Ya-ka-mein, dubbed Old Sober for its power to cure a bout of drunkenness, is known to some small degree by adventurous African-American eaters. But to Caucasians, it is pretty much invisible. As one listener of our report about it on radio’s The Splendid Table noted, yak is found in “establishments located in areas many suburbanites would not venture. High-end Chinese restaurants look down on yak. They have labeled it black-people-food and refuse to serve it.” New Orleans is nothing but welcoming, so it is no great surprise that a wider range of eaters know it there.
Nutritional virtue in the form of ya-ka-mein, as made by Linda Green, the Ya Ka Mein Lady of New Orleans.
Occasionally served in a restaurant, but more commonly from a food truck in a Styrofoam bowl, ya-ka-mein is an exemplary melting pot dish. While it does have a vaguely Asian flavor, thanks to soy sauce, it is no more Chinese than is chop suey. Its origin has been credited to either African-American Korean war veterans who brought the idea back home or to railroad construction crew cooks trying to please both Chinese and black workers. Recipes vary, but the essential formula is spaghetti noodles in spicy broth topped with shredded beef, green onions, and half a hard-boiled egg: like Oodles of Noodles, but good.