Fuzhounese Birthday Noodles

Raw ingredients prepared for making Fuzhounese birthday noodles (31 Oct. 2025). Photo by Ashley Yang.

The Language of Noodles

by Ashley Yang

The pitter-patter of my steps echoed throughout the strange dining room. Everywhere I looked was “China” - a statue of Buddha on the cabinet, a faded wall calendar in Chinese characters, and a flag from my grandparents’ hometown pinned above the table. The bowl of hot, steaming noodles on the table stopped me in my tracks. I inched closer, curiously looking in the bowl. What could this be? It was my first visit back to my grandparents’ home since I was a baby. Everything felt new. I was skeptical. These noodles looked different. The air was heavy with the scent of cooking oil and soy sauce, and wisps of steam curling like ribbons toward the ceiling, making the room feel warmer than it was.

“Those are traditional Fuzhounese birthday noodles,” my mother reassured me, as she came into the room, breaking my trance. They looked just like angel hair pasta. I quickly slurped one up. It was salty and comforting. Soon, it began to feel like something I’d had all the time. I’d come to realize that a small connection was forming between me, my parents, and my heritage thanks to this simple bowl of noodles.

Thinking back on this pivotal moment has made me realize I knew nothing about my own culture as a child. Our Fuzhounese language, our customs, and everything else that fell under the “heritage” umbrella were foreign to me. Growing up in a predominantly white community, with my grandparents across the country on the East Coast, and my parents always working, no one was there to teach me.

Pork bones and dried vegetables simmering to create the savory noodle broth (31 Oct. 2025). Photo by Ashley Yang.

A completed bowl of Fuzhounese birthday noodles topped with eggs (31 Oct. 2025). Photo by Ashley Yang.

At first, I couldn’t grasp how a bowl of noodles could have such a significant meaning, but as I got older, I realized how food was a language of its own. Fuzhounese birthday noodles are typically served on, you guessed it, birthdays to wish the person a long and healthy life (Lam). I grew up understanding that the long, thin strands of the noodles represent longevity and shortening them signifies shortening one’s life. However, over time, the tradition has expanded to being served on China’s National Day as well. A manager of a renowned restaurant, Wu Xuemei, states, “we eat birthday noodles to show our best wishes for the motherland and the people” (“Birthday noodles popular on China’s National Day”).

Emory University student Ryan Xu described how “the noodle has the capability to adequately reflect the history, regional differences, social changes, traditional values and cultural identity of China” (Xu). Noodles aren’t only a reflection of the country’s evolution but also a way to preserve tradition through taste. Xu explains that northern noodles in China are made with wheat flour and alkaline water and are meant to be heartier to keep people warm in cold climates. He also shares how southern noodles in China use egg yolk and lighter seasonings like soy sauce because rice, not noodles, is their main dish (Xu). Knowing this made me appreciate how something as ordinary as a bowl of noodles could carry generations of meaning and identity.

My grandparents communicated their love through cooking; my parents showed theirs through feeding me and my siblings. When words were hard to understand, food was how we spoke to each other. Realizing this made me understand how essential food is to expressing culture. What I once saw as a meal I ate every birthday, I now see as a way to connect with the generations that came before me. In an ever-changing world, they remind me of my grandparents’ dining room, the language I was never able to speak fluently, and the parts of my culture I didn’t understand or know.

“Birthday Noodles Popular on China’s National Day.” Xinhua News Agency, 08 Oct. 2020,

Beijing, Xinhua, China, ProQuest, proquest.com/docview/2449267323?accountid=14667&sourcetype=Wire%20Feeds. Accessed 6 Nov. 2025.

Lam, Maggie. “Fuzhounese Longevity Noodle Soup in Pressure Cooker 福州寿面.” Rack of

Lam, 4 Feb. 2025, rackoflam.com/fuzhounese-longevity-noodle-soup/. Accessed 6 Nov. 2025

Xu, Ryan. “Cultural Significance of Chinese Noodles.” CHN/ITAL370W, Emory University, 10

Aug. 2019, scholarblogs.emory.edu/noodlenarratives/2019/08/10/cultural-significance-of-chinese-noodles/. Accessed 6 Nov. 2025.

Yang, Ashley. Photo of finished birthday noodles. 31 Oct. 2025. Author’s personal collection.

Yang, Ashley. Photo of raw ingredients. 31 Oct. 2025. Author’s personal collection.

Yang, Ashley. Photo of simmering broth. 31 Oct. 2025. Author’s personal collection.

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