Sometimes it’s hard for me to believe that Zha Jiang Mian is a Chinese dish. Zha Jiang Mian has been established as a part of the Korean food culture for a long time and it has definitely been a part of my food culture. I can say without a doubt that it will continue to be one of my favorite dishes. I will never forget the taste of the noodle mixed with the delicious Zha Jiang sauce. There were even times when I couldn’t last more than three to four weeks without eating Zha Jiang Mian. Since my childhood days, up until now, I have been eating this special dish, but I’ve come to realize that I never really had a chance to genuinely appreciate Zha Jiang Mian. Hence, I wanted to take this opportunity to reflect upon one of my favorite dishes and maybe reward myself with a nice dish of homemade Zha Jiang Mian.

Zha Jiang Mian is a Korean-style Chinese food with Zha Jiang (the sauce) and Mian (the noodle). Zha Jiang is made from a mixture of diced vegetables and pork with Chinese soybean paste, known as Chunjang. Zha Jiang Mian in Chinese is 炸醬麵, meaning noodles with fried soybean paste. The concept is almost identical for the Korean-style Zha Jiang Mian, but Koreans have a slightly different method to make Zha Jiang Mian; ingredients and steps that would more fit to their taste. Also, unlike the Chinese style of Zha Jiang Mian, which is enjoyed more as a between-meal snack, Koreans have turned it into a complete meal with a different variety of vegetables, meat, and sometimes even seafood, alongside the noodle itself. The dish was introduced into Korea in the late 1890s, and it was during the 1960s when Zha Jiang Mian started to gain popularity among the Koreans. People’s taste and preference towards Zha Jiang Mian slowly started to develop then, and it eventually reached a point where Zha Jiang Mian turned into comfort food for Koreans.

When Koreans hear ‘Zha Jiang Mian,’ the first word that will likely appear on their mind is ‘delivery food.’ Delivery food doesn’t necessarily have a positive connotation and I won’t blame anyone from backing away from delivered food, but that’s not necessarily the case for the Koreans. Food delivery service has been a part of a Korean culture for a long time, with friends and even families ordering food from restaurants for lunch or dinner. The quality of delivered food is not much different than the quality of food at a restaurant. That is, the food is delivered quickly enough so that it doesn’t become cold, and this fast delivery allows restaurants to deliver all kinds of food, ranging from barbequed meat, traditional Korean dishes, stew, pho, noodles, and even desserts including cakes and coffees. Delivery is also available to basically anywhere in Korea and there are many restaurants that allow food delivery 24 hours a day. ‘Ordering from anywhere at any time of any food will get you something to eat” has become a common understanding for the Koreans over the past decade. A notable point to make is that Zha Jiang Mian, along with Fried Chicken, is one of the two most common foods Korean people order. This is quite amazing considering the range of food people order to be delivered. Reasons unknown, there are certain traditions that Koreans have developed as to when people should eat Zha Jiang Mian. Koreans enjoy eating Zha Jiang Mian typically on graduation days and move-in days and Koreans even made a special day to celebrate eating Zha Jiang Mian. Also known as, “Black Day,” on ther 14th of April, Koreans celebrate this special day by going to restaurants or having Zha Jiang Mian delivered to their houses.

Zha Jiang Mian is the first dish I’ve ever cooked over the 22 years of my life. During the preparation and cooking, which lasted about an hour and a half, I learned that I’ve been underestimating the difficulty of cooking this whole time. The amount of work, time, energy and money that went into making a single dish was beyond what I’d expected. Although the process wasn’t easy, the finished dish I produced gave me a sense of pride and joy, and the fact that my family enjoyed a meal from my homemade Zha Jiang Mian made me even happier. Having been through the whole process basically on my own, cooking Zha Jiang Mian in such manner has allowed me to appreciate not only Zha Jiang Mian, but also other different types of food as well.