Chinese Culture. Street Food from Tianjin.

Chinese Culture:
STREET FOOD in Tianjin
Joaquin Garrido Mejia 6117000020
Muhammad Irfan 6117000026
Muhammad Moeen ud Din 6117000027
PhD 1st Semester

Objectives
General Objective
• To make a brief
presentation
about food sold
on the streets of
China
Specific Objectives
• To describe a general
outline about food in China
• To focus on food sold on
the streets of Tianjin
• To present some historical
background about six food
items original to Tianjin
• To use videos to describe
the process to cook such
dishes

FIELD TRIP TO STREET FOOD VENDORS IN TIANJIN, CHINA.

An Overview
• Chinese cuisine is an important part of Chinese culture,
which includes cuisine originating from the diverse
regions of China, as well as from Chinese people in other
parts of the world.
• The preference for seasoning and cooking techniques of
Chinese provinces depend on differences in historical
backgrounds and ethnic groups. Geographic features
including mountains, rivers, forests and deserts also have a
strong effect on the local available ingredients,
considering that the climate of China varies from tropical
in the south to subarctic in the northeast. Imperial, royal
and noble preference also plays a role in the change of
Chinese cuisines. Because of imperial expansion and
trading, ingredients and cooking techniques from other
cultures are integrated into Chinese cuisines over time.

A Summary of the Chinese Cuisine
• Sichuan and Hunan cuisines: hot spice.
• Anhui and Fujian cuisines: inclusion of wild foods from their mountains.
• Guangdong (Cantonese), Fujian, Zhejiang, Jiangsu: great seafood, and generally sweet
and light flavors.
• Shandong Cuisine: fresh and salty with a lot of seafood dishes.

Focus of today’s
presentation:
STREET FOOD in
Tianjin

1. Jiānbǐng Guǒ Zi – Tianjin Pancake
Known as Tianjin Pancake, Jian Bing Guo Zi is a
savory snack sold at street stalls all over Tianjin. A thin
pancake is made using a mixture of wheat, mung bean
flour and eggs with a variety of seasonings, such as
spring onion and pepper. You can choose to fill the
pancake with either a thin crust made of rice or soft
dough sticks, either of which adds an interesting
texture. It is prepared on the spot with the amount of
chilli you choose. Jian Bing Guo Zi stalls are
strategically located either for breakfast seekers on busy
streets or late-night snack outside universities or clubs.

Jiānbǐng Guǒ Zi – Tianjin Pancake
煎餅
果子

Jiānbǐng Guǒ Zi – Tianjin Pancake
VIDEO ABOUT HOW TO
PREPARE THIS DISH.
煎餅果子

History
Jianbing originated in the Northeast of China. Its history
can be traced back 2,000 years to Shandong province
during the Three Kingdoms period (220–280 AD).
According to legends, chancellor Zhuge Liang
encountered the problem of feeding his soldiers after they
lost their woks. He ordered the cooks to mix water with
wheat flour to make batter, then spread it on shields, or
flat copper griddles over a flame. The dish raised the
soldiers’ morale and helped them win the battle. After that,
jianbing was passed down through generations in
Shandong province and gradually spread to different parts
of China.

Why is it so popular?
1. It is never ‘pre-cooked’. In order to preserve its crispness,
customers order them on the spot. Part of the attraction is to
watch the raw ingredients come together to form the dish.
2. Jianbing can satisfy different people’s tastes as it can be made
with many different ingredients and mixed with different sauces,
jams and flavors in different proportions.
3. The low cost of jianbing is also one of the reasons for its
popularity, as the basic ingredients are themselves inexpensive.
4. It has rich nutrient values. It contains abundant nutrients as it can
be made of soybeans, mung beans, black beans, lettuce, peanuts
and eggs.
5. Of course, its fantastic combination of flavors is also one major
reason for its popularity.

2. Má Huā – Fried Dough Twists
• It is a Chinese dough twist that is fried in
peanut oil. It has a shiny and golden look. It
is prepared in various ways with or without
yeast but usually have a more dense and solid
texture than Youtiao when made.
• The most famous brand is "18th Street Fried
Dough Twists" from Tianjin, because the
shop originated from the 18th Street of the
old town.

History
Mahua are fried dough twists that are a local
specialty of Tianjin; however, their origin is said to
date back 2000 years to a festival where people
were forbidden to use fire, and therefore forbidden
to cook for three days when it was celebrated. One
of the solutions of those celebrating the festival was
to fry dough with honey a few days in advance, the
resulting snack had a long shelf life and was the
perfect treat for a festival. Since then, mahua has
changed from it’s original form to the mahua people
enjoy today.

Má Huā – Fried Dough Twists
麻
花

VIDEO ABOUT HOW TO PREPARE
THIS DISH.
麻花

3. Ěrduǒyǎn Zhà Gāo - Ear Hole
Fried Cake
The cake is made of carefully leavened
and kneaded glutinous rice dough. The
filling is bean paste made with good-
qualified red beans. The pastry of the
finished cake is golden in colour, crisp
and crunchy, while the filling is tender
and sweet with a lingering flavour.

History
This traditional snack originates from the days
of China’s last dynasty in the late Qing era.
The snack originated over 80 years ago,
invented by a peddler named Liu Wanchun.
Every day he pulled a wheelbarrow full of
these cakes along Tianjin’s Bei Da Guan, a
narrow street that resembled an ear-hole.
Pronounced “Er Duo Yan Zha Gao” in Chinese,
the official name came to be and still, today is
Ear Hole Fried Cake.

Ěrduǒyǎn Zhà Gāo - Ear Hole Fried
Cake
耳朵
眼炸
糕

Ěrduǒyǎn zhà gāo -Ear Hole Fried Cake
THIS DISH.
耳朵眼炸糕

4. Chátāng – Tea Soup
The Tea Soup or Seasoned flour mush is a traditional
gruel common to both Beijing cuisine and Tianjin cuisine,
and often sold as a snack on the street. It is made from
sorghum flour and/or broomcorn millet and/or proso
millet flour and glutinous millet flour. The Chinese name
is figurative, not literal, as there is neither any tea nor any
soup in this dish.
The dish is prepared in two steps. First, flours of sorghum
and/or millet are cooked in advance, often by stir-frying.
When a customer orders the dish, hot water is poured into
a bowl containing the flour(s) to create a paste-like mush,
which is served with white and/or brown sugar and sweet
osmanthus sauce (桂花酱: guìhuā jiàng). The sweet
osmanthus plant is not native to northern China.

The Kettle
Traditionally, chatang vendors were easily
distinguished by the kettle they used. The kettle
was extremely large, up to four feet tall with a
diameter in excess of a foot, and was often
made of copper. There are two kinds of kettles:
those used by street vendors, and those found in
restaurants and tea houses. The two differ in
internal structure.
The kettles used by street vendors are double-
layered, with fuel in the inner layer in the center
and water in the outside layer, similar
to samovars. The advantage of such a structure
is that it reduces the need to carry a stove to
heat the water in the kettle, and it improves fuel
efficiency since most heat is utilized, in contrast
to the use of a separate kettle and stove.
Furthermore, in the windy weather conditions of
northern China, such a structure prevents the
flame from being blown out by the wind.
Despite the two varieties of kettles' identical
external appearance, the complex structure of
the kettles used by street vendors is not present
for those used in restaurants and tea houses.

Serving
Chatang
The different ways of serving seasoned flour
mush have some cultural significance in
distinguishing that of Beijing cuisine from
Tianjin cuisine, since the same kind of
seasoned flour mush tastes identical.
Traditionally, the styles of serving were clearly
different when the hot water is poured from the
kettle:
The way hot water was poured in Beijing
cuisine was that the server stood straight up,
with legs apart at distance greater than the
width of his shoulder, while the upper body
leaned toward the bowl. In contrast, the way
hot water was poured in Tianjin cuisine was
that the server was in a semi-squatting down
position with body straight. Obviously, such a
feat is rather dangerous, especially without any
specialized training, and thus the special kettle
has been phased out as modern technology
enables the dish to be served like coffee, and
the use of a kettle only survives in extremely
rare occasions as a cultural heritage
demonstration.

Chátāng – Tea Soup
茶
汤

Chátāng – Tea Soup
THIS DISH.
茶汤

5. Goubuli Steamed Stuffed Bun

History
Goubuli's stuffed buns are known for their generous filling, which is succulent but
not greasy.
This famous snack was created during the late Qing Dynasty by a native of
Wuqing County, who had the nickname "Dogy". At the age of 14, Dogy left home
and came to Tianjin, where he was apprenticed to a restaurant specializing in
stuffed buns.
A diligent and honest young man, he eventually opened a shop of his own. As his
stuffed buns tasted better and had a unique flavour, they attracted an increasing
number of customers. As time went by, his nickname became known far and
wide. Later, people changed "Dogy" to "Goubuli", which literally means "the
Dogy who doesn't talk", because he was often too busy to speak to his customers.
Then, eventually, his buns were called by the same name.
Today, with its main outlet located at Shandong Road, Heping District, the
Goubuli Bun Shop has developed into a corporation with 89 branch restaurants
opened in Tianjin and two dozen other Chinese cities, provinces and regions. In
addition to over 90 varieties of stuffed bun, its restaurants also offer more than
200 dishes.

Goubuli Dumpling Restaurant
No77 Shandong Street, Heping District, Tianjin

Gǒubùlǐ bāo zǐ - Steamed
Dumplings
狗不
理包
子

Gǒubùlǐ bāo zǐ - Steamed Dumplings
THIS DISH.
狗不理包子

6. Táng Húlu – Caramelized Fruits
Tanghulu is a traditional Chinese snack of candied fruit. It
originated from northern China, but it is now commonly available
in most Chinese cities, such as Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai. It
consists of fruits covered in hard candy on bamboo skewers that
are approximately 20cm long.
The two common names literally means "sugar bottle gourd" and
"rock sugar bottle gourd" respectively. The "sugar" or "rock sugar"
refers to the sugar coating, while the "bottle gourd" refers to the
slight resemblance of the snack to the shape of the gourd fruit.
Tanghulu typically has a hardened sugar coating that comes from
dipping the skewer in sugar syrup, but versions can also be found
with a second chocolate coating, or sesame sprinkles. Traditionally,
the fruit used has been Chinese hawthorn, but in recent times
vendors have also used various other fruits, such as cherry
tomatoes, mandarin oranges, strawberries, blueberries, pineapples,
kiwifruit, bananas, or grapes.

Táng Húlu – Caramelized Fruits
It is customary in Tianjin to eat tanghulu on the eve of
the Lunar New Year. The most popular tanghulu is
made of hawthorn berry. Hawthorn berries have their
seeds removed and are skewered on a thin bamboo
stick, then dipped in hot syrup. When they turn cool,
the stringed berries wrapped in crystallised sugar look
like beautiful stone beans pungently sweet and sour.
Sometimes, the hollowed hawthorn berries are filled
with red bean paste, walnut and melon seeds. Today, in
addition to hawthorn, a wide variety of tanghulu has
been developed, including water chestnut, tangerine,
apple, pear and crab-apple, etc.

History
Legends say that 800 years ago an emperor’s
concubine was sick and had very poor appetite. The
emperor was worried and called for the palace’s
doctor. The doctor prescribed ten (10) haws boiled
with crystal sugar before dinner. Within the next
fifteen (15) days she recovered completely.
Later on the doctor’s prescription was passed on to
ordinary people. People took haws and put them
into a stick and deep them in hot sugar syrup. The
syrup turned into crystal on top of the fruits.

糖
葫芦

THIS DISH.
糖葫芦

When talking about food in
Tianjin we can´t forget to
mention “Nán Shì Shí Pǐn Jiē”
Food Market because it
represents the finest example of
local food you can find
everywhere within city limits
and much more.

7. Nán Shì Shí Pǐn Jiē Food Mall
Completed within 100 days in 1984 and opened at the
beginning of 1985, the Tianjin Nanshi Food Mall,
where a variety of food shops converge, is a quadrate
divided into four quarters by a decussation with arc
glass roof, surrounded by a several meters high wall
with four gates of Qing Dynasty style, namely, the
south Zhenyu Gate (振羽门), the west Xingge Gate
(兴歌门), the north Zhongsheng Gate (中圣门) and
the east Huayu Gate (华腴门), the first Chinese
characters of which form the Chinese phrase “振兴中
华 (Revitalize China: Zhen Xing Zhong Hua)”.
Every day this palace-like food mall is always bustling
and colorfully decorated lanterns make the streets
blazing with light when the night falls.

Nán Shì Shí Pǐn Jiē - Food Mall
Along the streets of the food mall three-story buildings
can be seen, the second floor of which is connected by
an ambulatory, creating an interconnected way to
integrate the quarters. It is on the first floor to meet
snacks and cuisines from all corners of the country. So
far, there are over 100 food shops and restaurants
offering nice delicacies in the Nanshi Food Mall. From
Tianjin local snacks, Beijing roast duck, Guangdong
sea food, Sichuan hotpot, Muslim food, old Chinese
royal recipe…to western food such as Italian and
Russian dishes, it is usually hard for visitors to decide
which ones to eat.

天津
南市
食品街

VIDEO ABOUT HOW TO PREPARE THIS DISH.
天津南市食
品街

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Chinese Culture. Street Food from Tianjin.

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