Thick Alkaline Noodle Soup 大面羹

Thick Alkaline Noodle Soup (大面羹) is a noodle dish that Chinese Wikipedia describes as found only in Taichung (台中), Taiwan. Extra-thick alkaline noodles are boiled until the cooking water turns thick, then eaten with fried shallots, dried shrimp, chopped dried radish and cut garlic chives. In Taiwanese Hokkien it is called Tuā-mī-kinn.

How it is made

The noodles are a special thick noodle made from wheat flour and alkaline powder (碱粉), thicker than ordinary yellow or white noodles and yellow-brown to dark brown in colour. They can be cooked for a long time without falling apart. When they are boiled, the water becomes thick and slightly sticky, which is why the dish is called a geng (羹, thick soup); Chinese Wikipedia adds that the word is really the Taiwanese Hokkien sound of the word for alkali, pointing to the noodles' alkaline taste. Later many shops added toppings such as dried radish, dried shrimp, minced pork sauce and garlic chives.

Where it comes from

The dish already existed in the early years after the Second World War as a filling food for poor families, with few toppings and plenty of alkaline powder so the noodles swelled in the pot. Because the wet noodles keep only one or two days at room temperature, and there was no refrigeration or good transport when the dish began, it stayed local: Chinese Wikipedia places it mainly in Taichung's East, West, South, North and Central districts and in Taiping (太平) and Dali (大里).

How it is eaten

It is usually eaten as a breakfast staple, and some food carts sell it as a late-night snack. In 2016 the Central News Agency reported Taichung mayor Lin Chia-lung (林佳龙) eating it with chili sauce at the city's old Third Market (第三市场) and calling it the taste of Taichung. Taiwan's National Cultural Memory Bank holds a 2014 recording of a Taichung vendor, Chen Shih-ming (陈世明), who took over the dish from his mother; his noodle cart had been in use for 50 years, and most of his customers had eaten the dish since childhood.