When to eat waist-supporting cake?

The Jiangnan area has been fertile since ancient times and is rich in products. It has a variety of snacks and is quite particular. Therefore, we walked into Tongli to see what snacks the Jiangnan people here eat.

The soles of the socks are crispy. Photography/Zhang Lutang

Walking into a tea house, the dense aroma of tea and the ancient charm of the decoration make people completely immersed in the Jiangnan style. The floor is paved with blue bricks common in Jiangnan, and the water stains on them have not yet dried. All kinds of tea products are lined up on the counter, including Biluochun and Longjing, the "indigenous teas" in Jiangnan, as well as Tieguanyin and Pu'er, which are increasingly popular in the local area. After we sat down, a cup of tea, a basket of melon seeds, and a plate of sock-soled cakes were placed in front of us. Sock sole cake is one of the most distinctive pastries in Tongli. It is named because its shape resembles the sole of a sock. Its main raw materials are lard and flour. The preparation is also simple, and it can be supplemented with sugar, salt, sesame, etc. according to taste.

I heard from people in the teahouse that there is food to eat on almost every special day here. For example, on February 2nd, waist-supporting cakes are indispensable, and malt pancakes and fermented rice cakes will appear around the Qingming Festival. On June 6th, noodles and wontons will also be eaten. At the end of the year, many people will buy popcorn fish... Tongli people express their sense of ritual on special days very well through food.

Boiled small fish. Photography/Li Jianqiang

Among all kinds of snacks, Tongli people are most proud of their pastries, one of the more popular ones is fermented rice cakes. The process of making this kind of pastry is not complicated. The main thing is that the skin is thin and the filling is thick. The puff pastry on the outer shell will give you an excellent taste when you take one bite, and the bean paste mixed with lard inside will give you a great sense of satisfaction. The reason is also very simple, it is because these chefs are willing to cut down on the ingredients and pursue the perfect taste in their own minds.

Wine rice cake. Photography/Bi Linzhong

The Youth League has become an Internet celebrity food in recent years. Every time around the Qingming Festival, northerners start to lament why they can’t eat Qingtuan. Qingtuan is made of glutinous rice mixed with mugwort juice. Not only is its color very healing, but the natural fragrance after steaming makes people think it is the "transmutation of spring".

The steamed green dumplings are placed on the table, adding a touch of warmth to the winter morning in Tongli. Photography/Liu Xiaoling

Coming to the most prosperous street in Tongli, most of the old masters of the snack shops here started as apprentices when they were young and worked for a lifetime.

In order for everyone to have a hot breakfast, no matter whether it is hot summer or cold winter, the chefs at the breakfast shop here have to get up at three in the morning to start preparing. Kneading the dough is the first thing to do every morning, and then put the kneaded dough into the dough machine and cut it into translucent wonton wrappers. The next step is to boil the water and start wrapping the wontons. But after a while, the store's helpers will come to the store one after another and start setting up the Eight Immortals tables and chairs, cleaning the floor, etc. After that, they have to knead dough, cut stuffing, steam buns, bake pancakes, and cook porridge... Although they cooperate very well, in the eyes of ordinary people, this morning is simply too busy. But they didn't seem to think so, so they smiled and said, "Over the years, they have become accustomed to it."

Another special thing about the chefs here is that if the guests want to eat, they will try their best to satisfy them. As more and more people come to Tongli, these shops will naturally make some changes. For example, there was actually no spicy food at all in the original store. In order to meet the needs of tourists from all over the world, chili sauce appeared on the table. It’s time to keep up with the trends of the times, and there are changes, but some old dim sum recipes still maintain this traditional method. These chefs still cook their own lard, dry their own sausages, and cook their own pork rib soup. There are some flavors that they don’t want to lose.

The homemade sausages each have a different taste, which well carries the taste memory unique to each household. Photography/Ruan Chuanju

In fact, the various snacks in Tongli do not have too complicated processes or too precious ingredients. Their deliciousness actually comes from the simple emotions of the chefs towards food. It is this simplicity The simple and original taste of Tongli has attracted countless people to come here to taste it, and even stay here because of the food.

The text has been partially deleted from the original work based on online communication methods.

Written by: Chen Yigong.

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