The History of Traditional Snacks in China

Moon cakes The traditional food of Mid-Autumn Festival is moon cakes, which are round, symbolizing reunion and reflecting people's good wishes for reunion with their families. It is said that eating moon cakes in the Mid-Autumn Festival began in the Yuan Dynasty. At that time, the broad masses of the people in the Central Plains could not bear the cruel rule of the ruling class in the Yuan Dynasty and rose up against the Yuan Dynasty. Zhu Yuanzhang joined forces with various resistance forces to prepare for the uprising. However, the officers and men of the imperial court searched very closely and it was very difficult to pass on the news. Liu Bowen, a military strategist, came up with a plan and ordered his men to hide a note with the words "Uprising on the 15th of August" in the cake, and then sent people to the uprising troops in different places to inform them to respond to the uprising on the 15th of August. On the day of the uprising, all the rebels responded together, such as a single spark can start a prairie fire.

Soon, Xu Da captured the Yuan Dynasty and the uprising was successful. When the news came, Zhu Yuanzhang was so happy that he quickly sent a message that all the soldiers should have fun with the people in the upcoming Mid-Autumn Festival and give the "moon cakes" secretly sent at the time of the war as seasonal cakes to the ministers. Since then, the production of "moon cakes" has become more and more elaborate, and there are more and more varieties, such as dishes, which have also become good gifts. After the Mid-Autumn Festival, the custom of eating moon cakes spread among the people. Some places have also formed many special Mid-Autumn Festival customs. In addition to enjoying the moon, offering sacrifices to the moon and eating moon cakes, there are dragon dances in Hong Kong, piling towers in Anhui, Mid-Autumn Festival in Guangzhou, burning towers in Jinjiang, moon-watching in Shihu, Suzhou, moon-dancing in Dai and Miao, moon-stealing dishes by Dong and dancing in Gaoshan. The English spelling is: moon cake.

Zongzi Zongzi is the festival food of Dragon Boat Festival, which was called "Zongzi" in ancient times. According to legend, it was invented for the sacrifice of Qu Yuan who threw himself into the river, and it is the traditional food with the deepest cultural accumulation in the history of China.

Tangyuan Tangyuan is one of the famous snacks in Ningbo and one of the representative snacks in China with a long history. According to legend, Tangyuan originated in the Song Dynasty. At that time, a novel food was popular all over the country, which was made of various fruit baits and kneaded into balls with glutinous rice flour outside. After cooking, it tastes sweet and delicious, which is very interesting. Because this kind of dumplings cooked in a pot will float and sink, it was originally called "floating Zi Yuan", and later it was renamed Yuanxiao in some areas. Different from northerners, Ningbo people have the traditional custom of having a family gathering to eat jiaozi on the morning of the Spring Festival.

Ciba is to mix cooked glutinous rice into mud. It is a popular food in some areas of southern China. People are used to making it before the Spring Festival, which symbolizes harvest, celebration and reunion. It is a must-have product for the New Year. Ciba sparerib is a new dish with strong local flavor. Soft Ciba is wrapped with crispy and delicious ribs, and then fried until golden. The entrance is soft, the inside is soft and smooth, and there are ribs gravy, which is very rich in flavor.