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**Similarity and differences of noodles in East Asia.**

Introduction
There are a lot of kinds of food these days around the world. As time passes, various kinds of dishes are keep on increasing. To pick one of the most simple and delicious dish, there are noodles. Noodles are the most friendly dish which can be enjoyed by anyone. Noodles originated from China, as it passed along the country it has changed into various types that shows the country’s culture. Spaghetti is one of the example, when noodles were brought into Italy, they made their own kind of dressing took the soup out and changed some ingredients and so on. After they made tomato sauce, they came up with pasta, world widely known dish these days. Western people do not have soup in most of their meal. However, countries in Asia, especially Korea most of the times have soup in their menu. In the book called "Monnara Yeewut Nara" - meaning far country and neighbor country which is a historical comic book that explains about culture, history, and all about each countries - the author //Won Bok Lee// says Korea was poor and had poverty in the past times because of wars and economic slump. Eventually, Koreans at that time had to make most amount of meals with the least amount of food to feed all the family members. So they made soups with few ingredients, however, western people didn't need to eat poor like that. Nowadays, Koreans have soup in their meals most of the times because they were doing it traditionally and it became one of the food culture for Koreans. This can also be one of the reasons why most of the Korean noodles have soup with it.

Korea
Focusing on noodles these days in East Asia, let us start with Korea. Korea have their own traditional noodle such as Japchae(잡채), nangmyun(냉면), and Guksu(국수). Korea’s well known noodles have soup in most of the times. Japcahe doesn’t have a soup with it because it is used as banchan(반찬) which means a side dish for another main menu, and most of the noodles which are for meals have soup. Guksu and Naengmyun are the examples. However, the three noodles that I just introduced are just the beginning. The types of the noodles specify and branch down further. To start with types of Guksu, the well known dishes are **Kalguksu, Makguksu, SSalguksu, and Kongguksu.** NaengMyun are **BibimNaengmyun, MulNaengmyun,** such noodles enjoyed as snacks or side dishes can be **raw fish noodle, Korean style raw beef noodle, Rabokkyi(라볶이-Korean Ramen cooked with Korean spicy ricecake),** and the typical **Korean Ramen.** **(** //Korean Food: Noodles and Noodle Dishes.)//

**Examples of Korean noodles and characteristics**
 * Kalguksu** is made by __wheat flour__ and __dried raw soybean flour.__ The dough are made __thin__ and it is boiled with __sauce__ made up of soy sauce, sesame salt, green onions, garlic, sesame oil, and pepper powder.
 * SSalguksu** is made by __rice__ and this is better known in Vietnam. Korean SSalguksu is loved by its mixture of vegetables such as sliced carrots, green pumpkin, and its aromatic and clean flavor of soup.
 * Makguksu,** the noodle made out of a higher ratio of __potato flour__ than wheat flour(especially buckwheat) and its mixture of vegetables and sauce makes people to salivate. The fresh, sweet and sour sauce gives a palatable feeling in the mouth. Noodles are seasoned with hot pepper paste (gochuchang고추장) and it is good to have with __NokduJeon(Mung Bean pancake)__ or __GamjaJeon(Potato pancake)__

If it is served with ice in it just like in the picture, it is called **NaengKongguksu.**
 * Kongguksu** incorporates noodles in a soup base which is made from cooked and ground soy beans and seasoned with salt.


 * Japchae** is made with the unique Korean glass noodles called __DangMyun(당면)__. Dangmyun, also known as vermicelli noodles, is made up from __sweet potato starch__. It is commonly served in Korean traditional celebration parties and it is loved by its mixture of various vegetables and match stick-sliced beef. When each ingredient has been fried and the noodles cooked and cut into short lengths, all the ingredients are combined, sauteed quickly, and seasoned with __soy sauce, sesame oil, and sugar.__

Further more, there are **BibimNaengmyun** which has no soup but has its own spicy taste with gummy noodles and so on.
 * NaengMyun** is perfect for the hottest days of summer. They put in vinegar or mustard sauce to stimulate their appetite. Nowadays, they have this dish after eating beef as a finishing dish. It is refreshing because of the cold and fresh soup, it is also one's choice to put in ice or Kimchi in it. Now another type of Naengmyun is created by putting in the __young radish Kimchi,__ the **Youlmu Naenmyun.**

As you see there are a lot of kinds of noodles and it keeps on branching down into another kind and another. We can see how noodle culture has kept on developing to find its own country's taste and culture. As it is getting more diverse as time passes, one might wonder what would come out after. There are also a lot of medias in Korea that has already been promoting East Asia's noodle culture, history, characteristics, and the diversity of noodles. One of the example is the "Noodle Road" documentary, it is named Noodle Road because the documentary is mostly about noodles in East Asia and how noodle changed through the road that have gone through countries. media type="youtube" key="SBPOXHaBVeA" height="349" width="560"

So as Korea had its own types of noodles and their culture reflected to those dishes, we will see **Japanese noodles** and how it is different from Korean noodles.

**Japan**
Japan is famous for **seafood or fish** in their food culture. It is because of their geographic and the lay of country. Japan is an island country and their food culture naturally involved seafood. Sushi is world widely known and loved by a lot of people around the world. However, what about noodles? Did the location of the country also influence Japan's noodle culture? Yes, of course! Japanese noodles are generally divided into 4 types : **Somen, Udon, Ramen, and Soba.** (//Japan History and Culture)// There are also Ramen in Korea but it is not the same Ramen as Japan's. There could be same name or same looking kinds of noodles between countries but their tastes are, most of the times, extremely different.

**Soba** noodles are made out of __buckwheat flour(sobako)__ and __wheat flour(komugiko)__. This dish can be enjoyed in many different ways and gives joy of __choosing__ the way to eat it. It can be served __hot or cold__, with various __toppings__ (vegetable or shrimp tempura, pork, dried seaweed etc). The noodles __thickness__is about the same as spaghetti it is convenient because the noodles and the sauce(soup) are separately served so you can either pour the sauce on to the noodles or dip the noodles into the sauce before you bring it in your mouth. (//Japan History and Culture)//


 * Udon** is the most unique and famous dish that represents Japan in the world of noodles. It is the __traditional Japanese noodle__ made by kneading __wheat flour, salt, and water__. Comparing to the Soba noodles, it is __chewy, thick, wide, white, and slippery__. However, same as the soba noodles, Udon is also served in both __hot or cold__ dishes. A lot of people around the world only knows about Udon with the hot soup but in summer, there are more cold Udons around the street than the hot ones. **Cold Udons** are eaten by dipping into a dipping sauce, the sauce is called the __mentsuyu__ and is made by mixing soy sauce, mirin, and Japanese dashi soup stock. The toppings for them is also __same as the toppings for Soba. (__//Japan History and Culture)//

> Tanuki Udon /Japanese racoon Udon > > Fox Udon / Kitsune Udon > Tsukimi Udon (”Viewing moon” Udon (the yolk of an egg represents the moon))
 * Udons also branch down into more types**
 * [[image:http://www.japanikuiku.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/tanuki1.jpg width="118" height="76"]]
 * [[image:http://www.japanikuiku.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/kitsuneudon.gif width="70" height="61"]]
 * [[image:http://www.japanikuiku.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/tsukimi1.jpg width="67" height="68" caption="tsukimi1.jpg"]]


 * Ramen** is the most common noodles in the world of noodles. A lot of countries have their own kind of Ramen but the origin of Ramen which is known these days is Japan. In Japan, because of its cheap price and easy cooking, Ramen is called the 'second rice'. Ramen noodles' thickness is about the same as spaghetti and toppings are :negi (leek), shinachiku (seasoned bamboo shoots), nori (dried seaweed), yakibuta (pork ham), boiled egg, and

**Ramens are classified by its soup base :**
shio ramen (salt flavored soup) shoyu ramen (soy sauce flavored soup) tonkotsu ramen (pork bone soup) - creamy white miso ramen (miso flavored soup). - brown

Last but not least, **Somen** which are made of wheat flour, salt, and water added with sesame or cottonseed oil, are also like Udons but differ in some ways. First, when it is served cold it is served with a dipping soup called Tsuyu. When it is served hot, it is nothing really different from Udons or Sobas but becomes another dish called the **Nyumen.**

In Japan, they don't use spoons a lot, they drink soup out of the bowl right away and uses chopsticks to eat the chunks in the soup. Their food culture is developed into this certain way because of the topography, as they are closely related to seafood culture, the method of eating it also developed together. To eat fish, they needed chopsticks to pick the flesh. They did not need to use any spoons because it wasn't necessary, they drink the soup out from the bowl or dip it in the sauce, and that is their culture. The noodles were also influenced by those facts, one of the example is that a lot of toppings and dressings of noodles are seafood. So far we found out that Korea has its own kind of noodles and Japan has noodles with their own countries' characteristics in it, what about China? The origin of the dish?

**China**
China is a large country that has over half the amount of world's population. That is why most of the times, it has the most amount or numbers in any categories. That is also why it has such diversity of noodles. It varies according to their region of production, ingredients, shape or width, and manner of preparation. Because of the large land mass, China uses different dialects according to their region. Eventually, it is hard to state what kind of noodle it is or what kind of name it has. There are too many ways to call it so it is divided by three big families based on its main ingredients : **__wheat flour, rice flour, and starch__.**

**Difference of noodles depending on region**
How noodles are eaten, called, or made can also differ depending on the region or climate. The north, with its colder and drier climate, grew wheat as its main source of carbohydrates. You may not think of bread as a common Chinese food, but the further north you go the more bakeries become common, and thick wheat noodles are often the basis for many meals. In fact, the word “mian” means both “flour” and “noodle” in the north - while in the south it is understood just as “noodle.” In the south, rice, of course, is plentiful, plus beans and tapioca, so carbohydrates come from a wide range of sources. Wheat-based products had to be imported from the north - so were comparatively more expensive - and so wheat noodles became more of a novelty or luxury item, with more experimentation leading to new dishes Southerners might say northern noodles are uninspired; northerners might say southern noodles are too pretentious. But that won’t stop them from enjoying a meal from any part of the country.

**What they’re made of ** **Wheat **noodles can be made with or without eggs. In southern China, duck eggs are often used instead of chicken eggs to achieve a thinner and more pliable effect, whereas in the north, lye is added to flour and water to make the noodles soft.
 * Rice flour** doesn’t integrate well with many other starches, and its cooking time is rather fast. (You won’t be seeing artisan rice-flax-sun-dried-tomato noodles anytime soon.) After boiling, noodles will hold up for a little while for stir-fry or in soup, but work better folded in at the last moment, or added directly to soup before serving. This is why leftover pho never tastes quite as good as fresh.
 * Starch flour** usually comes from the mung bean, but is often mixed with tapioca flour or sometimes wheat gluten by-products. Soy bean curd sheets are often used similarly to noodles for certain dishes but don’t have the cooking properties to be a decent substitute.



Of course, there are a lot of kinds of noodles made of 3 ingredients. They say most famous Chinese noodles are **Lomien and Chowmian**. However, the point is not China's variety of noodles and how many kinds of noodles it has but how different the same dish in same country can be and how it can diversify depending on climates and regions.

**Conclusion**
So as we see each countries' culture and characteristics, we can also see how it reflects on their food culture, their dishes, their noodles. If there are Guksu in Korea, there are Ramen in Japan, and mian in China. Even though, the topic was about noodles, each of the 3 countries showed a lot of differences between each other. Korean noodles represented Korea's history and their tradition, Japanese noodles showed how Japan's geographical location was like and how noodle had developed to adapt into that circumstance, and Chinese noodles which showed that there could be difference in one country and not just between two countries. How different the noodles of China can be depending on regions and areas, and how Chinese could see and call the same dish differently. Noodles are very common nowadays and it is enjoyed by anyone. We can see how people make noodles, enjoy noodles, and learn noodles. How thick and thin, sweet and sour, fresh and deep can noodle be! The friendly dish noodle tells everything about its country, it contains deeper and wider information than one can think of. We now know the deep meaning of bowl of noodles from the three contemporary East Asian countries.

**Asian Studies Final Project Self-Evaluation** What did you contribute specifically to your project? At first, I started off very broad and thought about what will grab a lot of people's attention and what is interesting for most of the people. Especially, just researching about contemporary East Asia was hard. So I thought of food in contemporary East Asia, I thought it was pretty interesting for all as the matter of fact, these days people search for new tastes and different kinds of cooking. Narrowing down, I thought, giving a new knowledge and something like "Oh I didn't know that" from a common topic would be great. So I came up with the dish, noodles. I contributed on delivering the message- "even from a common dish that we can see it everyday and anywhere, there are deep meanings to it" to whoever sees this page and also contributed in trying to compare the three countries a lot and relate to each other.

How successful do you think you conveyed your research to your audience? I thought my research was excellent, I provided enough information for the audiences to know about noodles in each of the 3 countries and also hook in the introduction part and reinforcement and organized summarizing in the conclusion part was great. I thought it was pretty successful and I am satisfied with delivering the information to the audiences.

What would have made your presentation more successful? I was limited of using examples because I could only give examples with digital graphics or videos. I could not show or let the audiences taste the real noodle, if it was a bit opened presentation and not only by technology, I could have given better impression to the audiences.

How successful do you think your technology-based materials were in conveying your research? I used enough technology based materials, I put in pictures and also a video. I underlined each important words or information that will help the audiences to follow along and point out the key words that I was trying to emphasize.

What would have made your technology-based materials more successful? Maybe some comics or other medias such as music might have been made the presentation better but I thought plenty of pictures and videos were great for a topic like this.

What did you learn from this project? Submit any other comments after this question. I learned a lot of things, first I didn't know that noodles had this deep meaning to each countries and how one dish could show everything in one country. It was amazing and interesting for me. Because I liked the topic and I liked researching about this information, I think I enjoyed the time doing this project rather than just getting it done for a grade. I feel very happy and satisfied with this project.

I had a lot of fun this year in Asian Studies, I wish to have another class like this next year and also I would highly recommend this class to other people who is thinking about if they are going to take Asian Studies or not. I think this class improved me a lot in a lot of ways, my writing skills hopefully improved and also, I could work more on organization and word choices when I write a essay because I find out that it was my weak point. Overall, this was a great class for me and I will miss it.

//-"Korean Food: Noodles and Noodle Dishes."// Life in Korea: Korea hotels, travel, tours | culture, language, information, shopping, and communities in South Korea//. N.p., n.d. Web. 7 June 2011. .//
 * //Sources//**

//-"Japan History and Culture » Blog Archive » Japanese noodles."// Japan History and Culture //. N.p., n.d. Web. 7 June 2011. .//

//-"Types and Origin of Noodles."//Chili Pepper Capsicum & Everything Chili //. N.p., n.d. Web. 7 June 2011. .//

//- "Noodles."// Noodles in China//. N.p., n.d. Web. 7 June 2011. .//

//-"Korean Noodles."// Easy Korean Food: Learn About Korean Cooking And Cuisine with Recipes & Pictures//. N.p., n.d. Web. 7 June 2011. .//

//- noodle road // //- youtube video []//
 * Medias**

//**Additional Pictures not from the sources**// //- "//Google Image Search//: http://cfs7.tistory.com/image/10/tistory/2008/09/30/09/48/48e17756ad032."//Google//. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 June 2011.  //-"Google Image Research: http://images.mylot.com/userImages/images/postphotos/2136116.jpg."//Google//. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 June 2011. <http://www.google.co.kr/imgres?imgurl=http://images.mylot.com/userImages/images/postphotos/2136116.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.mylot.com/w/photokeywords/chinese%2Bnoodles.aspx&usg=__U___ __wwmjdSICuMF4y4uvIaOUMWqfU=&h=400&w=500&sz=57&hl=ko&start=0&zoom=1&tbnid=fg>__ __-."Google Image Research: http://www.mediterrasian.com/graphics/cuisine_of_month/chinese_noodles.jpg."//Google//. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 June 2011. <http://www.google.co.kr/imgres?imgurl=http://www.mediterrasian.com/graphics/cuisine_of_month/chinese_noodles.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.mediterrasian.com/cuisine_of_month_pantry_china.htm&usg=__ 7cLxH0UBE7LPUP0iKf_XftJAk7c=&h=284&w=317&sz=17&hl=ko&start=0&zo>.