February 14th is Valentines Day. March 14th is White Day (화이트 데이) and April 14th is Black Day (블랙데이). February is when girls give chocolates and other gifts to boys. March is the month where boys give presents to girls. April is the sad month where singles go out and commiserate how they didn’t get any gifts. This is for both genders. Basically people who didn’t get any gifts pig out on jajang myun (자장 면). Jajang myun (자장 면) is a black bean paste dish mixed with noodles. That’s why the 14th is called Black Day (블랙데이). Well, it’s also called Black Day (블랙데이) because it’s a dark and brooding day for those people who are alone.

Jajang myun (자장면) is a type of comfort food for those who are depressed about not having a significant other or not getting any gifts. Despite the negative nature of this day, it’s actually a really social day where people go out to get jajang myun (자장면) with others who are in the same boat as them. It may start out a sad day, but it can quickly turn out to be a joyous celebration where people down drinks and sing at karaoke bars. Right after drinks, it can turn into a heated discussion about how being single is soo much better than being in a relationship. In many ways it’s a comical day rather than a sorrowful day.

Although the word jajang myun (자장면) is correctly spelled this way, colloquially it’s pronounced as jjajang myun (짜장면). The coloquial way is the way you’ll hear the most often, but the correct way is the jajang myun (자장면) way. So if you want to be cool and blend in with the crowd, use jjajang myun (짜장면). If you want to stand out, possibly as an elitist, use jajang myun (자장면).

Before I go let me tell you a little more about jajang myun (자장면). There is the instant kind, where you boil some water and mix in the black paste, but the ones at good restaurants hand make the noodles. Jajang myun (자장면) is really inexpensive. About 3-4 U.S. dollars per bowl, which includes the side dishes. The side dishes include kimchi (김치) or spicy cabbage and danmuji (단무지) or pickled radish. If you’re still hungry you can mix some rice with the black bean paste sauce. This is called jajang bap (자장밥). If you’re really hungry you can order a kopbbegi (곱빼기), which is double the portion of one bowl of jajang myun (자장면).