Chief reporter of Jimu News Cao Lei
Photojournalist Li Hui
The "old Wuhan", who has a deep memory of the traditional early snacks in Jiangcheng, may find that there are more and more childhood meals that can be eaten in the streets and alleys now.
Since October, Jimu news reporters have visited the streets of wuhan's three towns and found that all kinds of Wuhan specialties and snacks, which were once difficult to find, are returning to the citizens.
Oily, crispy dumplings, glutinous rice chicken may already appear next to a snack bar outside your neighborhood; chopped buns, rice dumplings, amaranth noodle nests, maybe just outside a wet market or an ordinary stall outside an old neighborhood... What makes these Wuhan lingers start coming back too early? Jimu news reporters visited this.
Wuhan traditional breakfast: glutinous rice chicken
The prematureness of Wuhan Ling's childhood is no longer difficult to eat
On October 25, Ms. Wang, a citizen who lives on Youyi Road in Hankou, called Jimu News news and said that he discussed with netizens on social media about the topic of "the old snacks that Wuhan Ling ate as a child", and found that everyone had a new resonance, that is, many early snacks that were once difficult to eat, and now the streets of Wuhan are becoming more and more numerous: "Whether the taste is authentic or not, at least the appearance is there, you can solve the problem." ”
Ms. Wang said that in her discussions with friends, the most mentioned "return to childhood breakfast" mainly includes crisp dumplings, oil aroma, glutinous rice chicken, as well as rectangular rice dumplings, chopped steamed buns, noodle nests, and even rice dumplings, lotus sea, oil piers and so on. These old snacks familiar to the old Wuhan people have not only triggered collective memories, but also made people feel a lot of emotions because they were found to have returned.
Wuhan traditional breakfast: oil aroma
Following the discussion tips of Ms. Wang and her friends, since October 20, Jimu News reporters have traveled through the three towns of Wuhan and found wuhan old snacks in many places, both in old streets and alleys, next to old communities, as well as in commercial bodies and catering characteristic streets, and more ordinary breakfast restaurants scattered outside various communities, which have truly become traditional snacks around Wuhan people.
On the street near Hankou Youth Road, a shop selling oil incense often lined up in front of a long line, 2 yuan a price is not expensive, some citizens buy 3, 4. Ms. Wen, who came across the river from Wuchang, told reporters that when she grew up in Hankou when she was a child, what she missed most was a mouthful of old and premature taste, and after hearing about the place where authentic oil aroma and glutinous rice chicken were sold, she had to "eat it cool" at once.
The influencer effect makes old snacks the new darling
In Hankou Renshou Road, Zhongyi Road, Houhu South Road and other streets, some ordinary beef noodle restaurants, hot dry noodle restaurants and other breakfast restaurants, there are also oil aroma, glutinous rice chicken, chicken crown dumplings and other authentic old snacks in the fried and sold, the price ranges from 2 yuan to 3 yuan each, the business is quite good.
Wuhan traditional breakfast: oil aroma, glutinous rice chicken, noodle nest, fritters, rice dumplings
In a small street on Chongren Road in Hankou, the reporter also found traces of traditional chopped buns. The finished steamed bun has an old taste of crispy and chewy up and down, and the dough in the middle is soft and fragrant. And such chopped buns, which also appear in different places such as Hanyang West Avenue and Hankou Dongmei Street, are indeed no longer difficult to see.
Wuhan traditional snack: dumplings on Hankoukou Water Pagoda Street.
Master Liu, who has been doing glutinous rice chicken, dumplings and oil cakes near Hankou Baofeng Road for nearly 20 years, told reporters that in the past, he mainly did the old neighborhood business, but from 2019 onwards, more and more people came to the store to buy these traditional Wuhan early snacks, mainly young people, and this year has been too busy to come: "It should be because someone took a video of my scene of fried dumplings and glutinous rice chicken and posted it to the Internet, attracting more people to eat it!" Master Liu guessed.
Wuhan traditional snack: dumplings on Hankoukou Tower Street
Wuhan traditional snacks: Hankou Shanhaiguan Road food street, diners waiting for a pot of soda packets to come out
For the increasing phenomenon of traditional old snacks in Wuhan, Wang Yong, a catering observer, believes that a basic reason is the boost of the influencer effect: "In the era of mobile Internet social networks, the old taste of each city will naturally become the object of special interest of netizens, which also allows old snacks to become new darlings." ”
During the visit, the reporter also noticed that many traditional early snack stalls that are more prosperous in operation basically have a certain reputation on the Internet, which has also driven more Wuhan early snacks to slowly "go out of the circle", and the practitioners have also increased.
Standardized production overcomes the difficulties of high cost
Outside a beef noodle restaurant in Hankou All the Way, Boss Li, who specializes in cooking fried snacks, introduced that he went to Wuhan with friends to learn old snack making, and then started a business to do business: "Now there are more people who like to eat old taste, and these early can also be standardized to learn, and there will definitely be more people who do it." ”
Fuel cell membrane electrodes displayed at the 2021 Dongfeng Motor Brand Autumn Press Conference. Photo by Jimu news reporter Huang Zhigang
For such a statement, Master Wei, who has done wuhan early in the Hankou bronze portrait for more than 20 years, believes that in the past, wuhan people's childhood snacks were rare to find, and the important reason was that the production cost was high, the materials were relatively complex, it was time-consuming and laborious to do, the price could not be sold, and slowly no one was willing to inherit.
Wuhan traditional snack: steamed cake on the traffic road in Hankou
"Let's say glutinous rice chicken, if you really want to make a delicious old taste, you must use shiitake mushrooms, pork belly, diced bamboo shoots, and wood ear fungus as the main ingredient, and the glutinous rice must also be soft and rotten to taste good." Master Wei said that after all the ingredients are combined into glutinous rice balls, they must be kneaded with oil before cooking, and it is laborious and expensive to calculate casually, and the comprehensive cost is far more than ordinary fried breakfast: "If you sell glutinous rice chicken and oil fragrant old snacks expensive, it will affect sales, and it is likely to become a thankless choice." ”
In order to overcome the problem of high production costs, many catering training institutions have carried out standardized production of traditional old snacks with strong market-oriented consumer demand. "We came to Wuhan to learn this way of making, it is also fast to get started, the cost control is also good, and some ingredients can be purchased directly." Boss Li said that the old snacks in Wuhan themselves have their own traffic, basically do not worry about sales, and there are more people who learn to do it.
Old snacks are more important to the taste of the city and must pay more attention to quality
Relying on relatively standardized technology for cooking, riding on the east wind of the Internet to attract more consumer groups, the traditional old snacks of Wuhan people seem to be popular again. However, local catering experts believe that old snacks are the most authentic taste of the city, and when there is a promotion dividend, it is necessary to pay more attention to quality and taste, in order to attract the appetite of consumers, but also to achieve the city's fireworks flavor display through a mouthful of local taste.
Wuhan traditional snack: Rice cakes on the Food Street on Shanhaiguan Road in Hankou are popular
"If the cost of authentic ingredients is high, it may be possible to take a small and refined route, ensure taste and quality, and achieve profitability." In the interview, Master Wei believes that many people are willing to spend money on a delicious local snack, but they are not willing to spend money to eat snacks that are not authentic or even "smash the sign".
Catering experts also introduced that oil aroma, chopped buns, Huan XiTuo, glutinous rice chicken, as well as lotus sea, rice dumplings, noodle nests and other snacks, are Wuhan authentic early snacks, once indeed because of the high production costs and difficult to find on the street, even if there is, it may also be a "simple version", losing quality assurance, directly affecting the taste of food and the reputation of the store, it is certainly not worth the loss: "Wuhan's premature culture is famous throughout the country, practitioners must pay attention to quality, in order to ensure that the classics last for a long time." ”
Wuhan traditional breakfast: rice dumplings
For more exciting information, please download the "Jimu News" client in the application market, please do not reprint it without authorization, welcome to provide news clues, and pay as soon as you adopt it. 24-hour reporting hotline 027-86777777.