Changde beef rice noodles have always had a special place in my memory; they are undoubtfully my favorite cultural food. My dad’s family is originally from Changde, Hunan province. When my grandparents brought me to visit Changde when I was young, it was our routine activity daily to go have the rice noodles for breakfast at a restaurant. I chose this dish not only because it reminds me of time spent with my grandparents, but also because it is relatively easy to make.

The name, Changde beef rice noodles, of course comes from the place where the dish originated. It is the most famous cultural cuisine in Changde and the Hunan province as well. All people of Changde take pride in their rice noodles, although rice noodles are common nationwide in China. The reason is that the rice noodles made there use rice from Hunan, which has a unique elasticity and stickiness. The Dongting Lake is a lake that is environmentally superior, providing rich nutrients to the crops in the surrounding area. As such, the rice flour used to make rice noodles in Changde are claimed to be special, with a chewy, smooth texture. Unlike the other famous rice noodles from Yunan and Guilin that are dried, Changde rice noodles all always kept wet to preserve their freshness. However, this also blocks the spread of this dish to other areas since the rice noodles cannot be easily preserved. As a result, the difficulty of having this dish in an authentic way gives it a special meaning.

Changde people eat beef rice noodles for breakfast almost as a daily activity. When my dad goes back to Changde, he often meets up with friends at a restaurant that only serves rice noodles, because that is the place where they ate breakfast every day during high school. In the western society, breakfasts are typically fairly light. There are no large quantities of oil and spices. In a bowl of Changde rice noodles, salt, pepper, and oil are heavy. However, my dad does not mind it even though he is very westernized. Eating this dish brings him back lots of memories from his hometown, and it is also a way to reconnect with his friends today. The social interactions exchanged here are important when having a bowl of rice noodles. Many people who eat at the same restaurant close to their home become friends as they recognize the same person sitting across from them each day. Owners of the restaurants wave every morning to their loyal customers. When people want to meet up, they don’t arrange the meeting to take place at a coffee shop, but rather they go have beef rice noodles together for breakfast. With the advancement of the supply chain today, although there are many options for breakfast, people of Changde still choose rice noodles because it is embedded into the tradition.

In completing this project, this was the first time I cooked for the entire process under my mom’s guidance. Previously, I always thought that cooking the beef was a difficult process. However, using a pressure cooker, all there is to do is put all the ingredients into the pot and wait. Therefore, I think I can make the dish on my own in the future as well. Although I do not have fresh rice noodles from Changde currently, I used dried rice noodles, which turned out to taste fine as well. It does lack the special texture of the Changde rice noodles, but serves as a good substitute. I am glad I was able to learn to make the rice noodles as a part of the midterm project, and think about how much I love the dish and how special it is to me.