soup takes more time to cook than making noodles do. Also, we would add the same ingredients into the noodle soup too, like onions or scallions. Therefore, nowadays, we definitely follow a lot of old method from ancient time. In addition, I think nowadays, we also add more ingredients into the noodle soup, like garlic. The reason behind the addition might be that nowadays, our taste changes a lot and adding garlic into the soup not only will make the body warmer, but also will add more nutrients to the body.

 

By comparing my poem and the old poem, I think there is cultural DNA embedded. Both poems describe the way of making noodles. The methods described in both poems are very Chinese. Firstly, in the old poem, Hong Junju mentions long strings, which a lot of Chinese like because long noodles can represent longevity and most of the noodles in China are in string shapes. Secondly, the way of making noodles are very Chinese. For example, in my poem, I mention that noodles have to be cooked with hot water and then use cold water to wash them afterwards. This is because Chinese people believe that only by this way, the noodles will become more stretchy and taste better. I think other countries might not cook their noodles like this. Therefore, there is definitely cultural DNA embedded in the texts.

 

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Noodles in China and Italy

The noodles we ate today really reflect one’s regions, culture, cities and people who cooked them. Firstly, for culture and history, the noodles and pastas all originally made from the same material-wheat, but different countries process them differently. For example, Chinese people generally make them as a thin and long noodle. However, for Italian people, they make them into various shapes, including small rings noodles, spaghettis, etc. And as I observed, different shapes of pasta are served with different sauces and in different dishes. For example, Acini di Pepe, the “peppercorn,” are usually found in soups, while Campanelle, the little bell pastas are generally found in salads. This makes me think why Chinese people generally just have one kind of long, thin noodle, while Italians have so many different kinds of pastas. I guess culture plays an important role behind this difference. Looking through Italian history, we can see that Italy was once occupied by different countries including Germans and France. It did not become one country until 1861. Therefore, Italy has a diversity of foods because of the foreign influences. The diversity can be reflected from the shape of the pasta. Secondly, the noodles really reflect one’s regions and cities. For Chinese noodles, there are a variety of ways of cooking noodles and even different cities have their own way of cooking noodles. For example, Sichuan province has Dandan Noodles（担担面）, in which a spicy sauce containing preserved vegetables, chili oil, Sichuan pepper, minced pork, and scallions served over noodles. This kind of noodles really reflect the Sichuan’s cooking characteristics, which is spicy. Since Sichuan is situated in the middle of China and is humid at all times, therefore, people combine lots of pepper into their cuisines to drive away the humidity. So Dandan Noodles can reflect a region’s eating and cooking style. Moreover, not only Dandan Noodles can show Sichuan people’s preference for spicy food, the noodles in East China can also represent Jiangnan people’s preference for umami and mild taste. For example, in Shanghai, there is Shanghai noodle in superior soup(上海阳春面)，in which there aren’t much meat and is simply consists of scallions and pig oil. From the ingredients of Shanghai noodle, we can see that in East China, most people don’t eat a lot spicy or really salty food. Most commonly, people like to savor the original taste of certain food. So from Dandan noodles and Shanghai noodle in superior soup, we can definitely see the reflection of a region’s taste preference for food. Thirdly, noodles can also reflect the people who cook them. For example, Italians and Chinese people cook noodles in totally different ways. For Italian people, the reading mentions that the discovery of tomato with pasta is a milestone for pasta. Therefore, lots of Italian people cook pasta with tomato sauce and sometimes add some shredded meat into the sauce. However for Chinese people, we like to add beef, vegetables or even seafood into the noodles with clear soup made from water, salt and scallions. So the noodles can reflect who cook them too.

I think noodles means a lot to both Chinese and Italian people. The history of noodles in both China and Italy can be traced back to thousands of years before. In China, the noodle itself represents lots of meaning to people. For example, when there is a person’s birthday, he/she will have longevity noodles(长寿面). When people move into a new house, they will have noodles with gravy (打卤面), which means flavored life. On the day of lunar February 2 “dragonhead”, people eat dragon whiskers noodles(龙须面) to look forward to good weather. We eat different noodles in different seasons and different festivals. In Italy, too, people eat different noodles at different occasions. Therefore, noodles became not just noodles, but also a way to give people best wishes and a representation of a country’s culture. It integrates the regional characteristics of food, the food history of a country and the best wishes to people. Therefore, I want to define noodles as a dough typically made with egg and usually eaten with a sauce or in a soup that comes with a diverse shape and meaning behind them, reflecting a region’s cooking characteristics, culture and eating history.

In my opinion, this image can represent noodle’s diversity and cultural background very well. We can see from the picture, noodles can either be eaten with soup or simply mix them with sauce and eat them as cold noodles(冷面). Also, it can be cooked with various ingredients, including pepper, vegetables, meats etc. Thus, noodles can be eaten in many ways depending on where you come from and what ingredients you have. And those different noodles all have different nutritious value behind them as well as different meaning and history.

Image result for 面条种类

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Food and Identity

The food that are common in my family are Chinese chicken soup, my grandma’s noodle soup with fried egg(荷包蛋), duck blood and vermicelli soup（鸭血粉丝汤）, fried rice with eggs and some desserts include butterfly cookies（蝴蝶酥）and steamed dumplings（小笼包）. I am from Shanghai China so that these foods are traditional Shanghai cuisines, especially eaten by the elderlies. Shanghainese people prefer sweeter and non-spicy food. Therefore, in all these food, I think we will add at least a little sugar. And they can be a little plain compare to other foods in China, like Sichuan foods, but these foods will make the eaters comfortable and satisfied. Also, because Shanghai is a city with a lot of western influence due to historical reasons, our food also reflected a combination of western and Chinese culture. For example, butterfly cookie is traditionally a western dessert but it’s very popular among the Shanghainese. However, after I came to the US, I discovered that the western butterfly cookies taste very different than Chinese butterfly cookies, in which Chinese butterfly cookies add more milk taste and less sugar into the cookies to meet Chinese’s taste preference. Thus, from Shanghainese butterfly cookies, I can see a mix of Chinese and western culture because this dessert preserves the shape and basic taste of western cookies while at the same time makes a few improvements to let it fit Chinese people’s taste. So, we can see a perfect combination of western and Chinese culture just from the butterfly cookies.

In addition, chicken soup, noodle soup and fried rice with eggs are personally very important to me. My mom sometimes cooks chicken soup to add more nutrients to my diet because she believes that after cooking long hours, the chicken will release its nutrients into the soup and make the soup taste delicious without adding any seasoning. Therefore, when I am really tired of homework, my mom always cooks me a bowl of chicken soup. To me, this chicken soup represents my mom’s love and her support to me. In fact, chicken soup is one of the things that I missed the most about China. Moreover, fried rice with eggs are important to me too because it represents my independence from my parents and my ability to cook for myself. After I went to Emory University, I experienced a huge food difference between China and US. In China, most of the vegetables are cooked and processed with salt, sugar, etc. However, in the US, I found lots of people like to eat salad, in which the vegetables are totally uncooked and cold. Because of this food difference, I decided to learn how to cook during the summer vacation back home. My mom taught me how to cook the simplest fried rice with eggs by just adding some salt, shallot, meat, pea and wine. By cooking this in the US, I got a taste of China and my family, and gain the ability to feed myself with my own effort.

I know there are Chinese and Korean communities in Atlanta, mainly around the Buford Highway area. In fact, Buford highway is my favorite place to go when I want to get a taste of Asian food. The first Chinese food I got in Atlanta is a Chinese hot pot called Chinese Little Sheep. In fact, the food there didn’t really meet my expectation because the soup was plain and the meat we had are not so fresh. Moreover, the seasonings are not as diverse as they are in China. Therefore, the first time in that restaurant was a little disappointed to me. However, I did get to talk to some Chinese in Chinese Little Sheep. She told me she was originally from GuangDong province in China. She had stayed in US for nearly 30 years. She had come back a few times to China, and she was surprised by how much China had changed in the past few years. Moreover, I went to lots of Korean restaurants in Atlanta too. I felt these restaurants make better Korean food than Korean restaurants in China. My favorite cuisines in there are the Toufu Soup and the Beef Ribs Stew. The Toufu soup has the tastes of spicy, sour and sweet. With the extra egg added and the hot rice beside, it will be a perfect choice of dish for winter. Beef Ribs Stew is to steam the beef ribs, mushrooms and eggs for hours to get all its taste into the soup. The method is very similar to some of the Chinese soup so that I could find a taste of home from that soup. Because of this, I kept coming back to that Korean restaurant to have the soup. Thus, I got familiar with the Chinese and Korean ethnic groups in Atlanta by going to their restaurants.