"The best mianshilies in China and the best Chinese mianshilies in Shanxi." Can you imagine that in North China's Shanxi Province, there are over 280 kinds of mianshi, or cooked wheaten (小麦的) food?
Shanxi people's love for mianshiis closely connected to the local natural conditions. The dry weather on mountains and plateaus (高原) makes it a good place for growing wheat. Therefore, as time passing by, Shanxi people not only developed an eating habit for mianshi, but also invented different ways of cooking wheaten food.
Among the many Shanxi mianshi, the sliced (削的) noodle is the most famous one. It is a noodle made with a special knife. When making it, the cook needs to hold the dough (生面团) with one hand, while fast slicing the noodles into the soup pot with the other hand. The length and thickness of each sliced noodle are required to be the same. Experienced cooks can even turn the way of slicing noodle into an excellent show. They can slice 200 noodles in one minute, and make sure each noodle falls exactly into the soup pot 1.5 meters away.
In Chinese food culture, people like to give special meanings to the food. For example, they would have a bowl of Changshoumianon their birthdays, carrying good wishes for health and long life. In many places, the tradition is to serve jiaozito a person leaving home, and noodles to a person returning home, as both foods have their own important meanings.
Well, seeing all these Chinese mianshi, do you feel enjoyable? Would you like to have a try?
