If you’ve never had suo noodles, you should. In fact, you kind of owe it to the people who make them; suo noodles are not only fishing-line thin, they’re nine feet long and take 16 hours to make. That’s how Nanshan, China resident Lin Fagan makes them, anyway.
Great Big Story profiled Fagan because he and his wife still make batches of suo noodles by hand, using a centuries-old process that looks more like textile work than cooking. Once the dough is fully kneaded, it’s wrapped in strings around thin wooden rods and hung outside, then stretched over the course of the day until they reach that nine-foot length.
It takes two or three people to make a proper batch of suo noodles, and Fagan insists that handmade noodles are softer and springier than their mass produced counterparts. He takes great pride in his work, but is concerned that the practice will die out with his generation; Nanshan’s young people aren’t terribly interested in noodles, apparently.
Watch the full interview with Fagan below, complete with footage of the suo noodle production process.
—RealClearLife Staff
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