Wenzhou Network News "Cold water ice, mosquito bites, climbing mountains, eating wheat cake..." Recently, a dialect version of Yongjia wheat cake rap, so that Wenzhou people familiar with wheat cake once again flooded the ripples of nostalgia.
At the 2020 World Yongjia People conference held in March this year, Wang Cailian, secretary of the Yongjia County Party Committee, strongly assisted the Nanxi "Xingxing" cloud platform live broadcast, promoted and purchased Yongjia Nanxi wheat cake on the spot, and made the wheat cake really fire.
From the dry food used to fill the hunger in the past, to the fashionable food that is now popular in the circle of friends, the wheat cake is the memory of Yongjia, the symbol of Wenzhou, and at the same time, wrapped in the quiet nostalgia condensed in the Nanxi mountains and rivers, the wanderers who go south and north are closely tied to their hometown.
Wheat cake, nostalgic memory of the wanderer
The distinctive and strong aroma of wheat cake is the strong taste of nostalgia and mother. Being able to taste a product is a kind of happiness for the wanderer.
Hu Jian, former executive deputy director of the Propaganda Department of the Provincial CPC Committee, was one of the outstanding representatives of Waiyongjia Xiangxian. Nowadays, he has less and less chance of eating wheat cakes when he lives in Hangzhou for a long time. Fortunately, although her elderly mother can use a pressure cooker to make fragrant wheat cakes, Hu Jian can find some childhood memories from it.
Hu Jian's memories of his youth stayed in the countryside of Yongjia. During the period when his grandmother's family lived, Hu Jian often had to go up the mountain to cut firewood, especially a few months before the Spring Festival, he had to go to a very far, high mountain to collect firewood for the New Year and cut some yellowed pine branches. Because these pine branches have been sunburned, rained and blown for a long time, they are very brittle, and the hand is broken as soon as it is broken, which is convenient for burning, and there is pine oil, which is particularly strong. However, it is not easy to bring home these picked up pine branches.
"To walk a long mountain road, the problem of eating must be solved in the mountains and forests, so bringing a wheat cake with you is the first choice." Hu Jian's impression was that in the busy agricultural season, he did some physical work such as going up the mountain to cut firewood and harvesting summer planting in the field, and it was impossible to stand without wheat cake. The old people said: "Eat wheat cake, climb the mountains", and in the food of that time, wheat cake was the most hungry.
"When the firewood is almost collected, it's time to eat, and I'll find a place with spring water to sit down, drink the spring water, and eat wheat cake." Looking back on that year, although he was poor, Hu Jian always smiled slightly. After work, the sweetness emitted by the rustic wheat cake can still be found on his face. "At this time, after working for half a day, my stomach was already hungry, and although the wheat cake I brought out was cold and a little stiff, it was still particularly fragrant and flavorful to eat."
Yongjia wheat cake is a food with a story. When he was a child, Hu Jian often heard stories about wheat cakes from adults: it is said that Yongjia wheat cakes have a history of more than 1,000 years, originating from Yongjia Huatan Village, created by Zhu's ancestors. During the Tang Dynasty, the ancestors of the Zhu family moved to Huatan Village, and in order to facilitate eating, they wrapped pickles and fresh meat with wheat flour and fried and grilled, which was widely popular because of its delicious taste, and slowly spread around and throughout the Wenzhou area. As a result, wheat cakes are becoming more and more famous and popular.
"A ball of flour, in the hands of a skillful housewife, will conjure up a variety of stuffed wheat cakes." After growing up, although he has traveled all over the country and tasted local cuisine, the wheat cake in his hometown is still Hu Jian's favorite. Although he has not made wheat cakes for a long time, he still remembers many of the delicacies of his production skills.
"For example, the most common plum vegetable with pork filling wheat cake, pork must be thin and fat, wheat cake baked out, lard seeped into the cake, plus the unique aroma of plum vegetables, that tempting, indescribable." Hu Jian said that in addition to plum vegetables and pork, the filling of shredded radish with meat is his favorite. The wheat cake is salty and fragrant, and the radish shreds are wrapped in a hint of sweetness, which makes the wheat cake salty and sweet.
Although he has lived in Hangcheng for a long time, Hu Jian pays special attention to every move of the development of his hometown. Hearing the news that the main leaders of the Yongjia County Party Committee and County Government personally commanded the wheat cake industry, he was happy in his heart: "Such a good wheat cake can be made into a big industry!" ”
"We must tell the story of wheat cake well, and where there is a story, there is culture." In addition to his joy, Hu Jian did not forget to bring a few suggestions from Towendu. He believes that now is the era of eating culture, and telling good stories is beneficial to the development of the wheat cake industry, and even makes diners taste more delicious. In addition, in the past, wheat cakes, as a staple food, were large and could be slightly improved to make it a snack food, which could not only reduce the sales price, but also move closer to the ranks of mass food.
"It's easy to preserve, and it's also a bottleneck that wheat cake needs to solve." According to Hu Jian's vision, through the rich Nanxi River style and fashionable packaging, wheat cake can be used as a festive gift, favored by consumers of all ages, and go to the whole country and even the world.
Wheat cake, homesickness of the merchants outside the warm
"Wheat cake is the aftertaste of childhood." When it comes to wheat cakes, Chen Guangsi, the 40-year-old secretary general of the Wenzhou Chamber of Commerce in Hangzhou, has endless words.
Chen Guangshi's hometown is located in the ancient village of Furong in YongjiaYantou. He has been working in Hangzhou since graduating from university. In his WeChat signature, he still retains such a sentence: "Nanxi grass people: holding the spirit of grassroots, carrying the feelings of wandering children."
"In the field, if you can eat a bite of Yongjia wheat cake, your heart is always warm." Due to work, Chen Guangshi will return to warm up almost every month. Whenever time permits, he will take the time to go back to his hometown with a few hibiscus wheat cakes.
In Chen Guangshi's memory, during the New Year's Festival, the family would make wheat cakes to eat. For rural families who are slightly poorer, making wheat cakes is a luxury, not to mention buying meat, it takes most of the day just to roll the noodles and roll the noodles, so it must be rich and idle.
The baked wheat cake was taken out of the jar, and a smell of wheat came to the nose. Now that I think about it, it's all hungry. "There are four brothers and sisters in the family, Chen Guangshi is the oldest. But at that time, wheat cake was a good thing, and one person could only get one at most. "When the wheat cake is ready, we will give it to the elders to taste together, and even entrust someone to bring it to relatives and friends in the city."
Since going to Hangzhou, the inconvenience of transportation has made it more difficult for Chen Guangshi to often eat the taste of his hometown. After work, whenever he returns to his hometown, even if the family does not make wheat cakes, Chen Guangshi will go to the wheat cake stall on the side of the road to buy a solution.
There are many Yongjia people who live and work in Hangzhou, and there are not a few people who miss their hometown wheat cakes like Chen Guangshi. Once, someone heard that a new wheat cake shop had opened near Hangzhou East Bus Station, and as soon as the news came out, it attracted a large number of Yongjia people to run to taste the early adopters.
Wheat cake is also an indispensable delicacy for gatherings in Hangyongjia people. Chen Guangshi remembered that more than ten years ago, they organized a gathering of fellow villagers in Hangzhou and prepared more than a dozen tables. In order to organize the party well, he specially entrusted people to bring 50 wheat cakes from his hometown.
"The people in the hometown do a good job in the morning, take a long-distance bus at noon, and send it to Hangzhou before the dinner." Chen Guangshi said with a smile that the logistics at that time was far less efficient than now. In order to ensure freshness and deliciousness, the wheat cake was made on the same day and delivered on the same day, and they also sent someone to the bus station in Hangzhou to squat and bring the wheat cake to the party site as quickly as possible.
In Hangzhou, authentic wheat cake shops are indeed rare to see. Chen Guangshi said that there were compatriots who could make wheat cakes who opened wheat cake shops in Hangzhou, but most of them failed due to poor taste. In the final analysis, you still can't buy authentic pickles, dried vegetables and other raw materials for making wheat cakes in Hangzhou.
Chen Guangshi's eldest brother also lives in Hangzhou. "Sometimes he wants to eat wheat cake, so he buys some good pork himself, and then mails some pickles and dried vegetables from his hometown to Hangzhou and makes it himself." However, the big brother's wheat cake is a "private snack", generally only on weekends to invite friends to taste, not takeaway.
Chen Guangshi also told an interesting story: a professor from Zhejiang University in Wenzhou who is over sixty years old is his close friend. Once, Chen Guangshi planned to send some wheat cakes to the professor, so he called to ask for his address. The professor thought that he was entrusted by his fellow villagers to do things, but repeatedly refused. And when he learned that it was a friend who sent wheat cakes, he hurriedly told Chen Guangshi the address and thanked him one after another, "It's so good, there are wheat cakes to eat!" ”
"Eating wheat cake now is not only to fill your stomach, but also to think about your hometown and your past life." In Chen Guangshi's view, thousands of Yongjia people who are out and about to go south and north will think of the wheat cakes in their hometown whenever they miss their hometown. Once, he posted a few photos in the circle of friends, in which he held a wheat cake made by his second brother. For a time, the circle of friends was praised countless times, and some people mobilized Chen Guangsec to sell wheat cakes.
Since the people of Waiyongjia miss the taste of wheat cake so much, why don't the family members in their hometown make wheat cakes? This is not only a good way to increase income, but also relieves the nostalgia of wanderers.
Under the mobilization of Chen Guangshi, his second brother opened a wheat cake shop in his hometown of Furong Village. In addition to supplying tourists, small shops are mainly based on e-commerce to meet the needs of people in Wenzhou. "The second brother goes to the market early every morning to buy fresh meat. A phone call or a WeChat, dozens of orders for wheat cakes will continue to come. Many of the people in Hangyongjia who are familiar with Chen Guangshi have become the old patrons of the second brother's cake shop.
In 2018, following the practice of its hometown, the Hangzhou Wenzhou Chamber of Commerce set up a love fu tea in Hangzhou. Chen Guangsisi said that last year, during the two-month love tea activity, they also organized hundreds of wheat cakes made by villagers in Hangzhou for firefighters to taste.
Source: Wenzhou Metropolis Daily
Reporter Zhu Bin