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How a Word Saved a Food in the Past
Thousands of years ago, Xi’an was the capital of ancient China. Every year, students and scholars across the country traveled to Xi’an to attend the Imperial Exam. Once passed, they would get a job serving the emperor and move into the higher class.
A word invented for a dish
Many visiting scholars fell in love with Xi’an’s food. One year, a scholar was obsessed with a special kind of noodle: the thick, dry strings were covered with chili powder. A ladleful of chili oil was heated near to the burning point before spattered on the top of the noodle. The bowl turned red, the noodle glossy, the chewing rough.
In a city that favored the soup noodle, this stiff, blunt, yet tasteful noodle had a special appeal for the scholar.
He also noticed that the restaurants selling this kind of noodle all had the same flag signs –“面”. It was only a plain word, “noodle,” no indication of its flavor or craft. He made an investigation. Some owners told him that the noodle had a verbal name for a long time. It was called “biang~biang~”, a simple sound. When pulling the dough rod…
