Until the outbreak, I had never thought that anyone who has heard the name of the city where I was born. Even right now, sometimes I call it a city in the middle of China, instead of shouting out the name. The deepest connection to the city is the food. It is not very popular and you cannot find it easily in other cities, which makes it special. In the morning, when the sun penetrated the smog, people woke up and bought hot dry noodles to start their day. But now, all people think about my hometown is the virus. It makes me wonder how all kinds of stereotypes and misconceptions are created, and if I will ever know they are not even 1% close.

During the lockdown, in my apartment in New York City, I found a simple way to recreate the hot dry noodles from my hometown. It is missing some ingredients, but I like how I could make it accessible to more people around the world. Or would people want to try it?