Bread in China

[liuzhou]

I’ve said this before and I’ll likely say it again because it bugs me. If you are coming to China for any reason and are partial to the occasional sandwich, unless you are in Beijing or Shanghai, you will be out of luck.

 

Most Chinese don’t know what bread is, They think they do but are very mistaken. What passes for bread here is 99% of the time cake. Bread shaped cake. Breadalike.

 

China’s breads are almost all steamed rather than baked. So I’d like to introduce you to some of what I can buy anywhere but never do (and a few exceptions).

 

 

I’ll start with 馒头 (mán tou), probably the most common. This is a steamed roll made from the same dough as 包子 (bāo zi), bao buns, but unfilled and often sweetened with sugar.

 

Occasionally, they are coloured using vegetable (or artificial) dyes. depending on what colouring agent is used, these may or mat not taste any different from the plain ones.

 

 

Images from Meituan online shopping app,

 

 

[liuzhou]

Like slice of toast with your breakfast? You could use your phone translation app to ask for toast in a restaurant. You won’t get it though unless you are in a hotel breakfast room or restaurant catering to foreigners.

 

All the translation apps translate toast as 土司 (tǔ sī). This, as you can see, is a sound-alike loanword from the English toast. Except it doesn’t mean toast at all. It is what linguists call ‘a false friend’. Sort of like when French learners guess ‘travail’ means ‘travel’, when it means ‘work’.

 

It simple means 'sliced bread'. 

 

Some joker saw sliced bread and assumed it was that mysterious thing he’d heard of but never seen – toast. Misnamed it and it stuck. So, that's what you’ll get. Dreadful, low-quality blotting paper slices of CWP ‘bread’. Often sweet, too.

 

土司 (tǔ sī) - 'toast'?

 

Here’s a tip. Instead of asking for 土司 (tǔ sī), try asking for 烤面包 (kǎo miàn bāo) . This is a more accurate translation and translates as ‘broiled / grilled bread’.

 

However they will in 99% of cases take some of the blotting paper and broil that then serve it cold.

 

 

 

[KennethT]

10 hours ago, liuzhou said:

Most Chinese don’t know what bread is, They think they do but are very mistaken. What passes for bread here is 99% of the time cake. Bread shaped cake. Breadalike.

 

I've seen this in a few places in Indonesia also - but always in places that are serving foreigners, almost exclusively - like dive resorts whose clientele is mainly European or Australian (and the odd American or two).  Otherwise there's nothing resembling bread at all.  Unless, of course, you're in a cafe or higher class hotel in Jakarta, in which case all bets are off.  It could be just like a French boulangerie in those places!

[KennethT]

10 hours ago, liuzhou said:

 

 

I’ll start with 馒头 (mán tou), probably the most common. This is a steamed roll made from the same dough as 包子 (bāo zi), bao buns, but unfilled and often sweetened with sugar.

 

Is fried mantou a thing there?  I've seen that in Singapore...

[liuzhou]

44 minutes ago, KennethT said:

Is fried mantou a thing there?  I've seen that in Singapore...

 

Yes.

[Ddanno]

Can you get strong flour and yeast to bake your own? (although I seem to remember that ovens aren't exactly common, at least in HK, so it might not do you much good anyway)

[liuzhou]

6 minutes ago, Ddanno said:

Can you get strong flour and yeast to bake your own? (although I seem to remember that ovens aren't exactly common, at least in HK, so it might not do you much good anyway)

 

Yes, I can easily get the necessary. In fact, I used to make my own regularly. In a large toaster oven. However serious health issues over the last few years put an and to that. I'm no longer physically able to.

[Ddanno]

3 minutes ago, liuzhou said:

 

Yes, I can easily get the necessary. In fact, I used to make my own regularly. In a large toaster oven. However serious health issues over the last few years put an and to that. I'm no longer physically able to.

Ah that sucks. Sorry. 

[liuzhou]

However dire, offerings are, there are a few honourable exceptions, top of which I give you 馕 (náng). This is a speciality of China’s huge far-western province of Xinjiang which borders Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Russia and Mongolia.

 

Xinjiang is predominantly populated by the Muslim Uyghur people and has a very district cuisine. 馕 (náng) comes from there. In the Uyghur language, they call it نان (nan), meaning bread.. This in turn comes from the identical Persian word for bread.

 

The main type of Xinjiang bread is of course, what is now known in the west as naan, although it was spelled ‘nan’ in English until around the 1970s. This I can find in many of the popular Xinjiang style restaurants found all over China.

 

Again, seldom baked in homes, in Xinjiang it is sold in the many naan bakeries in every town or village. Unlike Indian or other naan, the Xinjiang variety is usually ornately decorated.

 

Xinjiang nang

 

Sadly, I can also get Mission brand Indian style ‘naan’ which is foul in comparison. Sweet and cloying. Indian in appearance only.

 

 

Mission 'Indian style' naan. I'm on a mission to eradicate it.

 

 

 

[Ddanno]

I've never had a pre-packed naan I liked, godspeed in killing off Mission Deli

[liuzhou]

But enough good news.

 

As if the abovementioned toast wasn't bad enough, beware of this.

 

 

It is the dreaded 'toast' again but this time unsliced and worse. It is called 红豆吐司 (hóng dòu tǔ sī) and is flavoured with sweet red aduki bean paste. Very sweet and nasty cake; not what I call bread..

 

 

Edited 9 hours ago by liuzhou (log)