3 Trivias About Mul-naengmyeon- A Legendary Korean Food

It was during the end of the spring time when I first encountered a Korean food called Mul-naengmyeon. I was looking for some restaurants here in South Korea for some Oriental food treat but I landed in a Korean restaurant and saw this bowl of noodles in the picture, it looks yummy and I thought it would be interesting to try it out. I ordered a bowl of naengmyeon since a lot of the patrons had it on their respective tables.


I don't know how they presented it on the picture but it looks awkward in the actual. The noodles is made with a buckwheat and starch, it has a broth of beef and some pickled radish. The only familiar ingredient for me is the hard boiled egg on the toppings. The combination seems weird, nevertheless, I had my first taste of Naengmyeon and I was like:


Ok, please don't get me wrong with my reaction. I don't discriminate Korean foods, in fact I love most of Korean foods. It was my first time to try Mul-naengmyeon and I  was just taken aback with the strange taste of the food. I ended up eating only few noodles and the egg and the beef broth.

My second encounter with Naengmyeon was during dinner time. It was summer and our Samunim served it  to us. Everybody was so delighted with what they saw in the dinner table, and I was like "How on earth they like this food?". I gave it a second try, it still didn't work on my taste bud, but the good news is that I was able to finished one bowl of naengmyeon. Samunim offered me more noodles but I said I was so full. Saved by the bell huh.

I am not closing my door to Naengmyeon. Weird as it may taste, I still find it interesting because of its in-depth story. It is not simply a Korean food, like Kimchi, it plays vital role in the Korean diet and the root of its existence is something we should respect. So I am giving you these three interesting trivias about Mul-naengmyeon so that next time you encounter this food, you will remember these facts:

Trivia Number 1:

Do you know that Mul-naengmyeon is recognized as a summer time treat? For your information, the noodle soup is a cold water, very cold water. It is not the usual noodles served in hot water. We usually eat noodles during rainy days or cold days, but naengmyeon is a noodles for summer because of its cold soup, albeit you can also eat it in any season. In fact, the name Mul-naengmyeon literally means cold noodles.

Mul means water.
Naengmyeon means cold noodles.

So I guess you have now the idea that this is a noodles on cold water.

Trivia Number 2:

Do you know that Naengmyeon originates from the Northern part of Korea? People down South of Korea just followed the trend of eating mul-naengmyeon from people in the North. A restaurant called Okryugwan in North Korea is known as the best maker of Naengmyeon and the President of North Korea then, Kim Il-seong, ordered that the taste must be maintained up to the next generation.

Trivia Number 3:

Do you know that Koreans are so in love with this food that it penetrated up to the world of K-pop. Girls' generation singer Jessica and Park Myeung So collaborated in a song entitled Naengmyeon as a tribute to this particular food.

Time will come, if I am already well adjusted with Korean food, that I can eat Mul-naengmyeon like a pro and I'd be delighted to see it being served on my dining table. But for now, let me say PASS.

Comments

  1. So is Mul-naengmyeon served to you cold or hot? Is it sweet, sour or spicy? My mom has a large appreciation for Korean food. I don't think this one is served in many restaurants here in Manila.

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  2. Hmmm, I think this would be really weird for me to eat this soup since I'm so used to hot noodle soup. But if it's available here in Davao, I would give this one a shot. :D

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  3. I think it would resemble something like Japan's cold soba. Though Korean's version has thinner noodles. But I don't know about this one, though I love the Japanese version. Let me see If I can find one restaurant that has this and I'll be the judge of that:)

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  4. Mul-naengmyeon is served cold, that is why we Filipinos doesn't like the taste of it. But in our house if my mom cook this kind of a dish she served it hot. Hahahahaha...just for a change, mahirap na iba kasi sa tiyan...

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  5. That reaction made me laugh! I say that maybe you are not just accustomed with their food. Yes, maybe give them another try. Thanks for sharing I learned there is such thing as cold noodles. :)

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  6. The moment I saw the reaction photo, it made me laugh hahahaha. I can imagine how it is and even me I won't like it. I have a friend who really loves korean food, I'll ask her if she has tried this too :D

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  7. I imagine how do the noodles taste prepared in cold water. It seems so tasteless. Anyway, if I had an opportunity I would like to try eating Mul-naengmyeon.

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  8. I'm really intrigued by this Korean soup. I want to try it too! =)

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  9. I'm a big fan of Korean soup since one of my close friends own a Korean soup. Maybe the taste and preparation vary depending on who prepared it :)

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    1. true to that..sometimes even if it is not too good as long as you love the one who prepared it, ok na ok

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  10. I'm not a fan of cold noodles:-).

    By the way, I replied to your inquiry in my blog. Mahabang i-copy paste dito e:-).

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  11. hahahahah natawa ako sa GIVE ME BACK MY 7000 WON!
    di ko rin gusto yoong naengmyeon,,, kakasuka hehehe,, maasim asim na malamig na parang ewan hahahaha...

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