Article by Melissa Baumann
Lead photo of “1% Yakamein” by Sherrod Faulks courtesy of Slice & Torte sliceandtorte.com
Yock-a-Mein, or box-of-yock is the ultimate what you see is what you get meal. The name literally translates “a single serving of noodles.” Unlike Lo Mein noodles, which are long and flat or Chow Mein noodles which are crunchy, Yock noodles are long and thin…and almost completely absent from traditional Chinese menus outside of the area. Served to individual taste with pork or chicken, onions, peppers and a you-fix-it sauce combo of ketchup, red pepper and soy; it’s a dish that has no official recipe but thousands of loyal fans. It’s the perfect sweet-spicy comfort food or hangover recovery dish for those of who prefer to eat their way out of a bender vs. pouring more booze onto a liver that’s already begging for mercy. Fun fact: yock migrated from here to New Orleans where it picked up the nickname “Old Sober.” Although in New Orleans it’s less recovery and more a temporary restraining order until you feel strong enough to get your drink on, again.
Some say the foundation of the dish was brought back by sailors returning from the exotic Far East, but others insist that the humble but wildly delicious yock was created in the 1900’s as an affordable, working-class meal served to a mostly African-American customer base who were drawn to the area for the government jobs. These same local storytellers can point to historically black churches where the dish was a staple of Sunday fundraiser dinners as well as the menus of diners and take-out stands in communities like Portsmouth that were predominantly black. If we can’t definitively say Yock got it start here in Hampton Roads, we’re certainly wearing the noodle crown, with 1500-3000 pounds of noodles produced locally. While no one agrees on how to serve them, there is a resounding agreement on how they should be made – or more appropriately, who should have made them.
Park Wong. Founder of the Norfolk Noodle Company. Anything else is just Lo.
Above, Park Wong (Photograph courtesy of his daughter Jenny Wong)
Rewind to the 1920’s when Park Wong, the head of our very own noodle dynasty was a budding engineer on the campus of MIT. Young, talented and extremely industrious but short on cash, Wong was forced to return to Hampton Roads after only a year. Looking for ways to both keep his bright mind engaged as well accrue the funds to bring his wife and three sons to America from Canton, Wong started buying and selling commercial properties. While most flipped successfully, Wong couldn’t find a buyer for the Sam Lee Noodle Company – so he did what any young family man with an engineering background and no business experience would do. He risked everything, bought the building himself and went into the noodle business -which he wisely renamed Norfolk Noodle Factory. Wong quickly found ways to put his engineering background to new use – retrofitting and improving the machinery used in the noodle line, streamlining the process and improving production. Many of his inventions were patented, including the first noodle cutter which standardized the servings. The entire family, three sons and one young daughter worked in the business, making dough, doing odd jobs at the factory, making deliveries, wrapping up noodles like adorable holiday packages.
Wong steadfastly and earnestly built and expanded the business for 50 years, retiring reluctantly at 80. His son David founded and ran the Sun Noodle company in Chesapeake for 20 years; Sun Noodle closed it’s doors in 2011 and ended the noodle dynasty for the family. Yock isn’t commonplace on most menus, so if you want some Yock of your own, your best bet is to slide on down to Sing Wong’s (no relation to Park) on High Street in Portsmouth. You can also follow the Tidewater Yock-a-Mein facebook group to find local recipes and local cafes that are serving up the noodley goods.
We didn’t noodle this thing by ourselves. Follow the links below to connect with some experts on Yock.
Southern Foodways Alliance click HERE
www.southernfoodways.org/oral-history/a-box-of-virginia-yock
www.southernfoodways.org/norfolk-noodle-factory
HamptonRoads.com/food click HERE
http://hamptonroads.com/food/693257/2013/10/yock-has-long-murky-history
Tidewater Yock-a-Mein Facebook Group click HERE
1 Comment
So true. So true. Yock is a comfort food for us “ole heads”. Warm, tasty, affordable, and filling. A humbling meal.