To a displaced American with southern Chinese-Taiwanese roots, where rice rules supreme, northern Chinese noodle and bread culture (mianshi 面食) is completely bewildering.
But the pleasures of biangbiang noodles are many.
Jen introduced me to biangbiang noodles, which I loved immediately. Biangbiang noodles are a specialty of Shaanxi 陕西 province, most often found in Xi’an 西安 as a street food. The character is infamously difficult, so there are several versions of a mnemonic poem that are used to invoke its 57 (52, or 56… depending on which version you subscribe to) strokes. It can also be found on menus as biaobiao mian 彪彪面, bangbang mian 邦邦面 or 棒棒面, and youpo chemian 油泼扯面. Or you… READ MORE | 6 Comments
