If you often brush Xiaohongshu, you will find that it is no longer popular to accept European bags, and the popular is - new Chinese steamed buns!
Let's take a look at the photos of the new Chinese steamed buns for a shallow experience:
Little Red Book @ Just a bite of tomato
For a while, I couldn't tell whether it should be called a new Chinese steamed bun or a new Chinese bread, in fact, this is a steamed bun with a "face" on the bread, right?!
New Chinese steamed buns
It looks like bread and eats steamed buns
Mantou is originally Chinese, so how many meanings does it mean to add a "new" word called new Chinese? After looking around, I finally understood.
New Chinese steamed buns generally have the following characteristics:
1. Different from the simple white-faced steamed buns we are familiar with, the appearance is more fancy and whistle, and you think it is bread at a glance.
2. The storefront is also decorated like a bakery, more exquisite.
3. It is more popular online, and most of the interests are young people.
A well-known new Chinese steamed bun shop in Hangzhou | Little Red Book @ Ah Hua Three Points Sweet
Salted egg super taro steamed bun roll, banana cocoa peanut steamed bun roll, osmanthus taro puree bagel steamed bun, Earl Grey tea soufflé steamed bun, wild blueberry bagel steamed bun, pumpkin cheese bacon steamed bun... If I hadn't seen the word steamed buns, I would have thought I was in a bakery. Both in name and appearance, it is very similar to bread.
New Chinese Mantou | Little Red Book @ Chengdu Sweet Handmade
Although it looks like bread, it has a familiar steamed bun flavor in your mouth, so some shopkeepers will write eye-catching slogans: "Just steamed buns, don't expect too much!" "The shape of the new Chinese steamed bun is undoubtedly attractive, but no matter how good it is, it is essentially the taste of steamed buns. For Chinese, who are all too familiar with steamed buns, if you buy with too high expectations, you may be disappointed when you eat it.
In addition to looking like bread, the store directly gave a combination of new Chinese steamed buns + coffee, which is even more indistinguishable from the bakery.
New Chinese steamed bun with coffee | Little Red Book @ Yue Mantou steamed buns
In the end, whether it is steamed buns or bread is not what everyone cares about the most, what everyone cares about the most is - price.
Compared with the bakery's dozen pieces of bread, the price of new Chinese steamed buns is indeed much cheaper, with an average price of 3~8 yuan per piece, but it is still expensive compared to traditional white steamed buns.
The price of the steamed buns themselves, combined with the bakery packaging – each steamed bun enjoys individual packaging, a name that sounds like bread plus an English translation (or pinyin), accompanied by drinks and coffee – can easily make the unit price of a single customer easily exceed 30 yuan. So, how many people will buy back because of the new Chinese steamed buns who consume on a whim because of their appearance? It's really hard to say.
Not only the store, but also the wind direction of the handmade circle has been changed to "the end of the handmade is steamed buns". In fact, rua fancy steamed buns are not a new thing, everyone must have seen it before, but the fancy steamed buns seen before are not the appearance of bread, more cartoon shapes.
There are also historical flower buns in Shanxi, Henan, Shandong, Shaanxi and other places, all of which contain a strong imagination and creativity. It seems that liking to "play steamed buns" is engraved in our Chinese bones.
Flowers and green buns | Figureworm Creative
Mantou diet method
Very discouraged, do not follow the trend
Buns are sought after on social media such as Xiaohongshu, in addition to appearance, but also because many people think that "steamed buns are clean carbs, you can lose weight by eating this" - they think that compared to bread, steamed buns do not put sugar and oil, so they are very "clean".
Breakfast: 1 steamed bun, lunch: 1 steamed bun, dinner: 1 steamed bun, and then say that he lost several pounds in a week.
Mantou diet | Image from Little Red Book
The wind of "steamed bun weight loss" is quite strong, and many people who want to lose weight are eager to try. Eating like this, it is indeed possible to be thin, but it belongs to malnutrition-type weight loss, which will bring serious health problems, and it is very discouraged! Moreover, even if you can lose weight in this way, it is not because the steamed buns are "clean carbs", but because you eat less and consume less total calories.
Eating only steamed buns for three meals a day, and only ingesting a single nutrient, will cause malnutrition, make people have low immunity, less muscle, listlessness, and are prone to a variety of chronic diseases. Health is much more important than weight loss, and if you really want to lose weight, you still have to rely on long-term adherence to balanced nutrition.
Also, Is steamed bun really the so-called "clean carb"?
If the standard of "clean carbs" is sugar-free and oil-free, then traditional white steamed buns can still be counted.
However, the "new Chinese steamed buns" and "clean" that are infinitely close to bread are not stained at all. Not to mention the various fillings such as jam, tahini, brown sugar, and cream added for good looks and seasoning, some even look not only high in sugar but also high in salt - such as fancy steamed buns such as meat floss and bacon.
The recipe for a certain steamed bun roll shared by netizens, sugar and oil, etc. should be added | Image from Little Red Book
Therefore, "new Chinese steamed buns", in the end, is still refined carbs mixed with sugar and oil, so let's treat it as a snack.
And even if it is coarse grain steamed buns, some will add white sugar and oil for taste. The best is still whole wheat steamed buns without sugar and oil, but it depends on whether you are used to eating ... Personally, I think whole-wheat steamed buns are a little more delicious and softer than whole-wheat bread.
In short, it is still that sentence, do not eat a single diet, but eat with balanced nutrition.