1st April 2024

Breaking news from Pyongyang, North Korea. A new national dish!

North Korea announces changes to their national dish. Cold Noodles are now served hot.

What Are Pyongyang Cold Noodles (Pyongyang Hot Noodles..?)

For many years, one of the most famous dishes in the DPRK, commonly known as North Korea, has been Cold Noodles. In Korean, they're called Naengmyeon.

This dish has an ancient history.

Pyongyang Style, it is made of buckwheat noodles in a watery broth. Combined with various vegetables, slices of egg, and slices of meat.

It is then seasoned to the individual taste with vinegar, soy sauce, and mustard.

Cold Noodles often divides opinion among visiting tourists. The look of the dish is somewhat unfamiliar to many visitors. Plus the fact that it is cold...

This can give some guests pause before they dig into this nationally renowned meal.

So, will this new development change things for the better?

Culinary Catastrophe or Noodle Nirvana?

All this is about to change.

Today, April 1st, the DPRK Academy of Promoting National Cuisines announced that Pyongyang Cold Noodles would undergo a significant rebrand.

They will, by decree, be served hot, with financial penalties imposed on anyone who dares to eat this dish cold from now on.

“For too long foreign guests have assumed that our noodles are served cold because our hearts are cold, and that our welcome is not as warm as they had hoped” announced the ministry statement, available on their website.

“We have made the decision to make all cold noodles into hot noodles from now on. To show we are warm people, with warm hearts, warm feelings, and warm noodles. All the people of the DPRK unanimously agree that warmer noodles are better, and from now on our country will be known throughout the world’s people as the land of warm noodles and warm kindness”.

As the DPRK moves towards opening to foreign tourists again it remains to be seen how this development will be welcomed.

However, we at Koryo Tours look forward to warming our hands on winter visits on a nice steaming bowl of hot cold noodles from now on!

For those nostalgic for the good old days of Pyongyang Cold Noodles served cold, read on;

Naengmyong: A Warm Love Letter to Cold Noodles

North Korean Cooking: Pyongyang Cold Noodles

Koryo Tours
North Korea Tours