1. Coming from a poor and humble background, there are countless local snacks or snacks in my country that are naturally formed, and their formation was either born out of the palace or among the people.

Almost all Chaoshan snacks are original creations among the people and have been spread among the people.

This is due to the fact that Chaoshan was historically located at the "end of the province and the corner of the country", far away from the political center of the country, and that the commercial society was formed late and the social affluence was not high.

There are a few Chaoshan snacks at hand: Xitianxiang oyster braised, Gonggu goose meat, Laojie pig's trotter rice, Lao Ma Gong rice dumplings, which name is not simple and straightforward, with a local flavor.

Looking at Chaoshan snacks, there are roughly three channels for their formation.

1. Tributes to worship gods. The climate along the Chaoshan coast is hot and humid, making people prone to diseases. In addition, maritime operations are risky, labor and harvest are disproportionate, and there are many accidental factors. When people cannot predict their own destiny, they often place their hopes on

God bless you.

In addition, in times of material scarcity, with activities of worshiping gods, people can also give themselves a reason to improve their lives.

Therefore, the old Chaoshan folk beliefs were characterized by many festivals and gods.

Many Chaoshan snacks were originally tributes to gods, such as "Caitou Cake" (meaning, colorful head) and "Sweet Cake" for the Spring Festival, "Noodles" (meaning, longevity) for Mazu's birthday, and "Zongzi" for the Dragon Boat Festival.

"balls", "moon cakes" for the Mid-Autumn Festival, etc. As the saying goes, "make cakes at the right time." At that time, there were certain rules for what snacks to eat at any time.

2. Desserts to supplement the main meal. These Chaoshan snacks are not like Cantonese dim sum, which are refreshments used by the leisure class to kill time when they have nothing to do. Instead, they are snacks used by coolies in rural towns to satisfy their hunger.

Trendy people are accustomed to eating porridge. One reason is that there was not enough food in the early days, and the other is due to the climate.

People who do menial work eat several large bowls of porridge in the morning. They can't stand a burst of sweating due to exertion. They are already hungry before the main meal.

At this time, encountering the snack stalls walking through the streets is like finding a savior. He can replenish his energy with a few cents and make up for his temporary needs.

At that time, there were grass cakes (jelly), tofu puddings, various sweet soups, etc. to relieve the summer heat.

In winter, there are hot beef ball soup, leek cake, water cake, etc.

You don’t need a spoon to eat grass cakes. You just hold up the shallow bowl, swirl your mouth around the edge of the bowl and wipe your mouth with water. Beef balls are originally a Hakka snack.

After Shantou was opened as a port, local goods were exported overseas and foreign goods were imported into the mountains, resulting in busy water traffic.

The Handi area in Shantou used to be a berthing place for Hakka cargo ships, and many Hakka cargo ships parked there overnight.

In the evening, there are Hakka people rowing boats selling beef ball soup to the boss of the cargo ship as a late-night snack.

Later, beef balls were reformed and innovated by Chaoshan people, who added rice noodles to the soup to become beef balls rice noodles. To this day, it is still the favorite snack of Chaoshan people.

Later, fish balls, shrimp balls, cuttlefish balls, pork balls, etc. were cloned, creating Chaoshan's "meatball series".

The "Xinxing Street Beef Balls" among the "Chinese Famous Snacks" are made by Shantou people.

Nowadays, when talking about beef balls, everyone thinks they are named after Chao. In fact, they are the product of Chao people’s appropriationism.

The ingenuity of the trendy people is vividly expressed in a small meatball.

3. Home-cooked snacks The snacks with the most gourmet significance are the various home-cooked snacks made by the clever wives of Chaoshan to satisfy their children's cravings.

Such as pumpkin baking, autumn melon baking, tomato baking, etc.

In the old days, before the season came, children would clamor for "kueh", and the wife at home would have to think of some way to kill these greedy children.

Every household in rural Chaoshan has sweet potato flour. They pick the fruits and vegetables grown in their fields, mix them together, and fry them in oil to make a snack with a unique flavor.

When I was young, I had my grandmother's "cold porridge" made by mixing sweet potato flour with overnight cold porridge. It was really unique.

There is a snack called "Pig Head Zong", which is said to be an unintentional creation of Chenghai people.

In the early years, during the Lantern Festival in Chenghai rural areas, there was a custom of racing pigs. Every seafood family had to kill pigs to worship their ancestors. One family had finished offering sacrifices to their ancestors, but could not eat the remaining pig heads for a while, so they chopped the pig head meat, added seasonings, and cooked it.

It becomes "Pig's Head Zongzi", which is very delicious even if you don't want it.

So it spread and became a snack.

Chaoshan snacks entered the market as commodities in the 1920s and 1930s, which was the period when Shantou's commercial economy was at its peak.

At that time, small parks, shops, restaurants, and hotels gathered together, forming a typical consumer market. As a kind of delicacy, Chaoshan snacks can naturally find their place here, such as the time-honored Aixigong Noodles, Piaoxiang Snacks, and Xitianxiang

Oyster bake, Lao Mama Palace rice dumplings, etc. all entered the small park during that period.

As mentioned above, in the diet, snacks have more cultural significance, so they can easily become a symbol of local culture and be deeply imprinted in people's minds.

You see, when many trendy people living overseas arrive in Shantou, the first thing they do is to go straight to the small park and go to a time-honored snack bar to have a delicious meal of Chaoshan snacks, but they still feel the lingering homesickness.

Chaoshan snacks are rooted in the people. They are not attached to official culture or scholar-bureaucrat culture. From the day they were born, they have been spread among the people with a natural attitude and in compliance with the natural laws of natural selection. Therefore, we can now taste so many

Snacks with a rich local flavor.

2. The ingredients are simple and the taste is unique. Cantonese dim sum is famous for its western style, such as custard buns, egg tarts, barbecued pork buns, etc.

Shanghai snacks are famous for seafood, such as crab roe soup dumplings and fish paste spring rolls.

Northern snacks are mainly pasta.

Chaoshan snacks are nothing without rice.

The main ingredients of Chaoshan snacks can be summed up in the Chaoshan dialect word "粿".