INCHEON — The historical roots of jajangmyeon, a dish shaped over more than 120 years by the hard lives of dock laborers in Incheon's open-port era and by the many Chinese restaurants clustered in the area, are being examined anew.
An academic forum will revisit the dish's original identity as a cheap, filling meal for working people that satisfied the hunger of stevedores at Incheon Port, and the value of the labor behind it.
1906: Flourishing Simultaneously at Yeonnamru, Dongheungru and Other Open-Port Restaurants
The Incheon Tourism Organization will hold the 2026 Global K-Food Jajangmyeon Academic Seminar on the 3rd at the main auditorium of Incheon's Sangsang Platform. Zhu Xifeng, vice president for external affairs at the Incheon Overseas Chinese Association, will speak third on the theme "Who Were the People Who Made the History of Jajangmyeon," presenting the results of his verification of historical records.
In his presentation, Zhu plans to show through historical records that jajangmyeon flourished at multiple sites at once, amid active interaction among the many Chinese restaurants in Chinatown and the surrounding open-port district that formed after Incheon opened its port in 1883.
According to the primary sources he has uncovered, numerous Chinese restaurants — including Yeonnamru, Dongheungru, Hapheunggwan, Sahapgwan, Donghaeru and Heungryunggwan — were already established and thriving in the open-port district in the early 1900s. Jajangmyeon, he argues, was a shared food culture that spread and developed naturally within that rich dining ecosystem already in place around the port.
A Cheap, Filling Bowl That Sustained Incheon Port's Dock Workers
The presentation places particular emphasis on the lives of Incheon Port's dock laborers as the decisive backdrop to the dish's birth.
Stevedores, known as coolies, who hauled heavy cargo at Incheon Port during the open-port era urgently needed food that could replenish calories quickly and cheaply amid grueling physical labor. Restaurants around Incheon's open-port district responded by offering a cheap, practical dish tailored to those workers: noodles tossed in stir-fried bean paste that could be eaten quickly and left them full.
The real starting point of jajangmyeon, by this account, was the sustenance that supported the livelihoods and hardships of a working class that labored all day in the harbor's harsh sea winds.
Zhu plans to stress that "the history of jajangmyeon is a history of social labor, forged by the sweat of Chinese farmers who brought seeds from China and grew onions and vegetables on barren land, of the nameless kitchen workers who pulled noodles and stir-fried bean paste in front of hot ovens, and of the dock laborers who bought it as a daily staple and made it part of the Korean palate."
"Working-Class Accessibility Is the Key to Going Global" — Neighborhood Eateries Over Michelin
That popular appeal as a dock worker's food ties directly to the dish's future strategy for global expansion.
Yang Jong-jip, a professor at the Culinary Institute of America in New York, one of the world's three leading culinary schools, will deliver the keynote. He argues that "success in going global comes not from high-end fine dining with Michelin stars, but from the broad accessibility of neighborhood restaurants, where workers and ordinary people can eat every day without strain."
He notes that more than 90,000 Mexican restaurants and 45,000 Chinese restaurants in the United States have outnumbered McDonald's outlets precisely because they served everyday meals that ordinary people sought out daily. Yang plans to stress that jajangmyeon, which began as the soul food of dock workers, should likewise take on world markets with familiar mass appeal, as Japanese ramen has.
Kim Jae-ho, a professor at Inha Technical College and another presenter, will propose creating an "Incheon Jajang Road," a stay-and-walk route linking Incheon Station, Chinatown and the open-port district where visitors can experience the history and memories of dock workers on foot.
The 2026 Incheon Jajangmyeon Festival, organized directly by the Incheon Tourism Organization for the first time, will run on the 3rd and 4th around Hangmidan-gil and the Sangsang Platform. Alongside the academic seminar, it will feature a special exhibition on the stories of 10 figures who preserved the lives and history of workers from the open-port era.
An Incheon Tourism Organization official said the event "will be more than a simple food festival — it will properly establish the historical roots of jajangmyeon, steeped in the hardships of Incheon Port's workers, and present a new future vision for K-Food."
