Tianjin snacks have a long history, with many varieties of pasta, wide and refined selection of ingredients, strict and fine production, various colors and distinct grades, comprehensive preparation method, both flavors, rich northern characteristics and strong local flavor.

The early residential areas in Tianjin City were formed in the Song and Liao Dynasties, and developed in the Yuan Dynasty, especially in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, and became increasingly prosperous. Since the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the area along the river outside the north gate of Tianjin has gradually become a concentrated place for handicrafts, commerce and catering. According to the records in "A Brief Introduction to Jinmen" in Qing Dynasty, there were many famous snacks in Tianjin at that time, such as "Goubuli" big bag in Houjia, small bag in Gulou East, small steamed food in Chajia Hutong, beef in Boys Lane, fried grasshoppers in Gulou North, Kanroji Qianshao, fried chicken oil in Datong Hutong, roasted pork in socks Hutong, boiled fish in Xitou Mujia Restaurant and so on. Yangcun Dried Cake, which won the bronze medal of "Jiahe" in Panama International Games in 1914, was manufactured and sold as early as the early Ming Dynasty. At the end of the Qing Dynasty and the beginning of the Republic of China, there were snack gathering places in Tianjin, such as Nanshi "Three Dishes", Bird Market, Hexi Qiandezhuang, Hedong Tunnel and Nankai New "Three Dishes", which were called "five groups of snacks". There are all kinds of snacks, and there are many kinds of snacks, which are sold in a big way and are very popular.

Tianjin is located in the plain, near the Bohai Sea, with a suitable climate and abundant products. Zhang Dao of Qing Dynasty once wrote in his book "Miscellanies of Jinmen": "Tianjin is produced, with all kinds of seafood, delicious and cheap. The most authors of the spring moon are clam, puffer fish, sea crab and so on. In autumn, crabs are the best in the world, and in winter, they are famous for their iron finches and whitebait. Chinese cabbage with yellow buds is tender than bamboo shoots; Chicken and deer breast, game can be eaten. The green crucian carp and white shrimp are endless in four seasons and are extremely fresh. As for pears, dates, peaches, apricots, apples and grapes, the northern producers are also better. " Others, such as station rice, purple crab, leek, adzuki bean, red fruit in Jixian county, radish in Shawo and prawn, all enjoy high reputation at home and abroad. Such abundant products have created favorable conditions for the formation and development of Tianjin snacks as a local flavor.

Tianjin "is the land of nine rivers and Tianjin, and the roads lead to all provinces", especially since the capital of Beijing (Daxing) was established in the first year of Tiande in the Jin Dynasty (AD 1149), it has gradually become the hub of grain transportation, "the gathering place of boat and car merchants, and the place where the people of five parties are mixed". Therefore, Tianjin snacks can learn skills from north and south, gather many experts and form their own characteristics. For example, Gaba cuisine, a famous snack, was originally made by poor Shandong people who moved to Jincheng on the basis of Shandong pancakes. Since then, this snack has evolved several times to adapt to the tastes of Tianjin people, and finally formed a unique and unique food in Tianjin. Pu Songling, the author of Strange Tales from a Lonely Studio, once mentioned a way to eat pancakes in the Pancake Fu: "There are even layers of folds, broken by kitchen knives, and it is absolutely like cold scouring. Soup with salted black beans, minced peppers, boiling water in the pot, and scattered gold bars. " What is described here is the production process of Gaba cuisine. Pu Songling also praised that at that time, although it was a kind of food for poor people, it was delicious and affordable. "When it was frosty and cold, the water was frozen, and I sipped in the Ling Dynasty, and my forehead was sweaty, which was better than drinking lamb in the golden account."

Tianjin snacks have obvious seasonality, which often changes with the change of seasons and is closely related to the customs of the year. There are a lot of records about Tianjin folk food customs in the Miscellanies of Jinmen. For example, "On the New Year's Day of the first month, people of all ages get up, dress up, set up candles to show off, worship the ancestors of heaven and earth, and their parents are inferior, while eating slots with them (that is, jiaozi), taking the meaning of renewing sex ..." "On the second day of February, all insects are stung, which means the dragon looks up and leads Qian Long home with hub chaff. It is an eclipse cake, fried cake powder (that is, fried' boring'), and worshipped the land god. In addition, such as eating noodles in the early days, eating corn (zongzi) on the Dragon Boat Festival, eating moon cakes on the Mid-Autumn Festival, eating cakes on the Double Ninth Festival, eating wonton on the winter solstice, cooking laba porridge and soaking laba garlic on the eighth day of Laba, etc., have been inherited to this day.

The flavor of Tianjin snacks, especially some famous snacks, is inseparable from its unique production method and strict selection of ingredients. Take "Goubuli" steamed stuffed bun as a tribute to Empress Dowager Cixi as an example, which is quite different from other steamed stuffed buns. The dough is made by "one-arch-fertilizer" kneading method, that is, the yeast is mixed with flour and clear water, fermented for a period of time, and when the fat flowers are arched, the alkali, the dosage and the skin are added. The dough made by this method is soft and chewy, and the steamed temperature is strictly controlled, so that the finished product does not collapse or go out of shape. The stuffing is prepared by water filling method, that is, a certain amount of bone soup and superior soy sauce are slowly stirred into the selected minced pork in one direction and in several times, and then monosodium glutamate, ground sesame oil, onion and Jiang Mo are added to make a soft and moderate meat stuffing. It is not easy to mix bone soup and soy sauce with a large proportion into minced meat, so that bone soup and soy sauce can be completely blended with minced meat without soup. However, the founder of "Goubuli" steamed stuffed bun created a famous Guinness cuisine with such unusual practices.

Another example is the famous products such as Guifaxiang mixed dough twists (commonly known as "18th Street" dough twists) and Erduoyan fried cakes, all of which are unique and famous because of their unique operation methods.