Wonderful content, all in the "kanjian"!
As a Zhejiang native, Shaxian snacks are my childhood memories.
Every time I was in a hurry, I would not hesitate to choose Shaxian snacks, not only because there were stores in each neighborhood, and the taste difference was not much; but also because the food was fast, a can of soup, a fried powder, a cage of steamed dumplings, and the battle was solved within ten minutes.
▲The picture comes from the Internet
And the boss will kindly yell through the glass door how much spicy, whether to onion or not; the boss lady will guard the big steamer at the front desk, slowly wrapping taro dumplings.
It's like eating at a relative's house, there is no high-end cuisine, no radiant store decoration, and no attentive waiter, but it is very reassuring and addictive.
Shaxian is a small county in the northwest of Fujian Province, which has a development history of 1600 years since the establishment of the Eastern Jin Dynasty. Because of its developed transportation and merchants, it was once an important commodity distribution center in northwest Fujian and was called "Jinsha County".
The inhabitants of Shaxian County, who are actually descendants of the ancient Han chinese in the Central Plains, moved south on a large scale after the Yongjia Rebellion in the Western Jin Dynasty. Therefore, many snacks in Shaxian still maintain the characteristics of ancient Han food culture, and even corroborate with the records in ancient books.
For example, the traditional practice of "Shaxian plate duck" is consistent with the records in the Zhou Li and Li Ji that "cinnamon and ginger are chopped and sprinkled on the meat, salted, and finally dried or roasted".
Shaxian people make tofu with overnight old pulp water to "light pulp", unlike other places with plaster or salt brine. This practice is consistent with the practice of Bagongshan in Huainan, Anhui, the birthplace of tofu.
Today, 39 varieties of Snacks in Shaxian Have been identified as "Chinese Famous Snacks", and the production process of Shaxian Snacks has also been included in the list of intangible cultural heritage of Fujian Province.
Knowing these and eating Shaxian snacks, each bite contains a long history and the wisdom of the working people, and the products are always new.
Shaxian snacks look ordinary on the surface, but the story of birth is very magical.
In the 1980s, Shaxian was vigorously carrying out the old city renovation campaign, because the construction of houses required a lot of money, ordinary families could not afford it, so the "standard meeting" that disappeared for many years after the founding of the People's Republic of China made a comeback.
▲ Shaxian County, which was under construction in 1981
The so-called standard meeting, is a kind of private fund-raising method in fujian in the early years, borrowing money from the standard meeting is called "calling the standard", which is more convenient than the bank, and for the "preferential treatment" of blood and geography, the interest that needs to be paid is also less.
In the 1990s, a man named Deng Shiqi opened two shops, and in order to earn a little interest, he borrowed a lot of money from relatives and friends to invest in the bidding meeting.
▲ Deng Shiqi
A few years later, when the store expanded, he "called for a bid" and borrowed money from the bid club. However, within a few days after the bid was called, the presidents of the 29 bid meetings that Deng Shiqi participated in absconded with money, not only could not borrow money, but also did not return the money that had been invested before.
In this way, within a few years of the rise of gambling in the local area, the standard association collapsed. Deng Shiqi sold the shop and still carried more than 100,000 foreign debts, and in desperation, he could only flee to avoid debts.
Mr. and Mrs. Deng Shiqi fled to Xiamen with Mandarin duck pots and mallets, and when they first arrived, they were unaccompanied, and the first way they thought of making a living was to open a snack bar in Kaisha County. They used plastic sheets to prop up sheds, lit two stoves, and sold flat meat, noodles and tea eggs, earning three or four hundred yuan a day.
At that time, it coincided with the gap in the catering market, in 1994 there were nearly 1.2 billion people in the country, but there were only more than 40,000 catering enterprises, and roughly calculated, each restaurant had to provide catering services for more than 25,000 people.
At the same time, China's people at the bottom have turned from political enthusiasm and thrown themselves into the torrent of business and wealth. These migrants have become the main consumer group of Shaxian snacks, and the sinking positioning of Shaxian snacks as "cheap and delicious, serving the people" is a one-shot and mutual support.
Mr. Fei Xiaotong mentioned the "differential order pattern" in "Native China": self-centered, thrown into the water like a stone, and formed social relations with others.
In China's acquaintance society, Deng Shiqi made money making snacks, and his relatives and friends naturally became the second wave of people who did the same business. These people continue to influence those around them, and the ripples of water ripple after ripple, covering the whole county. Soon everyone in ShaXian knew that going out to open ancestral snack bars could make money.
This "differential order pattern" is embedded in the market economy, forming a unique state of "hometown and industry", condensing powerful forces, helping each other, creating an amazing industrial chain, and even monopolizing the market.
▲The national distribution of snacks in Shaxian County
The image comes from Baidu Maps
More and more people in Shaxian county have made money selling snacks, so that the Shaxian government can see the huge energy contained in it, and also realize that this snack team has defects such as poor equipment and uneven technology.
In order to transform this "guerrilla" into a "regular army", in 1997, with the support of the county party committee and the county government, the Federation of Industry and Commerce took the lead in establishing the Shaxian Snack Industry Association to train the cooking skills and management capabilities of Shaxian snack practitioners. The government building also set up a special "Shaxian Snack Office" with a formal establishment.
The trademark of the classic "Pac-Man" was also registered at this time.
Under the overall coordination of the guild, Shaxian snacks can always balance the tastes of various places when entering the new market, and use the shortest time to overcome the dissatisfaction of water and soil - Lu cuisine is salty, Qingdao's Shaxian snacks put more salt; Yunnan vegetables are spicy, Kunming's Shaxian snacks often add red hot sauce; Cantonese cuisine is fresh, guangzhou's Shaxian snacks are less used in sauce dipping sauce.
The tree is a big wind, and the red fire of Shaxian snacks has naturally attracted a lot of "piracy". According to Xinhua News Agency, there are more than 50,000 Shaxian snacks in the country, but only more than 20,000 have been certified by the Shaxian Snack Association.
For the "cottage" store, the government is also turning a blind eye, after all, it has taken the low-end route, and the cottage will not be worse, but will help expand the brand influence.
It can be said that Shaxian snacks can achieve national hegemony, which is inseparable from the wise vision, strong courage and comprehensive strategy of the Shaxian Government.
Surprisingly, there is no "Shaxian Snacks" chain store in Shaxian County. A few shops with "Shaxian Snacks" signs are just ordinary snack bars that have "rubbed heat" in recent years.
Not only that, the local people in Shaxian prefer tofu balls, rice jelly, plate duck, and roasted wheat, rather than the "standard four" we think of - stew pots, steamed dumplings, wontons, and mixed noodles.
There will even be locals who will tell you: "We Shaxian people don't eat steamed dumplings at all!" ”
▲ Burnt / Picture from the Internet
They often drink only sour and spicy soup and beef soup, rather than delicate and rich stew pots.
In fact, steamed dumplings and stew pots are closer to the preferences of Fuzhou and Guangdong, and these two stops happen to be the first footholds of Shaxian snack conquest of the whole country, so it is not surprising to leave a mark on the menu.
▲The snack menu of Shaxian County, which is common in the country
▲Menu of local snacks in Shaxian County
The locals are still most popular with flat meat and tofu balls.
Flat meat is a thin and slippery ravioli, which is made of wooden sticks to beat the tightest lean meat on the pig's hind legs into a meat paste, and then uses the clear soup made of pig skull and pig keel as a soup, which is delicious and smooth.
Tofu balls are made by mixing fresh tofu with egg, ginger juice, tapioca flour, pepper and other ingredients, stirring into a paste in a basin, and then scooping up with a tablespoon and wrapping it into the minced meat. After cooking, the entrance is tender and fragrant. There are also meat fillings wrapped in balls, or soups cooked with red mushrooms, which are soft and sticky in taste, which is very special.
Nowadays, Shaxian Snacks takes "brand preservation, quality improvement and innovation" as the main line, and strides into overseas markets with its head held high. At present, it has taken root in more than 50 countries and has a high degree of recognition.
In 2019, France's first Sand County snack opened in Courbevoie, Paris, and the scene was hot and full. In addition to the "standard four", the "chicken stuffed flat meat" for the taste of the French was also introduced.
▲The picture comes from the "Minshang Bao" Weibo
Later, the Portuguese shop opened and also launched the "fried flat meat" and "fried spring rolls" that the local residents of Bordeaux like to eat "according to local conditions".
The first Shaxian snack bar in the United States was "forced" to close for three hours on the first day of opening because of too many customers; Japan's first Shaxian snack was also "door to door", and the queues were turned to another street.
▲The picture comes from Pear Video
Although the Shaxian snacks that go abroad are also "good", they may not be "cheap" in fact.
In New York, a serving of noodles costs $3 (about 21 yuan) and steamed dumplings cost $5.99 (about 42 yuan); in Japan, it costs 480 yen (about 30 yuan) for both noodles and stew pots; and in Portugal, noodles and flat meat are each 5.9 euros (about 47 yuan).
Some shopkeepers said that Shaxian snacks should be regarded as high-end restaurants, and there are many foreign diners who come here.
In particular, the town's treasure, the exquisite "willow leaf eyebrow" steamed dumplings, is treated as a work of art by foreign diners, with a conservative estimate of selling 1500 a day.
Shaxian snacks not only feed Chinese, but also show the unlimited potential of Chinese snacks to the world.
Today's Shaxian snacks have about 240 varieties, if you eat one a day, you can eat for 8 months without repeating the sample.
▲The picture comes from Xinhua Net
No one can imagine that such a prosperous world originated from Deng Shiqi's green and astringent attempt with flat meat, mixed noodles, and tea eggs more than twenty years ago.
The market is developing rapidly, and theories used to explain various economic and social phenomena are endless, but the first person to step out at that time just wants to live their own life with all their strength.
Shaxian snacks carry the huge network of people in Chinese towns, carry the industriousness and bravery of the people and government in the last century, ride the wind and waves so far, stand firm with warmth and simplicity, and will continue to go hand in hand with the times, and strive to become the pride of China's catering industry.
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