(27 Apr 2018) LEAD-IN:
South Korea has led the recent boom in Korean food around the world.
But the North still sticks to tradition when it comes to food, and a particular Korean speciality - cold noodles - is something that Pyongyang claims as its own.
STORYLINE:
The palace of cold noodles in Pyongyang: The Okryu (pronounced "Ong-nyu") Restaurant.
This is a typical North Korean showpiece. Built on a giant scale, with top quality imported equipment, it specialises in Pyongyang Cold Noodles.
It operates as a restaurant where customers, foreign and Korean can walk in and order a bowl of noodles. But it also has a public service role - it provides meals to Pyongyang citizens and visitors from around North Korea on special trips to the capital, when they are allotted coupons to get a heavily subsidised bowl of noodles.
And recently it went through one of its busiest times in the year - the fourteenth day of the lunar new year, when in North Korea it is traditional to eat cold noodles, because the long noodles are taken to symbolise a long life.
"I really like these noodles. I try to come to eat noodles with my family on holidays and days off. Whenever I come here, deep in my heart I feel proud to be Korean," says Pyongyang citizen, Ri Yong Bok.
Pyongyang cold noodles are called "raengmyon" in North Korea. Literally, this means "cold noodles". "Raeng" is cold, and "myon" means noodles.
The spelling in English transliteration differs between North and South Korea.
These chewy buckwheat noodles in cold soup are a North Korean comfort food.
North Koreans identify with the dish as coming from their part of the peninsula and for those lucky enough to choose what they eat, "raengmyon" is a perennial favourite. Eating noodles cold happens elsewhere in East Asia, but not with the same fervour as in North Korea.
Noodles have a long history in Asia, but the raw ingredients of the noodles themselves vary according to region across the continent, and the final dish can be very different - a bowl of Pyongyang cold noodles is not at all the same meal as a bowl of Wonton noodles in Hong Kong.
The North Korea Folk Park on the outskirts of Pyongyang sports a large area of miniature Korean landmarks alongside North Korea's folk history museum. It also displays recreations of traditional restaurants.
"From ancient times, our people have been accustomed to eating noodles and rice, and it was customary to include noodles as part of wedding and birthday meals. It became a custom too to make and eat noodles on the 14th day of the first month of the lunar new year, the day before the 15th, to symbolise the desire for a long life, long like the long strands of noodles. Generally, people in the northern part of our country would eat noodles made from potato starch, people in the middle would eat buckwheat noodles, and people in the south would eat noodles made from wheat. Among buckwheat noodles, Pyongyang Raengmyon became very famous," says Ri Un Gyong a representative from the Folk Park.
For the traditional Pyongyang cold noodles, the dark, glistening buckwheat noodles are boiled quickly and then rinsed, before being dunked into a cold soup, which is strongly flavoured with a meat stock base, and then all the toppings add substance and zest - typically, shreds of beef, vegetables, egg, sometimes meatballs too, and a dollop of spicy sauce.
The spicy sauce is largely chopped garlic, dried hot pepper flakes, soy sauce, and sugar.
Finally, cold noodle fans add a dash of vinegar, and dabs of mustard themselves, after the bowl arrives on their table.
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