Guilin rice noodles, Liuzhou snail powder, nanning old friend powder is often referred to as the "three major rice noodles in Guangxi". Guilin rice noodles are not only a local delicacy, but many citizens have special feelings for Guilin rice noodles. Nowadays, in addition to rice noodle shops, there are more and more snail powder shops and old friend powder shops in Guilin. What are the characteristics of these three kinds of powder in the Guilin market, and what do the citizens think about it?
■Price competition
Speaking of the price of Guilin rice noodles, I believe many people will think that this is a kind of inexpensive food, and the price of five or six pieces can eat meat.
A few days ago, the reporter visited some rice noodle shops, snail powder shops and old friend powder shops in Downtown Guilin, and observed that the price of guilin rice noodles is the cheapest of the three kinds of flour. At present, the price of two or two brine vegetable powder is basically about 5-5.5 yuan, and the price of three fresh powder, beef brisket powder, etc. is relatively high, but the price of two or two is also about 7 yuan. Even with the addition of brine eggs, curd bamboo, sausages and other snacks, the price of each serving is about 2 yuan.
In a snail powder shop in Tongquan Lane, the price of one or two snail powder is 7 yuan, two or two 8 yuan, and three two 9 yuan. The price of duck claws, chicken feet, duck gizzards, duck wings, fat intestines and other brines ranges from two or three pieces to more than twenty pieces.
Subsequently, the reporter came to an old friend powder shop in Jiugangling, according to the amount of meat, two or two old friend powder is divided into 6, 8, 10 yuan three price points, additional pig offal, pork, beef, green vegetables and other side dishes need about 2-5 yuan.
■The store environment competes
According to the preliminary statistics of relevant departments, there are about 4,000 physical stores selling rice noodles offline in Guilin, of which there are more than 300 chain stores. The reporter found that in addition to the chain stores and some well-known Guilin rice noodle shops, the storefronts are relatively spacious and clean, and many rice noodle shops also have small stores and a bad dining environment.
Citizen Ms. Qin is an "old Guilin", when eating rice noodles, she does not care much about the shop environment, mainly to see whether the taste is suitable for herself.
Yang Zhengxiu is the owner of a rice noodle shop on Jiangan Road, and her rice noodle shop has opened several branches in Guilin. She said frankly that in general, the decoration of the snail powder shop is indeed better than that of the Guilin rice noodle shop, and most of the shops are bright, clean and air-conditioned. "Mainly because the price of rice noodles is low and the profit is thin, many merchants are reluctant to spend more money on decoration, they all feel that they can get by."
In her opinion, customers are more exquisite than in the past, so she has also installed air conditioning in the newly opened stores, and made the decoration better, hoping to provide customers with a better dining environment.
■Side dishes are competed
Although Guilin rice noodles, snail powder and old friend powder all have a variety of side dishes and ingredients, but judging by the powder on the table, the ingredients of snail powder will appear richer.
"Every time I eat snail powder, I feel that there is a big bowl, there are rotten bamboo, wood ear shreds, sour shoots, hollow cabbage, etc., if you add a duck claw and snail meat, it looks quite hearty." Ms. Liang, who lives on Qixing Road, said that the side dishes of rice noodles are relatively few, basically only beef, pot roast and various types of sauerkraut. "Although rice noodles can add sauerkraut, peppers and other condiments, but the amount of meat is not necessarily, some bosses are more generous, there is more meat in the powder, some shops may only have two or three pieces of meat, it feels not enough to eat."
At present, the side dishes of Guilin rice noodles on the market are mainly pot roast, brine beef, peanut rice or fried soybeans, and some shops also have brine sewage; the condiments are mainly capers, sour shoots, sour radish, peppers, green onions, etc., and some stores will also provide kelp, sour mustard and so on.
The side dishes of snail powder include rotten bamboo, sour shoots, fungus, peanuts, green vegetables, perilla, etc., and many stores also provide additional brine flavors such as skin duck claws, chicken feet, pork belly, honeycomb belly, fat intestines, duck gizzards, liantian, tripe, etc., and the variety is more abundant.
In addition to pork, beef, pork belly, pork liver, sausage, etc., the side dishes in Laoyou Powder also contain sour shoots, tempeh, sour peppers, minced garlic, tomatoes, etc.
The difference in ingredients also causes different tastes. The taste of snail powder and old friend powder is mainly sour and spicy, and the taste of Guilin rice noodles is relatively not too heavy, which also causes the audience of the three kinds of powders to be different in Guilin.
■Competition of types and production duration
Among Guilin rice noodles, snail powder, and old friend powder, Guilin rice noodles have the largest variety. In addition to brine powder, there are more than a dozen varieties such as horse meat powder, raw soup powder, lettuce powder, beef brisket powder, white fruit duck powder, sour and spicy powder, and pork knuckle powder. The snail powder and old friend powder in the Guilin market are basically soup powder, and dry snail powder is also a new type that has only appeared in the past two years.
Not only are there many types, Guilin rice noodles are also the most convenient and time-saving to eat. Yang Zhengxiu told reporters that compared with other powders, Guilin rice noodles have the highest meal rate, from cutting meat to adding brine, and then handing the powder to customers, the production time of a bowl of flour is about 15 seconds.
Chen Bainian, the owner of a snail powder shop in Tongquan Lane, introduced that from the powder to the customer, the production time of a bowl of snail powder is about 2 minutes.
Mr. Zhang, the owner of an old friend powder shop in Jiugangling, said that the powder and ingredients of the old friend powder need to be cooked freshly, so the time will be relatively long, about 3 minutes.
■ Cultural heritage competition
Among the "three major rice noodles in Guangxi", the cultural and historical heritage of Guilin rice noodles is undoubtedly the deepest.
According to legend, more than 2,000 years ago, when Qin Shi Huang sent troops to unify Lingnan, he built a spiritual canal in Xing'an, and the northern soldiers were not satisfied with the water and soil, and they were not accustomed to the rice in the south, and it was difficult to transfer grain from the north, so they tried to grind the rice into powder or pulp, and then processed it into later rice noodles. According to the "Half Wall Republic of China A Bowl of Flour", the term Guilin rice noodles was first seen in the Ming Dynasty's "Taiquan Township Ceremony". Guilin rice noodles are inherited from ancestors and carry the emotions and wisdom of the ancestors.
The brand of Guilin rice noodles was formed and flourished in the old Guilin City from the late Qing Dynasty to the Republic of China. During the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, a large number of foreign cultural celebrities and masses came to Guilin and gradually fell in love with Guilin rice noodles; after the end of the War of Resistance, they returned to their hometowns and spread the reputation of Guilin rice noodles to all parts of the country. Qin Huiyue, president of the Guilin Rice Noodles Association, said that Guilin rice noodles were carried forward during the Republic of China, and since then, rice noodles have also become one of the most mainstream foods in Guilin. In 2010, Guilin rice noodle making technology was selected into the third batch of representative projects of intangible cultural heritage at the autonomous region level, and in 2021, it was selected into the fifth batch of representative projects of national intangible cultural heritage.
In some literary works, you can also see the "figure" of Guilin rice noodles. Bai Xianyong's novels "Huaqiao Rongji" and "Yuqing Sister-in-law" vividly describe the Rongji rice noodle shop and the Hashengqiang horse meat rice noodle shop in Guilin. Liang Yusheng also has a detailed description of Guilin horse meat rice noodles in "Guangling Sword".
The history of old friend powder and snail powder is relatively short. According to information on the Guangxi Intangible Cultural Heritage Protection Network, Laoyou Powder, also known as Laoyou Noodles, is rumored to have been held in the early 20th century by a group of friends in the center of Yongcheng City who went to a tea house in the city every day to drink tea. One day, one of his friends was bedridden and relieved by the teahouse owner's special noodles. In order to thank the friends for their concern and the teahouse owner's creation of the healing appetizer noodles, the friend gave the plaque "Old Friends Often Come", and "Old Friends Noodles" got its name from then on. In 2008, Nanning Old Friend Powder was selected into the second batch of autonomous region-level intangible cultural heritage list.
Chen Bainian, who has been in the snail powder business for many years, told reporters that according to his understanding, snail powder arose around the 1980s. In 2008, the handmade technique of Liuzhou snail powder was selected into the second batch of the list of intangible cultural heritage of the autonomous region, and in 2021, it was selected into the fifth batch of national intangible cultural heritage representative projects.
Source 丨 Guilin Daily reporter Tang Jiyun
Produced by the New Media Center of Guilin Daily