09.04.08

Confucius says…Eat My Jian Bings

Posted in Food and Drink at 11:43 am by Benjamin Ross

Yao Ming and Zhou Jie Lun may be the top advertising personalities in the Middle Kingdom in 2008, but will their images still grace the face of Chinese products 2500 years from now?

Yao and Zhou are hot items now, but only time will tell if they have the long-lasting star power of the great Kongfuzi.  Arguably the most influential figure in all of Chinese history, his image is now used to sell his specialty Confucius Family Jian Bings in his hometown of Qufu.

However, I can’t imagine the royalty payments are too lucrative. 20% of the residents of Qufu alone are surnamed Kong, and claim to be a descendant of the Great Master. In addition to the flagship jian bings, Qufu locals have also created an entire cuisine known as 孔府菜, allegedly the food of Confucius and his aristrocratic progeny.  The stuff wasn’t bad, but I have a little trouble grasping the fact that the 孔府豆腐 (Confucius tofu) I ate was in any way similar to what the Kong family dined on during the last few centuries B.C. I’m not really sure whether they had jian bings back then either.

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