Liuzhou Luosifen

[liuzhou]

Here is the video of Zhang Yufei getting excited about Luosifen.

 

She says:

 

"I want to eat Luosifen."

 

Asked why she replies "The taste! The taste is delicious!"

 

 

 

Edited August 10, 2024 by liuzhou (log)

[liuzhou]

Great excitement in Liuzhou the last couple of days. Zhang Yufei, the Olympic swimmer who famously said after the last race of the Paris Olympics that she just wanted to eat Luosifen, paid a 'state visit' to Liuzhou. She has no family connection to the city, instead being from Jiangsu province, north of Shanghai.

 

She was feted by Liuzhou as the hero she is and presented with all sort of awards and gifts. In addition she visited some ethnic minority peoples and dressed up in their costumes to dance and play games with them.

 

She also got her Luosifen. Privately.

 

 

 

 

So, if you want to sample Luosifen at source all you need to do is say so on world-wide television. Oh! And it helps if you win eighteen gold medals, eight silver medals, and seventeen bronze medals by the time you're 26 years old. And hold the record for most Olympic medals for a Chinese athlete.

 

I've eaten my fair share of luosifen, but it has done nothing for my Olympic prowess.

 

Edited September 10, 2024 by liuzhou (log)

[liuzhou]

A journalist friend sent me this today. A list of the top 100 selling agricultural products in China. No. 4 is luosifen. It is also the no. 1 non-tea product.

 

Here is the top 37. I've used my phone's translation app to show you an approximation of the English meaning. It mistranslates luosifen though (as always). Also for some reason it often fails to translate 茶 at all. That is 'tea'.

 

Clearly some translations are gibberish. If you really want to know any, let me know and I'll see if I can do better. 

 

No. 24 is Pomelo Peel; not Agent Orange, the toxic herbicide notoriously used in by the US military in Vietnam as a defoliant in the 60s!. 

 

 

 

[KennethT]

How is the snail powder made?

[liuzhou]

1 hour ago, KennethT said:

How is the snail powder made?

 

Haha. ‘螺蛳 (luó sī) means the type of snail used in the dish, literally 'spiral (river) snail'. 

 

Powder here is the mistranslation. 粉 (fěn) can mean 'powder' but here is an abbreviation for 米粉 (mǐ fěn) which means 'rice flour', which is used to mean that the noodles are made from that.

A correct non-literal but pragmatic translation of luosifen would be 'spiral river snail rice noodles'.

 

 

Edited March 19 by liuzhou (log)

[liuzhou]

A couple of days ago, I posted my Liuzhou Luosifen Lunch on the lunch topic. I alluded to there being a bit of a story behind it. I was, in fact, eating lunch for a movie. Well, a three minute video.

A team of local medics and science types have been studying the health benefits of the city’s signature dish, now the top selling instant noodle in China. Not that I was eating the instant version, but the authentic 16 hour recipe. One of the team is one of the people I’ve known longest in Liuzhou – she is now the Director of the city CDC. She’s in the video wearing the white medical garb. No idea who the jerk in the yellow hat is!

 

 

I have attached the English translation of their report for anyone interested.

 

 

spicy-food-consumption-reduces-the-risk-of-ischaemic-stroke-a-prospective-study.pdf

Edited April 3 by liuzhou (log)

[SusieQ]

36 minutes ago, liuzhou said:

A couple of days ago, I posted my Liuzhou Luosifen Lunch on the lunch topic. I alluded to there being a bit of a story behind it. I was, in fact, eating lunch for a movie. Well, a three minute video.

A team of local medics and science types have been studying the health benefits of the city’s signature dish, now the top selling instant noodle in China. Not that I was eating the instant version, but the authentic 16 hour recipe. One of the team is one of the people I’ve known longest in Liuzhou – she is now the Director of the city CDC. She’s in the video wearing the white medical garb. No idea who the jerk in the yellow hat is!

 

 

I have attached the English translation of their report for anyone interested.

 

 

spicy-food-consumption-reduces-the-risk-of-ischaemic-stroke-a-prospective-study.pdf 672.73 kB · 0 downloads

I must be doing something wrong. Nothing happens when I copy that link and try to open it.  I am interested in the report. 
 

[Katie Meadow]

Brilliant, @liuzhou   A performance of great range and depth!

[liuzhou]

1 hour ago, SusieQ said:

I must be doing something wrong. Nothing happens when I copy that link and try to open it.  I am interested in the report. 
 

 

It works fine for me. It doesn't automatically open, but downloads to my downloads folder and offers me the option to open it. Do you have a PDF reader on your browser?

 

[liuzhou]

6 minutes ago, Katie Meadow said:

Brilliant, @liuzhou   A performance of great range and depth!

 

I'm booking my flight ticket for next year's Oscars!

[liuzhou]

Now, I can demonstrate my affinity with the locals and display my affection of my home city's signature dish by sporting this stylish Luosifen T-shirt, I just discovered on an online shopping channel.

 

Or perhaps not.

 

 

 

[Katie Meadow]

@liuzhou, that is hideous, and not in a good way.

[liuzhou]

1 hour ago, Katie Meadow said:

@liuzhou, that is hideous, and not in a good way.

 

I haven't met anyone who disagrees with you and neither do I.

It gets worse over here.

 

 

[Katie Meadow]

10 hours ago, liuzhou said:

 

I haven't met anyone who disagrees with you and neither do I.

It gets worse over here.

 

 

I would prefer not to.

[liuzhou]

I posted the Chinese version of the Luosifen and Health video above. Yesterday, we completed the English language version. Translated and narrated by the me.

 

 

 

[Tropicalsenior]

Thank you. That is a beautiful video and it is delightful to hear that after all your world travels you still have your delightful Scottish brogue.

[liuzhou]

9 minutes ago, Tropicalsenior said:

Thank you. That is a beautiful video and it is delightful to hear that after all your world travels you still have your delightful Scottish brogue.

 

People in Scotland don't think so. 

[liuzhou]

It's Armageddon!

 

Some morons have decided to launch this 

 

It's Luosifen (螺蛳粉) with added stinky tofu (臭豆腐). 

I like both, but separately!  A dreadful pairing! Even worse than pineapple on pizza!  

 

The ingredient list is mainly just a long chemistry set of food additives, and artificial flavourings.

 

 

Edited July 12 by liuzhou (log)

[liuzhou]

PressReader.com | River snail noodle magic hits town

 

I read this yesterday. Apparently good news for some people. A man from China (maybe) has opened a luosifen place in Christchurch, New Zealand. And thankfully a self-appointed Chinese food foodie has deigned to inform us all about it.

 

It starts of with the claim that when he visited the restaurant, he had to leave a couple of times to breathe fresh air because of the smell. In 30 years of eating luosifen in Liuzhou, I’ve never, ever seen anyone doing that. Locals of visitors. My daughter didn’t like the dish or its aroma, but she never ran out gasping.

 

He then goes on to tell us all about the dish. He claims it went viral after Covid. WRONG. The dish, in its instant form went viral during Covid, becoming China’s top selling instant noodle variety. Only after Covid did we see millions of Tok-Tok jokers descend on the city to try it at source and talk similar nonsense about it.

 

He then describes the dish. Beef and chicken bones are simmered for three hours with the snails. WRONG. Pork bones are simmered for a minimum of 12 hours, more often 16. He also states that the snails melt into the broth, so don’t appear in the final dish.

 

I first read this theory many years ago and doubted it then, so I bought some of the relevant snails and simmered them for 16 hours. They don’t melt at all. The meat turns into hard inedible balls so are removed, leaving behind the flavour.

 

He points out the dish is finished with a drizzle of chili oil. WRONG. More like a pool . It’s meant to be a spicy dish.

 

The the owner, who does sport a common Chinese family name joins in, claiming that all the ingredients are imported from China (although he doesn’t say from Liuzhou) before admitting that it is illegal to import the snails to New Zealand, so instead he dries Chinese snails (not necessarily the snails used in Liuzhou)* and powders it to add to his broth. The type of snail used are very specific to here and found in few places in China.

 

I get the impression that he has read the ingredients list on a bag of cheap instant luosifen and tried to recreate the dish using them. Beef is used in some brands to replace the snails.

 

He also mentions that he offers a snail free version! Luosifen without luosi? That makes as much sense as chicken free roast chicken or clam chowder with no clams.

 

I don’t recall any members here from New Zealand otherwise I’d be begging them to go to check the place out.

 

* As I’ve mentioned before ‘snail powder can be a mistranslation of luosifen. Luosi are the snails and fen can mean powder but is here an abbreviation of mifen meaning rice noodles.

 

They have also created a dysfunctional video for YouTube. Bah! Humbug!

 

 

Edited Thursday at 04:36 AM by liuzhou (log)