Speaking of street food, I think of pancake fruit, kebabs, fried skewers, oil chopping blocks (fried radish cakes are rare), glutinous rice balls and spring rolls. ...

We can't always refuse stories about food: Wang Zengqi and Lu wrote stories about food, and Chen Xiao filmed "China on the Tip of the Tongue", playing the lonely gourmet Goro Inoue and becoming a street food fighter ... This time, Netflix also launched a food documentary. In the first season, 9 cities in Asia were selected to introduce the most representative street food.

The structure of each episode is relatively modular, introducing a local food+interviewing a snack vendor (primary+secondary)+simple production process+food features+city scenery. The time is in the early 20 minutes, which is quite tight. In the alternation of food and scenery, the viewing process will not become boring.

In a sense, this is not a pure food documentary. Although it is called street food, the focus is definitely not on food, but on the chef who makes it. Their story is the most important content of this documentary.

Under the lens, they are not only street food chefs, but also street fighters, artists, magicians and reformers. They are givers, not takers. They bring everyone together with food. They represent the spirit of not giving in to difficulties. In short, vitality bursts out of a barren life and shines in the simple streets, just like an epic, a battle, a revolution or a grand performance.

Zhijie Street, Bangkok, Thailand

The 73-year-old mole sister has been working continuously for 40 years and is a well-deserved street food queen. When she was young, she was forced to make a living as a sewing machine worker. Suddenly one day, there was a fire at home, and she was penniless, so she had to go to the street to set up a stall to help. Facing the complexity of street stalls, her mother suspected that she was incompetent, but with perseverance and enthusiasm, she created one delicious food after another, which has accumulated more than 65,438+000 dishes so far. In 40 years, the only vacation was to win a Michelin star award.

Toyoji Tsukihara, Osaka, Japan

Always saying philosophical words will remind people of Kitano Takeshi, giving people the impression that he is more like a comedian and speaker. In short, he is not a street cook. This old man named Tsukuwon Toyoji is always full of energy. He called himself a "liar", which means to "cheat money" by turning other people's unused ingredients into delicious food. People are also willing to line up in front of his Oriental izakaya, waiting for his delicious food, listening to his words and even accepting his words.

After a long struggle, he finally became the boss of izakaya, but when he looked back on his life, he couldn't help sighing. His mother died young, his father drank heavily, and his childhood was full of his father's violence. The happiest thing is to eat nutrition with my classmates.

Meal, but my father told me that I can't afford a nutritious meal. He went to dig a picnic and slept on the roof or dock just to survive.

I once fantasized about such a life. He became the boss of izakaya, had his own house, and had a wife and children. Now he has become the boss, regards izakaya as his home, treats his employees as his own children, and warns his employees at the last minute: "You should be responsible for your own health!"

Chen Da, Delhi

Delhi is a very complicated city, with different nationalities and rich civilizations, so it also has a very diverse food culture, and Chen Da, who is good at chatting, is undoubtedly one of the best street snacks. In his diet concept, "family" is an indispensable element. His childhood was unfortunate. His father was addicted to all kinds of drugs. In order to live a better life, he had to take to the streets.

His sister used to secretly buy jewelry to help him, and now his brother is his helper, and the children are also involved. What a failure his career was, but he started again. With the support of my family, it seems that everything can be started again.

Grandma Satinan in Yogyakarta, Indonesia

90-year-old Shadinan is still active in the street, and her traditional market snack (which should be a dessert made of glutinous rice, caramel and coconut powder) is still popular. I haven't been to school since the sixth grade. First, I learned to sell snacks with my mother, and then I began to learn how to make snacks. When he was a teenager, his father's infidelity made his mother conservative. Soon after, his mother died, and Shatinan fell into a lost mood. But life goes on. She didn't want to give up. She went back to the street to sell her traditional handicrafts and met her husband in the street.

"He is not handsome, very ordinary, and I am also an ordinary girl." This kind of love has continued from the last century to the present. Two people hunched over their backs and held hands, preparing daily sales together. People were happy to stand in front of her booth for a long time and listen to her laughter.

Chiayi province, Chia-hui Lin

At school, Chia-hui Lin hated being nicknamed by his classmates. Her nickname is "fish head", because since her grandparents' generation, her family has been selling fish heads in casserole on the street.

The big fish head is covered with flour and fried in an oil pan until it is golden and crisp, while the casserole is cooked with fungus, pork, onion, garlic, pepper, tofu, fried bean skin and a lot of Chinese cabbage, which is full of taste and flavor. Traditional crafts are deeply loved by diners. Under the influence of his father, Chia-hui Lin went home to help after graduating from university. In order to improve efficiency, she is determined to reform and increase the number of POS machines, dishwashers and online orders. As a result, she had a little conflict with her parents, so she simply took advantage of their opportunity to go abroad to get everything done and let her parents change their habits when they came back.

Now, she doesn't hate the nickname "fish head". On the contrary, she thinks it is a compliment.

In addition to the above-mentioned street gourmets, there are Ms. Zhao Yinshan who sells Daoxiao Noodles in Seoul, South Korea, Cai Jinfang who sells snail meat in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, Aisha Hashim who runs steamed restaurants and companies in Singapore, and Florencio Escabas who sells eel soup in Cebu, Philippines ... Of course, there are many delicious foods and chefs, such as Hainan chicken rice, Wonton Noodles, China spring rolls, roast suckling pig, turkey rice, braised pork rice and octopus.

All people have different cultural backgrounds and experiences, but they are all ordinary people, born in the street, and will encounter such problems. They benefited from creating street food, realized their dreams and got a stable life and love. Extraordinary light is born in ordinary life and food, precisely because those who have hope and love for life look more inspirational and bloody than the positive energy of empty slogans.

What impressed me most was that casual remark. The eldest sister who sells soy sauce and crabs in Seoul suddenly said, "... but a wonderful story will fail at the beginning", as if to sum up the whole season. Selling snacks on the street has also become a Jedi counterattack against life!

Note: The pictures in this article are from the documentary "Street Food".

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