Chinese noodles for the soul

Cold noodles with sesame paste. [Photo provided to China Daily]

The comforting taste of one's roots

In the suburban Shanghai area of Pujiang, noodles are more than just a meal for the residents - it is also the only connection these people have to the life they used to enjoy in the heart of the city about 20 kilometers away.

Pujiang town, situated on the east bank of the Huangpu River, is the largest of the three satellite towns on the outskirts of Shanghai that is home to the millions of people who have been relocated to make way for urban projects in the city.

Zhang Peijun's five-table noodle stall, located on a bustling two-lane street in one of the most populated neighborhoods in this district, serves nothing but the most common East China-style soup noodles - straight and slender white noodles presented in what looks like a ball of yarn immersed in crimson red soup and accompanied by chopped green onions and wok-fried toppings that could include a variety of ingredients.

"With this, I am still a countryside Shanghainese. Without, I might just be an outlander," says a 63-year-old retired factory worker surnamed Su, one of the shop's most loyal customers.

Su compared his relocation from the upper corner of the city to the "countryside" where he is currently in to an old tree being uprooted and transplanted in a foreign location. He is one of the 27,600 residents who were relocated to Pujiang town in 2006, as their original homes were torn down to make way for the development of the 5.38-square-kilometer Shanghai Expo Park.

However, senior residents like Su manage to feel at home only at Zhang's tiny shop named "Old Shanghainese Noodle Shop" that measures less than 30 squaremeters.

"It tastes original," said Su, while slurping his noodles that were topped with wok-fried pigs' intestines. He showed little intention of leaving after finishing his meal and looked content to just relax in his seat at the entrance of the shop.

"At first, they came to me for the noodles. But now, food is secondary. Being here with people like themselves is the main reason," says Zhang.

Zhang graduated from a local culinary vocational school in the 1990s and was apprenticing in some of the most traditional noodle houses in downtown Shanghai till 2003, the time when many of these eateries fell prey to the wrecking ball.