[Letters] Fighting cold with cold

Your article on the “cold noodles craze” was interesting, but I believe it omitted a fundamental element pertaining to the unmentioned gastronomic tradition of “e yul chee yul.” As my Korean wife explained to me, your reference to Pyongyang naengmyeon lovers misses the point of why cold noodles traditionally are eaten in winter months (and why, conversely, hot noodles have been a traditional staple of hot summer weather). The “true taste” of cold food in cold weather is not the point. Rather, the age-old theory of “e yul chee yul” holds that bitterly cold winter weather won’t seem so cold if one has consumed ice-cold noodles and broth before venturing out of doors. The opposite perceptional phenomenon thus would pertain when eating boiling-hot noodle soup in summer.

Richard Martin, Anaheim Hills, California