Zibo barbecue, how come it's "out of the loop"

"A car full of college students, the air is full of cumin flavor". Li Zhouyi, a Zibo native who works in Ji 'nan, told China Newsweek that he always believed that one day the barbecue in Zibo would be hot, but he never thought it would be so hot.

Recently, with the "three-piece set" of barbecue soul of "oven+cookies+dip", Zibo barbecue suddenly exploded on social media, especially on weekends, and related topics such as "college students organized a delegation to Zibo" and "taking the high-speed train to Zibo" appeared on major platforms, which caused extensive discussion and hot discussion.

Li Zhouyi said that he took the high-speed train from Jinan to Zibo last week, and most of the trains were college students. "The tickets have already been sold out, so they would rather buy station tickets, or get on the train to make up the tickets, and go to have a barbecue."

Of course, it's very convenient to travel from Jinan to Zibo, and there are frequent high-speed trains. It takes only 22 minutes to sit from Jinan East to Zibo North at the earliest.

There is also a joke circulating on the Internet: "Some Shandong college students climbed Mount Tai in Tai 'an, some went to Jinan to see Baotu Spring, some went to Qingdao to disco, and more than half went to Zibo to have a barbecue."

According to local media reports in Zibo, Zibo Railway Station recently received about 5, passengers a day, setting a record in the past three years, and most of them were tourists who came to taste the barbecue in Zibo. Many experienced Shandong college students have mastered the strategy of going to Zibo to taste delicious food, and they can travel back and forth by car only by spending about 2 yuan to appreciate the charm of local cuisine.

China people's obsession with barbecue has existed since ancient times. Kashgar in Xinjiang, Jinzhou in Liaoning, Zhaotong in Yunnan, Qiqihar in Heilongjiang, Xichang in Sichuan, Yanji in Jilin and other places are famous for their barbecues, but why is Zibo alone?

Zibo BBQ with "Fire Out of Circle"

Zibo has a very long history. In the history of China, Zibo was once the capital of Qi, the "Seven Heroes of the Warring States", and the birthplace of Qi culture. Zibo is also one of the earliest industrial cities in China. It was once one of the most important industrial centers in Shandong Province and even the whole country, with rich industrial culture.

It is difficult to verify the origin of Zibo barbecue, but it is said that Zibo barbecue originated from a small vendor named "Zhouji" in Qianlong period of Qing Dynasty. On the road outside the south gate of Zibo, he pioneered the method of baking mutton kebabs with tofu skin and charcoal fire, which won the local people's love and reputation. Later, this barbecue method gradually spread and became a unique food culture in Zibo.

Zibo barbecue. Figure/Figure Bug Creativity

The explosion of barbecue in Zibo was not overnight, but gradually detonated after many times of network communication. The initial craze about barbecue in Zibo may benefit from the effect of "planting grass" on social media.

The video "How to Eat Barbecue in Zibo" released by a blogger named "Mr_ Mu" in Tik Tok received 191, likes and was forwarded 224, times, which attracted a lot of fans' attention and pursuit. The "College Students Group to Zibo for Barbecue" on the hot search list in the same city has even ignited the enthusiasm of netizens, and the search volume has exceeded 5 million.

Then, some local barbecue shops in Zibo began to publicize and promote their own barbecues on social media, among which there were many "top-notch" barbecues in Shepherd Village, which attracted the attention of countless netizens. These barbecue shops have used the power of social media to display their own special barbecues, which has aroused more and more people's interest and curiosity.

Li Zhouyi shared a recent barbecue experience: "We deliberately chose a restaurant that was not' hot', basically only for local guests. We waited in line for an hour and waited for half an hour before serving a plate of peanuts. It was an hour and a half before we saw beef skewers. The busy boss in the store had no time to string them."

He said that before the barbecue started in Zibo, at most several restaurants lined up, but now every family is lining up. However, he still hopes that this state can continue. "I hope that in the future, everyone will mention Zibo barbecue and become a local signboard just like Qingdao seafood and Jinan bazi meat."

Sun Xiaorong, an expert member of the China Tourism Reform and Development Advisory Committee, said in an interview with China Newsweek that food is the most popular "local culture", and the barbecue culture in Zibo is unique, which skillfully combines Shandong pie-rolling, cooking tea around the stove and stringing, and has a strong sense of ceremony and scene.

Different from other places, Zibo barbecue is one of the few cities that keep the independent small-scale pure charcoal barbecue. In Zibo barbecue, each table is equipped with a small stove as standard. After the waiter sends the kebabs cooked in seven or eight degrees to the table, the customers need to reprocess them themselves: on the small stove, the grilled kebabs are soaked with oil, and the meat is scooped up with a packet of small cakes, and the crispy Shandong tender onions are sprinkled with their own prepared hot sauce, which has different flavors. Therefore, there is a joke in Zibo that "there must be a kebab master in a threesome".