Guangxi Gastronomy

[liuzhou]

In order to show some of the food available in local restaurants, this video is nine minutes of ads on the main food delivery app in China, Meituan's version covering Liuzhou, Guangxi. For obvious reasons, it's all in Chinese, but you get to see the food.

 

 

 

[Kerala]

What's the white stuff in Coke looking bottles? Seen at the beginning of the video.

[Kerala]

Overwhelming choice. I would be happy to spend a year working through that!

[liuzhou]

17 minutes ago, Kerala said:

What's the white stuff in Coke looking bottles? Seen at the beginning of the video.

 

豆奶 (dòu nǎi) - Soya Milk.

 

 

[liuzhou]

  

4 minutes ago, KennethT said:

Other than luosifen, what is characteristic about the food from Guangxi?  It seems (based on previous orders) to be similar to Hunan, right?  It seems to be located kind of in between Hunan and Chongqing/Sichuan.  Also, is the food in Guizhou similar to Sichuan as it is geographically closer?

 

Liuzhou and the rest of northern Guangxi is heavily influenced by Hunan cuisine. The south much more by Cantonese.

 

As to the connection between Sichuan-Guizhou-Hunan, I'd say you are correct. There is sort of continuum between them, but Hunan is still very different from Sichuan.

Many 'Sichuan' ingredients are actually grown in Guizhou, although I'd say Guizhou cuisine is closer to Hunan, at least in the parts of Guizhou I've been to. I think that it is mainly the influence of the ethnic minority populations' cuisines. Hunan and Guizhou (and Guangxi) are much more influenced by that than Sichuan is.

 

The overall flavours of Hunan and Guizhou are generally heavier, more vinegary etc than Sichuan's, although there are exceptions.

 

That's my quick off-the-cuff answer but I'll think more and maybe elaborate later.

 

 

[liuzhou]

This past week has been a holiday for most people in China and it seems that 90% of the 1.4 billion population has crowded into Liuzhou!

 

With crowds drawn by Luosifen initially, the city has become a wider gastronomic destination. People are piling in everywhere with long lines and waits of up to two hours outside most of the hundreds of luosifen shops.

 

All over Chinese social media are videos of people lining up to sample the delights of rice noodles in snail broth. The snails are moving faster than the lines.

 

The line outside my favourite, near my home, is now one of the longest and the locals' gruntle is decidedly dissed. We can't get our own food anymore!

 

 

Above is about 1/16th of the line. The shop has seating for 8 people.

 

But it's worse than that.

 

青云 (qīng yún) means 'clear sky' but is also the name of the city's oldest and largest street market and one of my favourite haunts.

 

Over the last week it has turned into purgatory.

 

Thousands of tourist sheep are cramming themselves into the narrow streets in search of 'authentic' Guangxi street food. 

 

 

No one can do their regular shopping there anymore.

 

Hopefully, they'll all go home this weekend, but perhaps not.

 

🔥🔥🔥

 

 

Edited February 16, 2024 by liuzhou (log)

[liuzhou]

Here is Qing Yun market in more normal times.

 

 

 

[liuzhou]

Local media is now reporting a 3 hour 40 minute wait in line for a bowl of Luosifen and still they're coming. Idiots.

 

 

 

[liuzhou]

In 2012, Liuzhou held an event they titled "10,000 People Eat Luosifen".

 

There weren't 10,000 people in attendance; numbers can be a bit fluid in Chinese. It just meant 'a lot'.

 

However, it may have been prophetic. Thousands of people have been visiting over the last week's holiday for the Chinese New Year, specifically to eat luosifen and other local specialties.

 

Today, the stores selling luosifen which I passed were full, but the 3 - 4 hour wait lines had gone.

 

Damn! I had vaguely planned to go out wearing my commemorative baseball cap from the 2012 event and sell it to the highest bidder.

 

There can't be many still surviving - I'm not  the baseball cap type, so mine has seldom been worn.

 

I'm sure it's a desirable collectors' item now and these idiots will buy anything.

 

Now I'll need to wait till the next holiday - May 1st.

 

 

 

 

[liuzhou]

Final news. Liuzhou authorities just released an official report stating that the city saw over 6 million visitors over the past week.

 

Given that all overnight stays in hotels etc are registered with the police, the figures are probably fairly accurate. 

[liuzhou]

I'm putting this here as it seems to fit and doesn't belong anywhere else. Nor do I think it deserves a new topic of its own.

 

The 'all you can eat buffet concept' is universal I think, although I generally avoid it. You have no idea how long that food has been sitting there.

 

But this Guangxi style AYCE restaurant here in Liuzhou seems to be doing just fine.

 

 

 

Edited June 17, 2024 by liuzhou (log)

[donk79]

People are dining at the buffet?  Do they move from dish to dish?  Or do they "fill their plate" then stop wherever is handy?

[liuzhou]

2 hours ago, donk79 said:

People are dining at the buffet?  Do they move from dish to dish?  Or do they "fill their plate" then stop wherever is handy?

 

No. They sit where you see them sitting. Wait staff bring them bowls of noodles in broth* and then they add ingredients of their choice from the dishes in the centre of the long table. These are repeated along the length of the table and are replenished as required. More broth is available on request.

 

* The women in the striped apron top right of the image is bringing some one a bowl of noodles.

 

 

[liuzhou]

On 11/9/2022 at 1:07 PM, Katie Meadow said:

how do you commit fraud with a mitten crab?

 

Just over two years later, the crab scams are apparently blossoming again, despite the precautions.

 

Here is an in-depth look.

 

Inside China’s Murky Hairy Crab Industry | The World of Chinese 

 

 

Edited January 24 by liuzhou (log)

[Katie Meadow]

20 hours ago, liuzhou said:

 

Just over two years later, the crab scams are apparently blossoming again, despite the precautions.

 

Here is an in-depth look.

 

Inside China’s Murky Hairy Crab Industry | The World of Chinese 

 

 

Thanks! I've been waiting over two years for an answer. Okay, not really. In fact, I don't even remember posting about them. But due to the link I believe I know more tham most people on Earth about them. Well, not counting people in China. Do they taste as good as the article makes them seem?

[liuzhou]

1 hour ago, Katie Meadow said:

Thanks! I've been waiting over two years for an answer. Okay, not really. In fact, I don't even remember posting about them. But due to the link I believe I know more tham most people on Earth about them. Well, not counting people in China. Do they taste as good as the article makes them seem?

 

In my opinion, they're very good, but not worth that level of attention. Maybe I'm just a philistine.

 

 

[liuzhou]

Back a couple of pages in this post, I mentioned 沙肠虫 (shā cháng chóng), sand worms. Since then I have made their acquaintance.

 

(Unfortunately, I can't edit the original post to add the image.)

 

They're OK, but I wouldn't make a special trip to get 'em.

[Smithy]

On 10/31/2022 at 5:42 AM, liuzhou said:

9. 蛇 (shé)

 

蛇 (shé) – snakes are eaten all over Asia and Africa. Rattlesnakes are eaten in the USA , I’m told. I first ate snake in Italy in 1967. But no one eats more than the Chinese, especially in Hong Kong. And most of the snakes eaten in China (including HK) originate in Guangxi. About 250 km, 155 miles south-east from Liuzhou is the city of Wuzhou which is snake central. A snake repository has existed here for decades and snakes caught all over end up there for identification before being consumed. Originally the repository  was set up to study snakes and to supply Cantonese restaurants, but recently it has been renamed and seems to have become a sort of snake theme park.

A few years go, I made the acquaintance of a retired chef from one of the local hotel restaurants. Once a year, in retirement, he would take over the kitchen of a local restaurant and invite a bunch of people for dinner. The theme of his meal was always the same – snake. Eight or nine different dishes featuring different snakes. Utterly delicious. He has since passed away. Nothing to do with the snakes.

 

Most people here are terrified of snakes. I tell them that snakes are generally shy and will avoid encounters with man, but if trapped or feel threatened may bite. And I tell them that they aren’t all poisonous, but they adopt the kill first and ask questions later strategy. One friend has no such qualms.

Doesn’t stop people eating them, though In fact, the poisonous ones are considered the best (cooking renders the venom ineffective). Pythons are particularly desirable but I’ve also eaten cobras and boa constrictors.

Snake soup is a feature of many wedding banquets as it is, for obvious reasons, thought of as a virility symbol, “guaranteeing” that the first born shall have a penis!

Snake soup served at wedding banquet - The first-born was indeed a boy!

Snakes are sometimes sold in the markets, where they are kept safely in cages. Rarely sold in supermarkets. I occasionally see people selling them on the streets just in sacks. Every year or two someone selling snakes gets bitten and dies.

Caged  snakes in my local market

Snake is used in restaurants as is any other meat. Stewed, stir-fried, etc. Here is one stir-fried dish with Sichuan flavours as served in local restaurant.

 

Also, snake wine is popular, especially with older generations (as it is throughout SE Asia). A venomous snake (or several) will be inserted into a bottle or jar of wine. The wine is then considered to have therapeutic effects on a range of complaints. Care is needed though. Many snakes are able to go into a catatonic state when stressed or trapped and can live for months on little air after seeming to be dead. They occasionally revive and bite wine drinkers. People have died!

 

Chinese  snake wine.

 

Now that I think about it, I recall wine (or maybe grappa) with snake in it on that same 1967 Italian trip.

 

Finally, No, it doesn't taste Ike chicken! It tastes like whatever type of snake it happens to be.  Some are mildly flavoured; others can be quite gamy.

P.S. I was born in the Year of the Snake which may have a bearing on my love of the meat.

 

A series of posts in the current Dinner topic referred to eating snake, and you pointed out this post. It gives me the chance to ask: since we are now in the Year of the Snake, does that tilt the menu toward or away from eating snake?

[liuzhou]

D

40 minutes ago, Smithy said:

 

A series of posts in the current Dinner topic referred to eating snake, and you pointed out this post. It gives me the chance to ask: since we are now in the Year of the Snake, does that tilt the menu toward or away from eating snake?

 

Not at all. The 'animal' in the year name is not part of most menus. Indeed, two of the twelve are illegal to eat: tiger and monkey. One (dragon) is mythical. Rat is not eaten much, at all. The remainder could be on the menu but are not considered essential in any way.

 

Ox (beef), Rabbit, Snake, Horse, Goat (or sheep*), Rooster (chicken), Dog and Pig are all possible though.

 

Fish, not one of the twelve, is usual as it represents longevity.

 

* Chinese doesn't usually distinguish between the two.

 

 

Edited yesterday at 04:19 AM by liuzhou (log)