09.03.08
Posted in Food and Drink, Travel Log (Asia) at 11:55 am by Benjamin Ross
Jinan is a non-descript, crowded, polluted, grey Northern Chinese capital city. It’s the capital of Shandong province, but nobody goes there for tourism. However, under all the grey and dust, Jinan contains one of my now all-time favorite spots in the Middle Kingdom.
As I was wandering around downtown on my first day in town, I accidentally discovered a small alley called Furong Street. Tucked behind clothing stores and fast food restaurants, the entrance to Furong Street is barely visible from the busy street. Furong Street is what Chinese people commonly refer to as a 小吃街 (xiao3 chi1 jie1), or snack street. For those of you who have never been to one (and no, the “snack street” on Wangfujing in Beijing does not count), here is what defines a proper Chinese snack street.
-Various booths and stands, mostly run by migrants from the countryside, each selling individual, cooked, snack items.
-Nearly everything sold on snack streets is portable, and can be consumed without the aid of chopsticks. Items are commonly served in a plastic cup, wrapped in paper, or served on a stick.
-oil, lots and lots of oil
-Prices start at around 1 RMB (approx 15 cents USD) per item, and don’t get too much higher than 4 or 5. One can easily fill their stomach for under 20 RMB ($3 USD).
-Random smells, both aromatic and wretched, permeate through the air, competing for real estate in patrons’ nasal cavities.
-Beer is always available and never sold for more than 5 mao above the retail price.
-There are no trash cans. Instead, bones, shells, cups, sticks, and other miscellaneous garbage is all disposed on the ground. Every night just after the stalls close, a massive sweep through cleans it all up. In a proper snack street, a more sophisticated trash collection system simply wouldn’t be practical.
-Seating is all at temporary tables and chairs, many of them only big enough to fit the average 6 year old
Furong Street, in every way, fits these parameters, and I spent the better part of an afternoon grazing my way through it. Here’s what I found.
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| The main drag of Furong Street |
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| patrons enjoying snacks at temporary tables |
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| 烧烤 (shao1 kao3), a mainstay in any Chinese snack street |
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| Why not add a little 辣椒? |
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| Here is a popular Shandong snack which I have seen in many parts of China. I like to call the “Shandong egg burrito.” It consists of an egg tortilla with cilantro, beans, and other veggies inside. If anybody knows the proper name, please let us know. |
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| fried quail eggs on a stick |
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| fried cicadas on a stick |
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| crabs on a stick…being several hundred miles away from the ocean, Jinan is not exactly known for its seafood. I decided to pass on the crabs and wait until I got to Qingdao. |
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| In addition to snacks, several shops along Furong Street also had 盖饭 (gai4 fan4), a small portion of a Chinese dish, topped on a plate of rice. |
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| Here is one of my favorite new discoveries. These little fried salty bread rolls are called 油镟 (you2 xuan4), and I have never encountered them outside of Jinan. |
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| The 图尔基烤肉夹馍 (Turkish roast meat wrap) or as I would probably call it, schawarma, is now becoming a token “ethnic” food in Chinese snack streets. |
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| Another tasty snack, this little curly-cue is made of flour, and aptly referred to as 面经 (mian4 jing1), or “flour vein.” |
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| Vendors in Furong Street also sold various forms of breads, some of it similar to the nan bread found in Xinjiang |
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| The most interesting snack I found on Furong Street were these little guys called 窝窝头 (wo4 wo4 tou2). Made from corn flour, yellow bean powder, sorghum, and green bean powder, 窝窝头 are both cute and delicious. The boy who was making them told me they were a traditional Jinan stack, which have recently seen a resurgence in popularity. |
Most large Chinese cities have a snack street similar to Furong, and I always keep a lookout for one when I am in a new locale. But I must say that when it comes to ambiance and food selection, Furong Street now tops my list. (honorable mention goes to Kaifeng and Tianjin). Chinese snack streets are not for the pampered Westerner, or even for the Chinese upper-middle class suburbanite for that matter. They are dirty, gritty, crowded, and stinky, but in order to truly feel urban China, it doesn’t get any more real than this.
***I also want to mention as a disclaimer that I have never once gotten sick off of anything I have eaten from a Chinese snack street, and I’ve tried just about everything, regardless of how scummy or dirty it looked. From my own experience, I have found Chinese cooking methods to be inherently more sanitary than those in the West, and thus many of the sanitation precautions commonly taken in Western restaurants would be redundant within a Chinese context.***
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xge
said,
September 3, 2008 at 4:39 pm
some comments and corrections
what you call 面经 (mian4 jing1), or “flour vein.” is actually called 面筋(mian4 jin1), or “flour tendon” if translated to English Literately.
“Shandong egg burrito” is called “Shangdong 煎饼（jian1 bing3）” or “Shangdong pan cake”
油镟 (you2 xuan4), is also called 油旋饼(you2 xuan4 bing3). It is a popular snack, main course item in many northern provinces.
Benjamin Ross
said,
September 3, 2008 at 5:01 pm
xge-
Thanks for the corrections and additions. I did think 面经 sounded a little odd at the time. The woman didn’t write the character for me. She just said “jing” and pointed to her wrist. 面筋 makes a lot more sense.
Lucy
said,
September 3, 2008 at 11:40 pm
Was the 烧烤 lamb shish kabob? ( 烤羊肉串)
That would be my favorite and it is usually available in any snack streets of China. It origins from Xin Jiang (新疆 ) but pretty much any one can do it.
Wonder if you have tried the snack street in Guangzhou （广州） my home town. There are more sweets, shell stuff and bugs.
Hilary Zhu
said,
September 4, 2008 at 12:18 am
very cute heehee~
I’ve never seen this creative form of 窝窝头 before,but make me not want to eat it but just look at them
yah, the snacks seem not very sanitary but I will call them very delicious if you try them once in a while
Laura Young
said,
September 4, 2008 at 10:09 am
I love Jian Bing, it was really great way to fill up for cheap! Most the time its hard to finish a whole one. I dont know if the jian bing I had in Beijing is the same as the Shan Dong Jian Bing. But I wish I could get some here!
Jason
said,
September 5, 2008 at 12:03 am
I love these places.
My favorite snacks are those english muffin like sandwiches filled with green peppers, cilantro and shredded pork. I’ve never actually asked what they’re called though…
Small correction bordering on just plain ‘nit-picky’: Turkey is 土耳其, not 图耳其。 Although you likely know that…and I’ll shut up now.
Snack food!
Brendan
said,
September 5, 2008 at 12:06 am
Wow, those 窝头 are way cuter than the ones I’ve seen before. Do they actually taste as nice as they look, or are they the same old sawdust-tasting thing as the standard fare?
Laura Young
said,
September 5, 2008 at 9:11 am
@ Jason-
I think those sandwiches are called rou jia mou. (not sure what the characters or the tones) My Chinese friends always refer to them as the Chinese han bao bao. And I think it might come from Xian. Or at least there are a lot of places to get famously delicious versions of it.
Jeremy Yeh
said,
September 6, 2008 at 3:25 pm
i think the xinjiang food ‘nan’ u mentioned is actually called 馕(nang2),which is the main food for uyghurs. 面经(mian4 jing1) is not right,should be 面筋(mian4 jin1). turkish/turkey would be generally known as 土耳其(tu3 er3 qi2) rather than 图尔基(tu2 er3 ji1) in chinese.
Ji Village News
said,
September 8, 2008 at 10:28 am
窝窝头 can be acceptable, even tasty, right after it is steamed when still hot and soft. Cold 窝窝头 is a different animal, like Brendan said, tastes like sawdust.
Another thing that’s absolutely delicious is 烧饼. This is almost identical to the Naan bread from central and south Asia, in both material and cooking method. Hmmm, now come to think of it, “silk road bread” should be an appropriate name for it.
This is rou jia mo in characters: 肉夹馍.