Why Milmyeon is rapidly rising in popularity over Naengmyeon lately.jpg

Growing up, I was conditioned my whole life with the idea that
"Naengmyeon has long been a high-end Seoul dish,
while Milmyeon is just a cheap, inferior regional imitation."
I accepted this logic without a second thought.
However, it was foreigners who broke this gaslighting.
Foreigners say Milmyeon tastes better than Naengmyeon.
The reason is simple: it's made with wheat, and almost all noodle dishes
are made with wheat.
Wheat noodle dishes were first recorded in China during the Goryeo Dynasty,
but at that time, wheat was extremely rare on the Korean Peninsula, while buckwheat was very common.
Wheat noodles were a royal dish eaten only by the aristocracy.
In other words, because wheat was so precious, making noodles out of buckwheat
is what led to the Naengmyeon of the late Joseon Dynasty.
When the US military provided massive amounts of wheat aid to Busan,
Milmyeon—which used cheaper ingredients and tasted great—became
the superior food in Busan.
The hype surrounding Naengmyeon was based on the logic that it was
our unique traditional food with a long history dating back to the Joseon Dynasty.