Soh Mien : Head or Tail

Before 1978 there was a longevity noodle making family who lived opposite us. They were surnamed Ting and we lovingly called the couple, Ah Chuo Bak and Ah Chuo Moo.

Their children went to our school too, so we often walked together to school.

Ah Chuo moo had a very loud voice and when she scolded her children the whole neighbourhood could hear it.

Her scolding seemed to be very effective because the eldest son went to New Zealand and took a degree in Accountancy, came back and made a lot of money.

Her second son, went to University of Malaya and got a first class degree in Economics.

The daughters did not further their education, however the eldest daughter became a business woman, the second daughter married their assistant and prospered in the business.

The third daughter completed her school and worked for the eldest brother.

Ah Chuo Bak and Ah Chuo Moo lived up to their old age and enjoyed having their grandchildren visiting them. They eventually bought a good house and lived not far from us, after having sold their land to a developer.

Whenever I woke up early I could hear them kneading and pounding their dough. And if it was a bright sunny morning, they would start pulling their thread noodles on the huge belian racks. They never seemed to have a holiday, working 7 days a week. They only took a rest when it rained and they would cover t heir dough with a large piece of flour bag cotton, sewn together.

Because they bought a lot of flour by the bags, Ah Chuo Moo made shirts out of the cotton bags. So the family would wear the cotton bag shirts (mien hoon duoi shirts) when they worked in the sun. Ah Moo would sew a few pieces of the cotton bags together to make sarongs. So their baby cradle was made from cotton bags, pajamas and even underwear were made from the cotton bags.

In their workshop, under the wooden house, Ah chuo bak was always bare chested, being a typical Foochow man.

The very fine strands of Soh Mien (longevity noodles or thread noodles) These are the tails. Foochows can never get tired of eating Soh Mien.

When the noodles were dried, in those days, they couple would tie the noodles in bundles with red threads (for good fortune).

And in those days, they cut the Heads of the noodles and sold them at a lower price. These heads were called mien tou. The finer ends were called mien mui and were sold at the normal price.

Later some of the noodle makers did not sell the noodles separately, so customers would get both the heads and the tails.

When drying, a housewife would also separate the heads and tails. The heads would be dried in a different tray and then stored in a separate tin. And the tails would be stored in a nicer tin too.

When guests come, they would be served the tails, or the finer noodles. Family members,would often be just given the heads, the coarser noodles.

I usually would choose the heads,mainly because others did not want them.

My mum and my grandmother would also choose the heads, for the same reason. We just could not waste good food!!

It was always good to allow others to have the better choice of soh mien.