How cold noodles turned from wintertime treat to a year-round dish

May 19 , 2018

North Korean refugees' evacuation into the South during the Korean War, was a milestone event which fuelled the spread of the northerners' food culture in the south. Illustration: The Korea Times

With noodle makers and refrigerators, the time-consuming dish has become easy to make and is enjoyed throughout the year. Cold noodles in the South and the North are very different

E-han-chi-han or “let the cold dish beat the cold weather” was once the motto of Korean food therapy.

People in the northwestern part of the Korean Peninsula enjoyed cold noodles in the last month of the lunar calendar when extreme winter weather hit the nation.

The noodles were made with buckwheat and potato starch and were served in radish water with kimchi broth. Due to the cold weather, the broth takes the form of slush as kimchi storage jars were put outside the home and endured cold weather during the winter. People feel freezing as they finish a bowl of noodles. They rush to a heated ondol room to warm up.

“What a feeling! I wonder if those who haven't tasted cold noodles could possibly imagine what it's like,” Kim So-jeo wrote in an noodle article published in the Byulgongeon magazine on December 1, 1929. The magazine was a current affairs periodical that circulated in Korea between 1926 and 1934.

A Korea Times staff member tries Pyongyang naengmyeon at a restaurant in Jung-gu, central Seoul. The noodles are made with buckwheat. In South Korea, cold noodles are served in a clear beef broth. Photo: Korea Times

Cold noodles were a joyful culinary experience that helped people overcome the monotony of long, cold winter nights.

Until the 1910s, cold noodles were a seasonal dish available only in winter, quite a contrast to present trends. Today, cold noodles are a year-round dish, although the peak season is summer.

“Like other countries, Korea was an agricultural society and most people were farmers,” food columnist Hwang Young-chul said. “Farmers were busy all year round, except winter, sowing seeds, and growing and harvesting crops. They were able to find time in winter to make and enjoy cold noodles together with their neighbours.”