noodles and legacy

Noodle food has been an important part of Chinese diet, especially in the Northern part of China. Even though I'm from Wuhan, a southern city, my grandpa is from Hebei Province (Northern part). He used to make noodles himself, and that was my favorite part when I was a child. Fresh noodles were made from flour, and he used a small machine to cut the flour cake into long noodles. He always says he cannot live without having noodles, and I almost inherited this habit from him.

Typically, noodles from North are made of wheat flour while noodles in South are made of rice. It's obvious because the South grow much more rice. To think of the history of noodles, even though both China and Italy declare that noodles were their invention, the oldest noodle was discovered in Qinghai, China. It has a history of 4000 years. In the past, noodles were considered to be a clean food that would reduced gastointestinal diseases. This is one of the reasons for noodles' popularity. Depending on different ingredient and seasoning, there are thousands kinds of noodles in all parts of China. The amazing diversity has contributed to the splendid Chinese food family.

Among thousands kinds of noodles, I'd like to mention a very popular kind call Re Gan Mian (Hot Dry Noodles). This is a typical breakfast fare of Wuhan, my home town, in central China. I know a friend who can eat Hot Dry Noodles for three meals a day! It is made of hand-pulled wheat noodles, with seasoning (soy sauce, sesame paste, veggie, etc.) poured over it.

I really like that fact that every community in China has their own distinguished food. Trying local cuisine has always been an important part of travelling in China, and people are fancied by this. Even though we're facing the inevitable globalization today, we still see the local cuisine flourishing all over China. Maybe it's because eating is so important, especially for a country that has thousands of years of history. Lots of local food are under the protection of people so that they will not disappear.

Xiyue Sally Zhang