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Literally we grew up with 짜장면 as I recall. Everyone I know of has one own story related to 짜장면 to be sure.

I also have tons of memories involved in 짜장면 like others. Indeed, my memory goes all the way back

to my childhood with such special occasion of family excursion to Inchon once a month to stop over

at China town to have Chinese foods, remaining with such unique smell of Chinese dishes, especially 짜장면,

I still vividly recall.

 

So no one would doubt 짜장면 was a part of everyday life for us, Koreans, especially during the high school days

through the college days – I am sure you all remember 진화춘- to become our food culture base.

 

Soon after I left Korea in 1968 to start a new life here in the U.S., I realized 짜장면 was one of few I miss most

so that the first thing I did on my first visit to San Francisco in 1969 was to proceed to Chinatown expecting

to have 짜장면. But what a despair/disappointment! No 짜장면- they served dandanmian -!  

 

However, Jae-Ik Kim, my godfather as well as my best man, who was at Stanford U then, for his Ph.D. work -

later killed by Rangoon bombing/terrorism while serving to Korean government-, felt so pity on me

that he gingerly searched to find out there was one Chinese, recently immigrated from Inchon,

serves 짜장면 at his restaurant in downtown.

 

He took me there on my second visit to San Francisco. It was heaven! I almost cried on the first bite!

The chef also felt pity I couldn’t give up the chopsticks so that he gave a small portion of 춘장as a gift

to take to Richmond and I enjoyed it to the last drop with slices of onions.

 

Two years later I went back to that restaurant - we did have American College of Surgeon Meeting

at San Francisco every three years- and so saddened to find out that Chinese restaurant was closed.

Such despair made me get so obsessed with this 짜장면 through these many years I guess and

when I went back to Seoul in 1994, I was so disappointed with the 짜장면 they serve which is NOT

a same kind of 짜장면 I tasted 25 years ago- too sweet, too many new stuffs like potatoes, etc!-.

So good old 짜장면 is sadly gone, no more!

 

Since then, whenever I go to China- I practically visit China once if not twice a year since I came back home

to the U.S. in 2004 through these many years - , I always tried to get the 짜장면and repeatedly disappointed

with a different version of 짜장면 with different tastes. The thing starts to bother me further is the 짜장면,

they call Zhejiang-mian, became BEIJING’S SIGNATURE NOODLES as a part of  Mandarin/Beijing cuisine.

 

We all know there is NO such cuisine to be claimed as their own as ‘Beijing’ cuisine.

It is the cuisine they borrowed from Shandong, the eastern coastal province you all know too well.

Indeed, the imperial kitchen of the Ming Dynasty originated from the South, Jiangsu province, has been known

to bring Huaiyang/Jiangsu style cuisine to Beijing when the imperial capital was moved from Nanjing to Beijing

and contributed greatly to Beijing Cuisine together with Shandong cuisine through Qing/Manchu dynasty-

all the chefs at the imperial kitchen through the Qing dynasty were from Shandong province-.    

 

So, 짜장면 is the signature noodle dish of  Shandong cuisine after all, although many consider the seafood is

a Shandong cuisine highlight (e,g. 해삼탕). Together with such famous ‘extreme heat stir-frying in the wok’,

so-called "bao" stir fry method, Shandong cuisine is different from other regional cuisines like spicy Sichuan Cuisine

or hot and sour Hunan Cuisine, using relatively little spice or sugar.

 

Nevertheless, the 짜장면 we grew up with is NOT a genuine Shandong version of 짜장면 either but evolved

to suit our Koreans taste buds over time since it was introduced by Chinese merchants refugeed to Inchon

from the mainland of China following WWII. But this original Korean version is no more available even

in Korea now. But, amazingly, I tasted this genuine old Korean version 짜장면 at one Chinese restaurant in Atlanta, Ga

where my classmate, Kim HyunHahk took me, years ago. I learned that when 박정희literally kicked out

Chinese immigrants from Korea by taking away the land ownerships(?), a majority of these Chinese refugees

immigrated to the U.S. and many settled at Atlanta, Ga and one of them opened one restaurant to serve

a Korean version 짜장면 I tasted- heard the old man who made 짜장면 for our visit passed away and his son

took over the business now-.

 

So such good old Korean 짜장면 remains only in the memories of 청요리 and I dream it once in a while!

 

BB Lee of ’63 Class

 

P.S.  I learned Huaiyang cuisine is same as Jiangsu Cuisine for the first time when I visited to Suzhou

and Nanjing of Jiangsu province with my mentor, Melville Williams of the Hopkins, who was born in Suzhou

as a son of the missionary sociology professor; it is regarded as one of the Four Great Traditional Chinese cuisines

but together with other seven cuisines: Cantonese, Sichuan, Shandong, Fujian, Zhejiang, Hunan, and Anhui Cuisine,

Huaiyang/Jiangsu Cuisine is well accepted as one of the eight Great Cuisines of China.

 

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