The precious gifts from God:

In general, northerners prefer noodles while southerners prefer rice in China. The situation is more typical and obvious in Shanxi Province.

Vinegar and pasta are the most essential food of Shanxi and also the precious gifts from God. People who grew up in Shanxi are fed with noodles. Shanxi people have a special emotion for pasta, one who far away from home always misses the taste of noodles from mom. For them, it’s the best. 

Shanxi province is not only the world’s earliest and largest agricultural area of origin, but also the birthplace of pasta culture. Counting from time to verify that there are about 280 kinds of pasta categories in 2000 years of history.

By: Hanyu Qie 121106136 class 4

I & Pasta

I am a native of Shanxi loving Pasta so much especially for noodles. For me, for my family, for my neighbors, even for the whole people of city, noodles are considered as the best food that can make us feel happy. When eating noodles, we have a variety of fried vegetables. Before eating, we will mix them (fried vegetables and noodles) up, add a spoonful of vinegar and finally decorate with sill or coriander. The color and the great smell of noodles can quite stimulate your appetite. They love noodles, very anxious to eat noodles have three square meals a day.

 

In my life, my family is good at different kinds of noodles. My grandmother is good at LaMian (Ramen/ Hand-pulled noodles), she is pretty skillful because making LaMian needs pretty good skills. In a word, Rome wasn’t built in a day. So we can imagine how hard to make it. My mother can make sliced noodles, it’s perfect!  Every time I eat it, I was moved almost to tears. I just feel full of happiness. And as for my boyfriend, the udon noodles he made are the most delicious udon noodles that I’ve ever tasted.

 

When I was a child, I remembered that my mother taught me how to make steamed bread, all I need to do just roll the dough into a ball, and then waited for 20 minutes to steam them. But what enjoyed me most was learning to make flour sculpture. When I make the dough, I can make it as all kinds of shapes, rabbits, mice, hedgehogs, turtles… as long as I could imagine. Until now when I recalled those days, I just can’t stop laughing. The process is so interesting and I did learn the skills to make this delicious pasta.

 

Sliced Noodles (Cut Noodles) ——The Soul of Pasta

Because of its unique flavor, sliced noodles of Shanxi are known at home and abroad. Noodles are all cut by knife, so people name them Sliced Noodles or Cut Noodles. Sliced noodles particular stress the speed and shape. Chef stands before the pot to cut noodles, one hand holding the noodles, the other hand holding the knife to cut from the top down. Good cook can cut about two hundred times per minute. The length of each side leaves are exactly six inches. The noodles ear thick in the middle and thin in edge, and they are as slim as willow leaves. Soft and not sticky, the more chewing the more fragrant are the features of Sliced Noodles.

How to make a bowl of Sliced Noodles by your own?

Main ingredients:

flour, water(the best proportion is 10:4.5)

Process:

1. Put the flour and water together to make dough.
2. Use adequate amount of dough and change them into cylindrical shape.
3. Use a knife to cut the cylindrical dough. After boiling for 3 minutes, you can enjoy the Sliced Noodles.

 

All kinds of Steamed Bread

       Zamian steamed bread is a very nutritious food, which is made of corn.

 

Flour Sculpture

Hundreds of years ago, while making food, people had tried to make it beautiful, as well as delicious. They made the steamed bread or other kinds of cake into different shapes. And these cakes and bread are the so-called” flour sculpture” today. There are mainly three types of flour sculptures in Shanxi, namely White Flour Sculpture, Colored Flour Sculpture, and Baked Flour Sculpture.

 

Restaurants and Food Areas:The Food Street

LOCATION: The Food Street on Fudong Jie

• The best place in town is probably the food street on Fudong Jie. This hundred-meter-long street is lined with all kinds of restaurants housed in both mock and real ancient Chinese architectural structures. On the road, besides the ordinary restaurants, you may also go to all kinds of ancient Chinese bars and specialty restaurants.
• To sample the most authentic mutton soup, you should go to Qingheyuan Restaurant (Qingheyuan Fandian) on Qiaotou Jie.
• Linxiangzhai Restaurant (Linxiangzhai Fandian) is known mainly for its authentic Henan cuisine.
• Yingze Dajie has quite a number of decent restaurants serving good local dishes. Hotpot dishes are particularly good here, as well as a profusion of noodle restaurants.
• At night, you may go to Shipin jie north of Yingze dajie, where lines of small restaurants are doing a booming business.

[LINK: http://jishi.cntv.cn/program/sjsdzg/ ]