Snail powder is one of the special snacks in Liuzhou, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. It has a unique flavor of spicy, refreshing, fresh and sour, and is the most famous local specialty snack in Liuzhou.

Snail powder is delicious because of its unique soup. The soup is made of natural spices, such as snail, kaempferia kaempferia, star anise, cinnamon, clove and various peppers.

Historical origin:

Pepper was introduced to China from America in the late Ming Dynasty. At first, it was only used as an ornamental crop and medicinal material, and it didn't take long to enter the menu of China. After the strong entry of Zanthoxylum bungeanum into China, it set off a moderate diet revolution. Liuzhou people mixed it into snail powder to give full play to its role, thus producing snail powder. Many people who have eaten snail powder question why there are no snails in snail powder. It is said that the snail soup with snail powder is made from folk secret recipes such as snail meat, pig bones, medicinal materials and natural spices, and the snail meat after boiling will be discarded because its essence is concentrated in the soup.

Snail powder first appeared in the late 1970s. Although the history is not long, snails and rice noodles have a long history in Liuzhou. Liu Wen, who has been engaged in cultural relics archaeology in Liuzhou for more than 40 years, believes that from a small perspective, the historical and cultural development track of Liuzhou is a history of collecting edible snails.

More than 40 years ago, Chinese archaeologists found a large number of snail shell sediments in Bailiandong, Dalongtan Liyukou and other sites. "About 20,000 years ago, the Liujiang people living in Bailiandong began to catch snails for food and learned to use fire. Now the Bailiandong site still has the remains of primitive people' burning snails'. " Jiang Jinyuan, director of Liuzhou Bailiandong Cave Science Museum, said.

There are different opinions on the origin of snail powder, and it is impossible to verify it, but almost every legend has a strong "snail complex" and "rice noodle complex". In 2008, Liuzhou snail powder handicraft skill successfully applied for the second batch of intangible cultural heritage list in the autonomous region. Huang Xiaoping, who was in charge of applying for the World Heritage at that time, wrote in the application document: "The combination of rice flour and snail powder is a great creation of Liuzhou people, and its unique traditional handicraft skills are Liuzhou's valuable intangible cultural heritage."