Son Returns to Keep Changnyeong's 48-Year-Old Rice Soup Going as His Mother Loses Her Memory

At an eatery in Changnyeong that has held the same spot for 48 years, a son has come back to carry on the family business while his mother loses her memories to dementia. Their sugure rice soup, a local specialty, is now counted among the area's signature "soul food" dishes.

From discarded cut to market-day staple

Sugure's rise is tied to the Changnyeong five-day market. It was a cheap cut, so people who enjoyed a drink on market days came up with the idea of serving it as a side dish to accompany alcohol. Amid the bustle of the market, it settled in as the village's favorite snack and delicacy, and became a must-have on market days. Sugure is the part between the lean meat and the hide of a cow, a mix of blood, fat and muscle. It was once thrown away, but it has become a defining treat of Changnyeong, home to Upo Wetland, a place described as a marvelous treasure house of life.

Solbi, who works as a singer and painter, visited this long-established eatery. The rice soup arrived with a deep color that bears out its 48 years of history. The broth, made with congealed blood, looks red and rich, yet finishes clean in the mouth, and the sugure melts softly inside the bowl. Keeping off-odors in check is the key with sugure, and a gamey smell comes easily, but the soup here stays clean-tasting for guests who come from other regions. Beyond the soup, the restaurant serves sugure stir-fry, infused with the smoky aroma of a charcoal briquette fire. Its colorful look catches the eye, and the sugure, simmered long and then seasoned and fired, is chewy yet springy. After tasting it, Solbi said, "It doesn't feel like fat, and it's chewy," adding, "It isn't tough, it's tender."

A family's life in every bowl

The dish is bound up with the lives of Changnyeong people, well beyond filling a stomach. The proprietress has made her living for 48 years by preparing rough sugure, and she now keeps the place with her son, who returned to take over the family trade. She lost her husband early, endured hard years with her in-laws and money troubles, and kept the place going alone; for her, sugure was what held her life up. The story of a mother whose memory fades with dementia and the son at her side shows that the rice soup is more than food: it is the family's survival and its link. A cut once considered worthless has become the village's pride and the taste of Changnyeong, and a bowl of sugure rice soup, rough but not harsh like life itself, goes on quietly recording Changnyeong's time.

Source: TVCHOSUN JOY (YouTube)