The noodle museum dedicated to Korea’s soul food – and its Chinese creator
- Jjajangmyeon is widely eaten in the homes and offices of South Korea and has become ingrained into the national psyche. But it was invented by a Chinese immigrant
A huge statue of a Chinese chef hurrying with a delivery container in hand has drawn tourists to a grey-and-red brick building in South Korea’s oldest Chinatown in the port city of Incheon.
Welcome to Jjajangmyeon Museum, an unusual facility dedicated to the country’s popular noodles served with brown sauce and its inventor, a Chinese immigrant.
The renovated two-storey building with green window panes used to house the once-popular Gonghhuachun Chinese restaurant, the birthplace of the ubiquitous food, which is widely eaten in homes and offices, together with fried chicken and pizza, in South Korea.
Developed seven decades ago as a low-budget food during the Korean war, jjajangmyeon has become so popular that seven million portions of the noodles are sold daily in the country, with one out of every seven South Koreans eating them every day.
“I think jjajangmyeon has become like soul food for all of us now. You eat it whenever you can and wherever you want – at home, in offices and even on the beach,” Chai Young-sun, a retired government employee, said.
“When we were students, it was the food we shared with friends and we felt close when eating it together”, he said. “I still love this food, although my appetite has waned with my growing age,” said the 61-year-old Chai.
